English for Presentations at International Conferences (eBook)

Adrian Wallwork is the author of more than 20 ELT and EAP textbooks. He has trained several thousand PhD students and academics from 35 countries to prepare and give presentations. Since 1984 he has been revising research papers, and in 2009 he set up englishforacademics.com – a proofreading and editing service specifically for researchers.

Preface 5
Who Is This Book for? 5
What Will I Learn from This Book? 5
How Should I Read This Book? 6
Other Books in This Series 6
Why Do a Presentation at a Conference? 6
Isnt Just Attending a Conference Enough, Why Is It a Good Thing to Give a Presentation? 7
What Kind of Presentations Do Audiences Like to See? 7
What Constitutes a Professional Presentation? 7
What Kind of Presentations Do Audiences NOT Like to See? 8
What About Posters? 8
Contents 9
Part I Preparation and Practice 16
1 Ten Stages in Preparing Your Slides 17
1.1 Find out about the potential audience 18
1.2 Identify your key points/messages 19
1.3 Prepare a two-minute talk 20
1.4 Record and transcribe your two minutes 20
1.5 Expand into a longer presentation 20
1.6 Practice with colleagues 21
1.7 Give your presentation a structure 21
1.8 Create the slides 22
1.9 Modify your script 22
1.10 Cut redundant slides, simplify complicated slides 23
2 Writing Out Your Speech in English 24
2.1 Why should I write a speech? Im giving an oral presentation, not a written one 25
2.2 Use your script to write notes to accompany your slides 26
2.3 Use your speech for future presentations 26
2.4 Only have one idea per sentence and repeat key words 27
2.5 Simplify sentences that are difficult to say 27
2.6 Do not use synonyms for technical/key words 28
2.7 Avoid details/exceptions 28
2.8 Avoid quasi-technical terms 29
2.9 Explain or paraphrase words that may be unfamiliar to the audience 29
2.10 Only use synonyms for nontechnical words 30
2.11 Be conciseonly say things that add value 30
2.12 Use verbs rather than nouns 31
2.13 Avoid abstract nouns 31
2.14 Avoid generic quantities and unspecific adjectives 31
2.15 Occasionally use emotive adjectives 32
2.16 Choose the right level of formality 32
2.17 Summary: An example of how to make a text easier to say 34
2.18 Tense tips 35
2.18.1 Outline 35
2.18.2 Referring to future points in the presentation 36
2.18.3 Explaining the background and motivations 36
2.18.4 Indicating what you did in (a) your research (b) while preparing your slides 37
2.18.5 Talking about the progress of your presentation 37
2.18.6 Explaining and interpreting results 37
2.18.7 Giving conclusions 37
2.18.8 Outlining future research 38
3 Pronunciation and Intonation 39
3.1 Understand the critical importance of correct pronunciation 40
3.2 Find out the correct pronunciation 40
3.3 Learn any irregular pronunciations 42
3.4 Be very careful of English technical words that also exist in your language 42
3.5 Practice the pronunciation of key words that have no synonyms 43
3.6 Be careful of -ed endings 43
3.7 Enunciate numbers very clearly 44
3.8 Avoid er, erm, ah 44
3.9 Use your normal speaking voice 44
3.10 Help the audience to tune in to your accent 44
3.11 Dont speak too fast or too much 45
3.12 Mark up your script and then practice reading it aloud 45
3.13 Use synonyms for words on your slides that you cannot pronounce 46
3.14 Use stress to highlight the key words 47
3.15 Vary your voice and speed 47
3.16 Sound interested 48
4 Practice and Learn from Other Peoples Presentations 49
4.1 Use your notes 50
4.2 Vary the parts you practice 50
4.3 Practice your position relative to the screen 50
4.4 Dont sit. Stand and move around 51
4.5 Use your hands 51
4.6 Have an expressive face and smile 52
4.7 Learn how to be self-critical: practice with colleagues 52
4.8 Analyze other peoples slides 54
4.9 Watch presentations on the Internet 54
4.10 Test yourself on what you remember of the presentations youve watched 56
4.11 Improve your slides after the presentation 56
5 Handling Your Nerves 58
