Academic Presenting Manual

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International Conference Preparation Workshop Aidan HammondLanguage Education Institute

Seoul National University

Presentation SkillsPresenting at an Academic Conference

Creating a story-arc

Organizing a presentationPronunciation and Practice

Stating your purposeAssessing the relevance of your informationHandling Questions and Answers

Language reference guideVisual aid reference guide

Aidan HammondLanguage Education Institute, Seoul National University

Part One

Part Two

Part Three


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Academic Presentation Skills: Creating a story arc

A story arc connects the various elements of your presentation together.

Establishing a Context:

The beginning of the presentation is where the presenter

tells the audience about the value and importance of

their presentation. Without doing so, the audience will

not be able to appreciate or understand the significance

of the content.

Delivering a logical conclusion:

The conclusion needs to summarize some of the key

ideas you have talked about, but at the same time it

needs to emphasize the importance of your topic.

Often, presenters can find hints or clues to their conclu-

sion by revisiting their introduction. The context which

you created at the beginning of the presentation needs toreferred to in the conclusion.


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Creating a Niche for Yourself and Interestingness

As a presenter, you need to place your work in some

kind of context a niche. You should outline for the

audience exactly where you see your work fitting in with

your field of study this is your niche. More specifically,a nicheis what makes your research different or unique

from others.

There are several techniques that we use to identify our

niche.

1. Outline the current field of research and indicate

specifically where your own research belongs:

Within the field of gender studies Ive

been researching the influence that

technology has on womens rights. More

specifically, Ive been looking into the

influence that cloning technology has on

womens rights.

2. State what makes your research different from others:

While current systems largely use GPS to

determine the physical location of mobile

phone users, we have been investigating

WPS (WiFi Positioning Systems) to do the

same thing but at much lower equipment

costs.

We usually highlight our niche by drawing attention to the specific features that make it unique.

Language that we can use to highlight our niche includes:

More specifically,

In particular,

I have been focusing on

Possible phrases that introduce this concept or idea are:

I became interested in this research

through

My research over the past few years has

focused on


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Key Term: Interestingness

Example A:

Content based instruction is a means of

developing linguistic ability. It is related

to project work, task based learning and a

holistic approach to language instruction

and is used within the state school

secondary education sector.

Example B:

In recent years content based instruction

has become increasingly popular as a

means of developing linguistic ability.

Content Based Instruction has strong

connections to project work, task based

learning and a holistic approach tolanguage instruction and has become

particularly popular within the state

school secondary education sector.

Interestingness is the quality of your work that makes it

appealing to an audience. We can do this by selecting

some vocabulary that would appeal to the audience or

draw the attention of the audience to unique and

important aspects of your presentation.

Compare the two examples below. The second example

has added several phrases (underlined) that increase the

interestingness of the content

How did I become interested in this field of study?

Why might my research be important?

How is my research different from other research in my field of study? Why am I unique?

The examples below illustrate this technique. The first

example, while it does outline and describe the content,

is relatively plain in terms of interestingness. In the

second example, several phrases have been added to

increase the level of interestingness. In particular, the

speaker has added two sentences that illustrate how their

particular research developed into its current form.

While these are not critically important to the content,

these phrases do help to make the research results more

interesting.

Example A

Our research team has developed a model to

explain how continents break apart to form new

oceans. This discovery may improve targeting of

deep-water oil and gas reserves. This model

could make it affordable to explore for

potential reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, coastal

West Africa and other deep-water regions.

Example B:

Our research team here at the University of

Texas has developed a new model to explain

how continents break apart to form new oceans.

This recent discovery may improve targeting of

deep-water oil and gas reserves. Originally we

set out to understand inconsistencies in the way

that existing tectonic models account for the

geology of deep-water ocean basins. In the

process, we developed a new model that

expands geologic theory. This new model could

make it more affordable to explore for

potential reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, coastal

West Africa and other deep-water regions.

