Things I learnt about presenting at SPRU DPhil conference

Apologies if this is banal! Thanks to the session chairs, who gave very good advice and support.  What advice to other people have??

 

Before

Be realistic about how much material you can get through (how many slides, how much theoretical ground you can cover)

Black text on white background is good.  White text on light blue background, not so much!

Stand at the back of the room and see if you can read the smallest text on the slide easily. (aka “the Martin Protocol”)

Prezi – no, imho.

 

Presentation

Record yourself (audio), with permission (especially for the Q and A, since you can’t listen, write and formulate replies at the same time [well, I can’t])

Briefly thank the conference organisers (I forgot to!!)

Keep who you are/where you come from/why you are motivated to do this research to a bare minimum (unless you’re doing auto-ethnography, in which case all bets are off)

[Update, 16th May 2016. From a follow-up presentation –  The Boons Protocol In a presentation, foreground what help you want (i.e. say it at outset and at end)]

Find out, quickly, what people know. But do not ask/expect people to express ignorance (some will, but others won’t, and you get a false result, irritate people and waste time)

Be precise, specific, tell a story – don’t be vague, don’t throw too many statistics at people

Refer to other literatures. You didn’t invent the wheel, and even if you did, some other people did before you.

FINISH ON TIME.  It’s disrespectful to go over, it shows a lack of ability to select relevant facts (you wouldn’t submit a 10,000 word article if the limit was 8,000, would you?), and you’re using up limited bandwidth that people have for listening to powerpoints, bandwidth that is then not available for future presenters.
It ALSO then limits the amount of feedback/challenges you get, and frankly, that’s the name of the game at a conference, no?

In the q and a.  If you are defensive, you lose.  (But of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t justify your choices, or accept bizarre/actually inaccurate criticism – “we’ll have to agree to disagree”.)

Try to answer questions concisely and completely.  I try to say “does that answer your question?” to people, though of course, they may turn around and say “no, you moron, and that’s because you’re incapable of understanding my point….”

As a listener.

Try to think of what books, papers, theories woul help the person see their data in a different way.

Say this succinctly (or write it down on a sheet of paper you give them, if there is enough to justify this)

Pay careful attention to how they answer questions.  Then pitch your question accordingly?

If you are a white male/high status, think about a) do you need to ask the question/make the suggestion in public, and b) are you taking time and space from someone less confident?