Dr. Gabriella Alberti from Work and Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School talked about various skills and techniques to use during academic presentations.

1. Presentation skills for
doctoral students
Getting the message across
Dr. Gabriella Alberti
Work and
Employment
Relations Division
LUBS

2. Agenda
1.Preparing and delivering power point
presentations-general
2.Assessment criteria
3.Presenting your PhD: work in progress
and completed research
4.Examples of conference presentations

3. Preparing the power point
Questions to be asked in advance of writing the ppt:
• Who is my audience?
• What are they expecting from me?
• What is the purpose of my presentation?
In sum, know your audience: make sure the audience knows
why they should listen…why is your topic important?

4. Preparing your presentation
•Keep it focused and with few (1 to 3) clear messages
•Visual elements and formatting:
-Don’t ‘overcrowd’ your slides with text/avoid obvious
empty spaces
-Avoid different font styles in one slide

5. Golden Rules for a good presentation
PREPARE, PLAN, PRACTICE!
•Good preparation is key to achieve confidence, being relaxed
(“settling the butterflies”).
•Good rehearsal will reduce your nerves by 75%, increase the
likelihood of avoiding errors to 95% (Fred Pryor Organisation,
provider of seminars and open presentation events)
• “Change grabs attention” (Daniel Willingham 2009 “Why
students don’t like school”)
•Your body language, and the changing tone and pitch of your
voice are all ways to bring your presentation to life

6. Delivering your presentation 1
•Make sure your audience is comfortable- smiling and eye contact
•How long for is my audience going to pay attention?
the attention of an average listener is apparently between five and ten
minutes for any single unbroken subject
→Break up the content so that no single item takes longer than a few
minutes
→ Don’t stay too long/too short on the same subject

7. Delivering your presentation (2)
→Draw audience attention through a picture, a quote, a bit of
audience interaction - anything to break it up and keep people
interested ( e.g. using a variety of media and movement)
However, use multi-media with moderation, remember this is
an academic presentation and needs very good
IDEAS/CONTENTS

8. Other tips
• Presentation always take longer to deliver than you think:
practice pace and time and leave some extra time
• At the end demand action from your audience (questions,
exercise, ‘go away and think about it’…)
• Don’t stand in front of the screen when the projector is on
• Your body language is the most powerful visual
• Be firm, confident and in control: the floor is yours and the
audience is on your side
Source: “Presentations skills: presentations for
business, sales, and training - oral and multimedia”, Personal Tutorial for HRM, VLE

9. Assessment criteria for
doctoral presentations
1.Presentation flow and use of visual aids
2.Contents: ideas, coherence, focus
3.Overall ImpactImpact: persuasion, audience
involvement, timing, clarity

10. Impact
Knowledge and preparation is key as much as…control and
confidence:
“Good presenting is about entertaining as well as
conveying information”
In practice…
The first impression is important: make sure you have a good,
strong, solid introduction and conclusions and
…a clear structure

11. Structure: key elements
1) Title/key question
2) Structure/Agenda for the presentation
3) Introduction/Background
4) Central slides –YOUR ARGUMENT: make sure that you include
FINDINGS, case-studies, evidence TO SUPPORT IT
5) Summary/Key points in the CONCLUSIONS
6) Way forward /CHALLENGES/Possible new research fields
7) References

12. Presenting your PhD
Work in progress Completed PhD/ research project
1. Theoretical background (epistemology)
1. Research questions
1. Theoretical background and literature
(existing research)
2. Description of the research (problems,
methods used)
3. Method/methodology 3. Summary of key findings
4. Early findings and analysis 4. Illustration of findings selecting powerful
quotes/data/statistics
5. Tentative conclusions /implications 5. Conclusions and policy implications
6. Challenges/Future research

13. Academic presentation at
conferences
SOME REAL LIFE EXAMPLES…
•Alberti G. (2010) The new stratification of migrant labour in the hospitality industry: everyday
experiences at work and mobility strategies, Paper presented at the International
Conference ‘New Migrations, New Challenges: Trinity Immigration Initiative’,
Trinity College, 30 June – 3 July 2010, Dublin
•Alberti, G., (2012) ‘Strategic intersectionality’: challenges and opportunities for organising
migrant labour in London’s hospitality. ‘Gender, Work and Organization Conference’,
27th – 29th June 2012, Keele University
•Alberti, G., Holgate, J. and Tapia, M. (2012) Integrating or organising migrant workers?
Identities, educational initiatives and new alliances for trade unions in the UK, the ‘Equality
Diversity and Inclusion 2012 Conference’, 23-25 July 2012, Toulouse, France

14. Summary
-Prepare and structure your ppt according to the stage of you
research (i.e. in progress/completed) and to the audience
-Present your theoretical/literature background but go as soon
as you can into the findings if the research is completed
-Preparation and rehearsal are key for delivering good
presentation with high impact on the public
-Strike a balance between conveying information and engaging
the audience
-Be confident, relaxed and focus on few key messages you want
to get across