In order to make your presentation more interesting you

might want to consider what aspects of your research or

experiences might be interesting to the audience. You

could use the questions below to generate content to

add to your presentation. It is not necessary, however,

to answer all these questions, but referring to them

could make your presentation more interesting and

captivating for the audience.


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Constructing your presentationMake some notes about your content:

Establish a context:Importance & Signifi-canceBackground informationValue to the audience

Inform:DescribeDemonstrate

ExplainComment

Support:EvidenceExamplesCase studyData commentary

ConcludeEmphasizeSummarizePredictEvaluateEnlighten


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Pronunciation Skills

We will look at how the ideas of message units and

meaning can be applied to pronunciation. In particular, it

is important to remember that we are not focusing so

much on the individual sounds, but the overall rhythm

and structure of phrases. The overall rhythm and

structure is where a large part of the meaning is conveyed.

Remember this point:

English rhythm and melody, more than vowels and

consonants, play a direct role in communicating meaning.

Natural spoken speech

Easy for the listener to

understand

Read or memorized speech

Difficult for the listener to

understand

Chunking

To give an effective presentation in English you must learn to think and speak not in individual words, but in

complete phrases. This means pausing in the right places and organizing your message into message units.

The ability to present information in comprehensible chunks is by far the most important presentation skill you

need.

Compare these two examples below. Notice two things: 1) the interesting example is easier to listen to; 2) the

interesting example is sectioned into manageable units for the speaker and the listener.

Notice how content words are usually followed by a pause. These content words are usually nouns and verbs and

are usually stressed. Often, we are able to recognize where to chunk just by feeling where a pause naturally belongs.


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Chunking Activity

Look at the following presentation extract. Mark where you think the pauses should be. The first few have been

done for you.

Cases of ground water contamination // in Korea // have been increasing as of late.

While legal measures exist to prosecute polluters, evidence to do so has been lacking. This

has largely been due to a lack of adequate testing measures and procedures. Our

laboratory has been developing a system for the remote measuring and recording of

groundwater contamination. We anticipate this system will be able to provide one method

to enforce pollution controls and protect our water resources.

Why did you make the choices you did?

Pacing and Chunking Task:

Work with your group to select the sentence from each set that doesnt work.

1. The person who never made a mistake never made anything.



4. Hard work never killed anybody, but worrying about it did.



7. Ideas are like children. Your own are wonderful.



10. The results prove that mercury was the cause of contamination.




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A Typical Conference Talk Outline

Most good speakers average two minutes per slide (not counting title and outline slide), and thus use about a dozen

slides for a twenty minute presentation.

Title: (1 slide)

Forecast: (1 slide)Give the gist of the problem to be attacked and insight found

What is one idea you want people to leave with? This is the abstract of an oral presenta-

tion.

Outline: (1 slide)Give the talk structure.

Audiences like predictability.Some speakers prefer to put this at the bottom of their title slide

Back-

ground:

Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2 slides)

Why should anyone care?Most researchers overestimate how much the audience knows about the problem they are describ-ing.

Related Work (0-1 slides)

Cover superficially or omitRefer people to your paper

Methods (1 slide)

In short talks, cover this quicklyRefer people to your paper

Results: (4-6 slides)Present key results and key insights.

This is the main body of the talk.

Do not cover all results cover the key results well.Do not just present numbers; interpret them to give insights.Do not put up large tables of numbers.

Summary: (1 slide)

Future (0-1 slide)Optionally, give problems this research opens up

Back-up Have a few slides ready to answer expected questions.Ideas glossed over

Part 2: The Conference Paper


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Stating your Purpose

It is essential to state the purpose of your presentationnear the beginning.

To do this clearly and effectively you need a few simple

presentation verbs:

Take a look at, report on, give an overview

of, etc.

Task

Below you will find a number of ways of stating the purpose of your presentation. Complete them using thewords given.

This morning Im going to be:

showing talking taking reporting telling

. . . . . . . . . . to you about the high-density memory chip project.

. . . . . . . . . . you about the recent drop in the birth rate.

