A good talk can open the doors to new collaborations, increase your chances of funding success, and make it more likely other people will respond to your ideas. But scientific presentations are too often confusing, boring, and overstuffed. Here are some suggestions, based on our experience as speakers, audience members, and presentation trainers, that we hope will make your next conference talk or seminar more enjoyable, engaging and effective.

1. BOOSTING THE SIGNAL
simple strategies to deliver better scientific talks
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife | Michigan State University | January 13, 2021

4. CONFUSING
BORING
OVERSTUFFED

5. THE CULTUREOF
CRUMMY
SCIENCE
TALKS
“ ”
Dr. Kelly Hereid
Chubb Corporate Catastrophe Solutions

6. A few modest adjustments
to the planning and delivery of talks
can help us share ideas with our peers
more effectively.

11. GEOG1403 | BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE GLOBAL GARDEN

13. EVERYONE LEARNS
HOW TO DO RESEARCH
IN GRADUATE SCHOOL
BUT NOT EVERYONE LEARNS
HOW TO GIVE A GOOD TALK.
“ ”
Dr. Andy Frasse o
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

14. GEOG8260 | THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS

15. 15

16. Source: Robert Rinyu

18. READ
THE
ROOM

19. … DESIGNING A PRESENTATION
WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE IN MIND IS LIKE
WRITING A LOVE LETTER
AND ADDRESSING IT
‘TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN’.
“ ”
Ken Haemer
Manager, Presentation Research, AT&T

20. SPECIALIST CONFERENCE

21. COMMUNITY MEETING

22. TECHNICAL WORKSHOP

24. WHAT’S THE SETTING OF YOUR PRESENTATION?
WHAT DO THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT YOUR TOPIC?
WHAT SOURCES DO THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION FROM?
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO THEM? WHAT KEEPS THEM AWAKE AT
NIGHT?
WHAT PRECONCEPTIONS WILL YOU NEED TO WORK AGAINST?

25. BE CLEAR
ABOUT YOUR
MAIN MESSAGE

26. GEOG8260 | THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS

27. FIVEminutes

28. ONEidea

31. THIS SUMMARY CONTAINS A PARAGRAPH (2-3
SENTENCES) OF BASIC-LEVEL INTRODUCTION TO THE
FIELD; A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE BACKGROUND AND
RATIONALE OF THE WORK; A STATEMENT OF THE
MAIN CONCLUSIONS (INTRODUCED BY THE PHRASE
'HERE WE SHOW' OR ITS EQUIVALENT); AND FINALLY,
2-3 SENTENCES PUTTING THE MAIN FINDINGS INTO
GENERAL CONTEXT SO IT IS CLEAR HOW THE
RESULTS DESCRIBED IN THE PAPER HAVE MOVED THE
FIELD FORWARDS.

32. RINGING
TRUE
the scientific &
societal relevance
of dendrochronology
at the start of
its second century
Department of Geography
University of Nevada, Reno
December 2, 2020

33. TREE RINGS + OTHER
NATURAL ARCHIVES EMPOWER
US TO EXTEND OUR
PERSPECTIVE ON
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE,
RESOURCES, AND HAZARDS.

34. CLASSROOM RESEARCH SUGGESTS SPEAKERS CAN HOLD AN AUDIENCE’S ATTENTION
FOR — AT MOST — TEN MINUTES.

35. IN ROCK MUSIC
YOU HAVE TO
BURN
FROM THE FIRST BAR.
“ ”
Sting, English Pop Star

36. MAKE
A
PLAN

43. PRESENT
GENEROUSLY

44. ?What is the average reading speed
for a literate adult (words per minute?)

46. 250WORDS PER MINUTE
Source: Forbes Magazine, June 4, 2012

47. ?What is the average reading speed
for a college student (words per minute?)

48. 450WORDS PER MINUTE
Source: Forbes Magazine, June 4, 2012

49. Concluding Remarks
•Absent rings were uncommon during the growing seasons that followed
major volcanic eruptions, including A.D. 1259 and 1816.
• Because these features have occurred so rarely in high-latitude and high-
elevation tree ring-width records, the hypothesis that the Northern
Hemisphere tree ring-width network is compromised by dating errors due to
unrecognized absent rings would require that many temperature-limited
forest stands in the network exhibited a reaction to cold temperatures that
have essen- tially never been observed anywhere.
•If however absent-ring formation were to increase in forests outside of the
American Southwest, that behavior would represent an unprecedented
response to environmental stress.

51. Source: Amy Luxbacher

53. I KNOWYOU CAN’T SEE THIS,
BUT...
“ ”

54. American Association for the Advancement of Science
Chicago, Illinois
February 15, 2014

55. Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le ers (2013)

57. Source: St. George and Wolfe, Geophysical Research Le ers (2009)
EL NIÑO AND NEAR-SURFACE WINDS

58. Source: St. George and Wolfe, Geophysical Research Le ers (2009)
EL NIÑO CAUSES NEAR-SURFACE WINDS IN WINTER
TO SLOW DOWN BY 20 PERCENT.

61. Source: Flickr user “Mike”

63. YOUR BRAIN
SOMEONE
ELSE’S BRAIN

64. Jean-luc Doumont
Trees, maps, and theorems

65. SCIENTISTS
CANNOT COMMUNICATE VERY WELL
WITH NON-SCIENTISTS,
BUT IN FACT
THEY CANNOT COMMUNICATE WELL
WITH OTHER SCIENTISTS EITHER.
“ ”
Jean-luc Doumont
Principiae

67. READ THE ROOM
BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR MAIN MESSAGE
MAKE A PLAN
PRESENT GENEROUSLY
THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
TO MAKE YOUR RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER

68. twi er.com/sco stgeorge