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Research Guide: Conferences and Presentations

This Guide provides post graduate students with the tips and tools necessary to successfully complete their research.

Past presentations

Presentations & Conferences

Here are two sources that you can use to find the best conference to present your work at or even just to have a look at what is out there:

Tips

Tips for presenting:

  • Smile and exude confidence, even if you don’t feel it.
  • Practice, practice, practice!!
  • To relax, ask the audience questions and have a ‘conversation’ with them before you begin with the presentation
  • Know and engage your audience- Information is great but people tend to lose focus after listening to facts for extended periods of time. To take a break from the facts, engage your audience with a story to wake them up and keep them interested. A story every 10-15 minutes will keep your audience listening.
  • Bring it! Do as much research on your topic of presentation as you possibly can
  • Attend other presentations to get tips of how to do presentations and learn from their mistakes
  • Know your material and do not rely on your slides

Tips for creating amazing presentations

  • Limit the number of words used on slides (use keywords only). People cannot read and listen simultaneously- while they are reading the text on the slides their attention shifts from what are saying
  • Make use of attention-grabbing relevant pictures and diagrams- Keeps the audience interested and say more than words do
  • Use colour cautiously
  • Use an appropriate font size
  • Make use of MS PowerPoint add-ons to enhance your slides

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