. . . . . . . . . . you how to deal with late payers.

. . . . . . . . . . a look at the recent developments in aggregate quality control.

. . . . . . . . . . on the results of my teams research in work-related stress.

So, Ill begin by:

making outlining bringing giving filling

. . . . . . . . . . you in on the background of the project.

. . . . . . . . . . a few observations about the events up to the drop.

. . . . . . . . . . company policy on bad debt.

. . . . . . . . . . you an overview of the history of quality control in this area.

. . . . . . . . . . you up to date on the latest findings of the study

and then Ill go on to:

put discuss make highlight talk

. . . . . . . . . . what I see as the main advantages of the new system.

. . . . . . . . . . the situation into some kind of perspective.

. . . . . . . . . . you through our basic debt management procedure.

. . . . . . . . . . detailed recommendations regarding our own R&D.

. . . . . . . . . . in more depth the implications of the data in the files in front of you.


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Assessing the relevance of your information

If you want to bore someone,

tell them everything you know.Voltaire, 1694-1778

This is perhaps the most important component of your presentation. You need to take the writ-

ten content of your conference paper, and present it to an audience in oral form. You should

not read your paper to the audience. Rather, you need to consider the following points:

decide on a limited number of important points and ideas that your audi-

ence needs to comprehend, remember and understand.

minimize details (of procedure, data analysis, and literature review) when

highlighting your main ideas.

state clearly what the point of the research is, what you discovered, and

what you think it means.

repeat important ideas to enhance comprehension and recall.

Reading vs. Talking

Do not read your paper speak directly to the audience.

You are presenting YOUR research. Therefore, your knowledge of the subject is great. You

should be able to communicate this to the audience without reading from a prepared speech.

Rather, use your slides as a guide, or use an outline to guide you.


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4 Steps to Presenting Content: Outlining your information

Signposting tells the listener where they are and where they are going. The effective use of signposts allows the

listener to follow your presentation and recognize when important information is coming.

Introduce the new topic

Talk about the topic

Review the topic

Connect to the next topic

See the Language Section for more details.

Describing an Object

Terms that express purpose or function:

Term Example

1. Termfunctions as + noun 2. The cornea functions as a protective cover for thelens.

2. The purpose (function) of termis to + verb(infinitive).

3. The purpose of the cornea is to protect the lens.

3. Term(s)+ verb (present simple) 4. The cornea provides protection from dust.

4. Termis used to + verb(infinitive) 5. The USB port is used to connect other devices.

5. Termis for +verb+ing(gerund) 6. The USB port is for connecting other devices to thecomputer.

6. What termdoes is (cleft-sentence with what +infinitive)

7. What the USB port does is allow other devices to beconnected to the computer.


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Kinds of Questions

Basically, there are four kinds of questions:

good questions

You have the answer

Youre glad this question was asked

Answering this question makes you look good

difficult questions

You dont know the answer

Youre not prepared to give an answer

unnecessary questions

You already answered this question

irrelevant questions

The question is not related to your presentation

TASK 14:Put the following responses into the 4 groups:

1. Im afraid I dont see the connection 2. Sorry, I dont follow you.

3. I dont know that off the top of my head. 4. Can I get back to you on that?

5. I think I answered that earlier. 6. Good point.

7. Interesting. What do you think? 8. Well, as I said

9. Im afraid Im not in a position tocomment on that.

10. I wish I knew.

11. Im glad you asked that. 12. Well, as I mentioned earlier

13. To be honest, I think that raises a

different issue.

14. Thats a very good question.

15. Im afraid I dont have that informationwith me.

16.

Good Difficult Unnecessary Irrelevant

6


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Language Reference: Presenting at a Glance

Introduction

Greet Good morning welcome to

Introduce yourself My name is

State objective The objective of my presentation today is to

Outline structure I've divided my talk into five sections

Timing I will take thirty minutes.

Questions Fell free to interrupt.

