This is an update of a lecture I give as part of a course in professional development for graduate students at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). There is also a video presentation of an earlier version of this talk at http://www.scivee.tv/node/2903.

1. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 1
Professional Development
Giving Good Oral Presentations
Philip E. Bourne
pbourne@ucsd.edu
PLoS Comp. Biol. 3(4): e77
http://www.scivee.tv/node/2903
On Slideshare
1

2. How Did My Teaching Professional
Development Come About?
• About 5 years ago the student council of the
International Society for Computational Biology
(ISCB) asked me to give them a lecture on how to
get published based on my role of EIC of PLoS
Comp. Biol.
• The exchange that took place was one of the
most fun lectures I have ever given
• In trying to capture that moment I wrote an
Editorial “Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published”
…
Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 2Preamble

3. How Did This Come About?
• It was downloaded a large number of times
• Folks started to approach me with other ideas for
Ten Simple Rules
• To date there is a “Ten Rules” series downloadable
from
http://collections.plos.org/ploscompbiol/tensimpler
ules.php
• Some of it is available from www.scivee.tv
Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 3Preamble

4. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 4
My Bias
• Given lots of talks – both good and bad – 31
plenary and keynotes in the past 3 years
• Talked to between 5 – 5000 people
• Talked on television
• Talked on many subjects both science and IT
• Talked to many different audiences – 3rd
graders (most scary), investors, Nobel
Laureates
Preamble

5. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 5
Experiences
• Sydney Brenner http://www.scivee.tv/node/8449
• Dorothy Hodgkin
• David Searls
• Francis Crick
Preamble

6. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 6
Over Arching Thoughts …
• The science you are talking about is more
important than the talk
• Being a good speaker is a key element of being
a good scientist
• The best speakers are often the best scientists
• Talk for yourself as well as others – talk to get
feedback on your work and use it
• If you are passionate about what you do your
talks will be more compelling and enjoyable
6Big Picture

7. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 7
Over Arching Thoughts
• Work within the bounds of your personality
• If you get no questions you screwed up
• Even after what I am about to tell you sometimes I
feel I give bad talks and I do not know why
• Conversely sometimes I worry about giving a talk and
it turns out much better than I expected
• You should be able to give the same talk without
visual aids
Big Picture

8. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 8
How Do I know I Gave a Good Talk?
• You get invited back to talk
• You get invited to talk by someone in the
audience
• Audience members follow up with you days or
weeks later
• People are not asleep or reading email
Big Picture

9. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 9
Rule 1 – Tell the Audience What They
Want to Hear
• Talk at a level of detail that matches the
expertise of the audience
• Do not talk up e.g. by saying “this is not my
expertise but..” if it is not your expertise they
do not want to hear it
• Do not talk down in a condescending tone
• Figure out who your audience will be before
you prepare one slide
Rule 1 of 10

10. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 10
Rule 2 – Less is More
• Do not try and say too much – your message
will be lost
• Be clear and concise – use visuals to help with
this
• Your knowledge will come across – do not try
and tell the audience everything you know
• No more than one slide per minute max.
• Too many slides and you tend to talk to
quickly – the message will be lost
Rule 2 of 10

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Rule 3 – Only Talk When You Have
Something to Say
• Your time is precious – the audiences time is
yours x the number of people in the audience
– Do not waste it with preliminary material
Rule 3 of 10

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Rule 4 – Make the Take Home
Message Persistent
• Test – Ask audience members a week later
what they remember from your talk .. If
– They remember more that 3 points … no one will
– They remember 3 points you regard as key – well
done
– If they remember 1-3 points but they were not
key somehow your emphasis was wrong
– They say “what talk” .. Figure that out for yourself
Rule 4 of 10

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Rule 5 – Tell a Story
• People (that includes scientists) love a story
• Include a human element i.e. make it different
to a paper
• Stories have beginnings that set the stage
reveal the characters etc.
• Stories have middles (the experiment and its
results perhaps)
• Stories have a big ending, often a surprise one
Rule 5 of 10

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Rule 6 – Treat the Floor as a Stage
• Entertain the audience – think ahead of time
what will keep their attention and make them
enjoy listening
• Do not use techniques that are not in your
personality. If you are not humorous by
nature don’t try and start in front of an
audience ditto telling anecdotes
Rule 6 of 10

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Rule 7 – Practice and Time Your
Presentation
• Practice will avoid you going off on tangents –
this can be dangerous – message is lost, don’t
get to the big finish, talk about stuff that you
know little about…
• Practice with colleagues before the big
audience – they will think kinder thoughts if
you screw up
• Practice speaking through journal club, group
meetings etc.
Rule 7 of 10

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Rule 8 - Slides
• Do not read the slide unless you wish to emphasize a
point
• Slides are a backup for what you are saying
• Look at them on the big screen before the audience
does
• Focus on content not glitz
• Avoid information overload
• Use animations sparingly and effectively
• Use navigation tricks
Rule 8 of 10

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Rule 9 – Video or at Least Audio Your
Practice Presentations and Review
(Declared Conflict)
• This is a very telling way of seeing bad habits
e.g., umming and ahhring, scratching your
head (or worse) ….
• Work hard to correct those habits
Rule 9 of 10

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Rule 10 – Provide Appropriate
Acknowledgements
• This is important – Do not run out of time and
so not do it
• Acknowledge as you go
• Use pictures
• Acknowledge people you anticipate will be in
the audience who have contributed
• Include important references
Rule 10 of 10

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Additional Thoughts on Slides…
• A picture really is worth a lot of words
• Spend time on preparing persistent (e.g.
introductory slides you will use over) slides – it
is a rewarding experience and a skill worth
developing
• As much as possible a slide should have an
understandable message on its own – Its
might end up in Google images after all
Additional Thoughts

20. Ten Rules - Oral Presentations 20
Additional Thoughts on Slides
• Reuse slides to emphasize a point
• Provide a roadmap
– Navigation on the bottom of the screen
– Returning to the agenda indicating the point you
are going to discuss next
– Use recap slides
– On the Web
Additional Thoughts

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Discussion/Questions?