Link Okay. To begin I'd like to look at

Main Body

Part One So, the first part of my presentation is to

Closing first part So, that is all I have to say on the first point. Any questions on that?

Opening part two Okay. Let's move on to the second section which I have called

Sequencing There are two questions to look at here: firstly

Closing/ moving on Okay. That's everything on part two. I will now move on to part three.

Highlighting Here, I would like to highlight two items.

Using a visual As you can see on this chart

Recommending I would suggest

Digressing Could I digress for a second?

Returning Let me now return to

Closing Okay, that is all I wanted to say on part three.

Ending

Signal ending That brings me to the end of my presentationSummarize To sum up

Conclude In conclusion, I would like to say

Invite questions Are there any questions?

Handle questions positively That's a good question

Closing If there are no more questions, I'll finish there


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Signals for the Topic

I want to talk about

What I want to talk about today is

Today, Im going to focus on

Today, Im going to talk about

Signals giving the big picture

First well look at . and then well look

at

Im going to cover and then

Well discuss a few examples/types of

Today, I am going to look at several ways

that

I want to discuss the causes of

__________.

Well look at several reasons for

Today, Im going to look at 2 aspects of

Now, what I want to do is discuss the

causes of

Well look at several ways that

What I want to do is compare ________

and ___________

I want to give some background on

_____________

Signals for transitions

Let me start with

Now

Next, lets talk about..

First, lets look at

I want to focus on

What I want to discuss now is

Now, that we have talked about

____________, lets talk about

Lets move on to

Thats enough about . Lets go to the

next point.

Signals for definitions

that is,

X means

In other words

What I mean by X is

What I mean when I say X is

What do I mean by X? Well, I mean

Let me define that:

The definition of that is

X, or _______

X, meaning __________

by X, I mean _________

X is the term for __________

Signals for examples

For example,

For instance

Let me give you an example of

Take X, for example.

To illustrate, lets look at

For instance,

Heres a perfect example of what I mean.

Here are some examples of

Such as

Like

Lets look at a couple of examples of


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Unreal (hypothetical examples)

Lets say

Take something like

Signals for explanations

Let me explain

What I mean Is

Let me clarify

Lets look at how this works

How does this work?...

Let me spell this out

I want to show you how ________ works

Let me show you what I mean

So I hope you can see how this explains

Signaling important information

This is important/key/crucial.

Let me repeat that:

Ill say that again:

I want to point out/stress that

Its important to note that

I want you to notice that

The bottom line is

Key Language for Introductions

Greeting

Good morning/ afternoon/ evening ladies

and gentlemen. Welcome to

Hello and welcome to

Hi everyone

Name and position

Let me just start by introducing myself.

My name is

As some/ most of you already know, my

name is

I'm in charge of/ responsible for

I'm the new Managing Director.

For those of you who don't already know

me I'm

Title/subject

The title/ subject/ topic of today's pres-

entation is

Today I'd like to speak about

What I'd like to talk about is

Objective

The objective of this presentation is to

present

The aim of today is to

The purpose of this presentation is to

In the next few minutes I would like to

Main parts/ outline

I have divided my talk into four main

parts

I have split my presentation into four

main sections

Firstly, what I want to do is give you some

background information on

Secondly we will look at

Thirdly we will move on to

Then/ next/ after that

Finally, I will speak about


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Visuals

I will be using Power Point/ the overhead

projector/ the white board/ the flip

chart

Timing

The presentation will take about

minutes

I will speak for about

I plan to be brief. The talk will last

aboutminutes

Questions

If you have any questions please feel free

to interrupt

Please interrupt me as we go along if you

have any questions

I'll be glad to take any questions at the

end of my presentation

Link to the start

Okay. Let's start with the first point,

which is

Right. We can begin by looking at

Firstly/ Secondly/ Thirdly/ Then/ Next/

Finally

Ending a section

Right/ So/ Well/ Okay..

That's all I wanted to say about

I think that covers everything on

I think that deals with

To summarize

Intermediate questions

Are there any questions or comments on

that?

Would anyone like to ask a question at

this point?

Opening a new section

Let's now look at

Now I want to turn to

This brings me to my next point, which

is

Adding Ideas

In addition to this

Moreover

However

Despite this

So

Therefore

Digressing

If I could just digress for a second

I would like to look at

By the way

Incidentally

Going back

Let me just go back to

Let me just return to


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Rhetorical Questions

How can we explain this?

Is there anything we can do about this?

How will this affect our company?

What will be the result?

Offer Clarification

Is that clear?

Are there any questions on that?

I'm sure some of you want to take me up

on this.

Directing Questions

George, I know you have a lot of experi-

ence. Could you comment?

Perhaps I can ask Peter to answer that

question? Peter?

Can I ask for a show of hands? How many

people?

How many people here have ever?

Creating Rapport

We need to

We don't need to spend time on this.

I know what you are thinking.

I'm sure that everyone in this room

Interesting Facts

Did you know that?

According to a recent study

I read somewhere that

Statistics show that

Interesting Examples

For example

For instance

As an example

Acknowledge

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you

that

I realise you all know

Diplomacy-Softening

I tend to think that

It seems to me that

It may be a little difficult

Proposing

I suggest that we

My suggestion is that we

I recommend that we

My recommendation is that we

I propose that we

My proposal is that we

AdvantagesThe difference betweenandis enor-

mous

What are the advantages and disadvan-

tages of

On the one hand

On the other hand

This is far superior to

This is better than


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Stark Options

We have no choice

If we don'tthen we will see

Either weor

Instead ofwe could

Key Language for Highlighting

and Emphasizing

Focusing

I'd like to emphasize

I'd like to stress

I should repeat

It is essential to understand

Repetition

This is a very, very difficult problem

We thought for a long, long time about

this

We need to do something, and we need to

do it now.

Analyzing

Let's look at this more closely

What does this mean exactly?

In other words

Dramatic Language

A total/ absolute/ complete disaster

A great/ outstanding/ remarkable success

Totally unacceptable

Quite Brilliant

Key Language for Visual Aids

Introducing the Visual

Okay. Let's take a look at

I have a transparency to show you.

The first/ second/ next/ final slide is

Check with the Audience

Is that clear for everyone?

Is that in focus?

Can everybody see that?

Meaning of the Visual

This shows/ illustrates/ demonstrates/

refers to

This graph shows

Here you can see

Focusing Attention

I'd like to draw your attention to

One of the most important aspects of this

is

At first glance it seemsbut

Key Language for Closing a Pres-entation

Signaling the End

Okay. That brings me to the end of my

presentation

Right. That covers everything I wanted to

say about

So, that's all I have to say.


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Summarizing

To sum up then

In brief

Before I finish, let me just go over

If I can briefly summarize

Concluding

To conclude, I'd like to say that

I'd like to finish by saying

In conclusion

Final Recommendation

It seems to me, then, that we should

I would therefore recommend that

SupportI have prepared some handouts which I

will pass round.

I'll give you my e-mail address in case you

want to follow up something I said.

Closing

Thank you for listening so attentively.

Thank you for your attention.

I hope that this has been useful.

Inviting Questions

I'd be glad to answer any questions.

So, do you have any questions?

Are there any questions?

Okay. I think that brings me to the end

of the presentation. Are there any ques-

tions?

Key Language for Handling Ques-

tions

Positive Response

That's a good/ difficult/ complex/ an in-

teresting question

Thank you for asking that question

I'm glad someone asked that question. It

allows me to say

Check your answers

Does that answer your question?

Is that clear now?

Can we move on now?

Clarify

If I understand you correctly, you want to

know

You are asking me aboutis that right?

Sorry I didn't follow/ catch the question

Could you repeat that for me please?

In other words you are asking

Refer Back

As I said earlier, in the first section

Yes, I mentioned in the introduction

Accept Criticism

I accept that

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Academic Presenting Manual