5.1 Identify your fears 59
5.2 Dont focus on your English 59
5.3 Write in simple sentences and practice your pronunciation 59
5.4 Identify points where poor English might be more problematic 60
5.5 Have a positive attitude 60
5.6 Prepare good slides and practice 61
5.7 Opt to do presentations in low-risk situations 61
5.8 Use shorter and shorter phrases 61
5.9 Learn relaxation techniques 61
5.10 Get to know your potential audience at the bar and social dinners 62
5.11 Check out the room where your presentation will be 62
5.12 Prepare for forgetting what you want to say 63
5.13 Prepare for the software or the equipment breaking down 63
5.14 Organize your time 63
Part II What to Write on the Slides 65
6 Titles 66
6.1 Decide what to include in the title slide 67
6.2 Remove all redundancy 68
6.3 Make sure your title is not too technical for your audience 68
6.4 Use a two-part title to attract both a general and a technical audience 69
6.5 Dont be too concise in titlesuse verbs and prepositions not just nouns and adjectives 70
6.6 Check your grammar 71
6.7 Check your spelling 71
6.8 Use slide titles to help explain a process 71
6.9 Think of alternative titles for your slides 72
7 Writing and Editing the Text of the Slides 73
7.1 Be aware of the dangers of PowerPoint 74
7.2 Print as handout then edit 74
7.3 Only use a slide if it is essential, never read your slides 74
7.4 Only write what you are 100 sure is correct 75
7.5 One idea per slide 75
7.6 Generally speaking, avoid complete sentences 75
7.7 Only use complete sentences for a specific purpose 76
7.8 Dont put text in your slides to say what you will do or have done during your presentation 77
7.9 Avoid repeating the title of the slide within the main part of the slide 78
7.10 Use only well-known acronyms, abbreviations, contractions, and symbols 78
7.11 Choose the shortest forms possible 79
7.12 Cut brackets containing text 79
7.13 Make good use of the phrase that introduces the bullets 79
7.14 Avoid references 80
7.15 Keep quotations short 80
7.16 Deciding what not to cut 81
7.17 When youve finished creating your slides, always check your spelling 81
8 Using Bullets 82
8.1 Avoid having bullets on every slide 83
8.2 Choose the most appropriate type of bullet 83
8.3 Limit yourself to six bullets per slide 83
8.4 Keep to a maximum of two levels of bullets 83
8.5 Do not use a bullet for every line in your text 84
8.6 Choose the best order for the bullets 84
8.7 Introduce items in a list one at a time only if absolutely necessary 84
8.8 Use verbs not nouns 85
8.9 Be grammatical 85
8.10 Minimize punctuation in bullets 86
9 Visual Elements and Fonts 87
9.1 Only include visuals that you intend to talk about 88
9.2 Avoid visuals that force you to look at the screen 88
9.3 Use visuals to help your audience understand 88
9.4 Simplify everything 89
9.5 Use a photo to replace unnecessary or tedious text 89
9.6 Avoid animations 90
9.7 Make sure your slide can be read by the audience in the back row 90
9.8 Use maps to interest the audience and boost your confidence 91
9.9 Choose fonts, characters, and sizes with care 92
9.10 Use color to facilitate audience understanding 92
9.11 Choose the most appropriate figure to illustrate your point 93
9.12 Explain graphs in a meaningful way 96
9.13 Remember the difference in usage between commas and points in numbers 98
9.14 Design pie charts so that the audience can immediately understand them 98
10 Getting and Keeping the Audiences Attention 101
10.1 Gain and keep your audiences attention 102
10.2 Exploit moments of high audience attention 102
10.3 Dont spend too long on one slide 103
10.4 Maintain eye contact with the audience 103
10.5 Be aware of the implications of the time when your presentation is scheduled 103
10.6 Quickly establish your credibility 104
10.7 Learn ways to regain audience attention after you have lost it 104
10.8 Present statistics in a way that the audience can relate to them 105
10.9 Be aware of cultural differences 105
10.10 Be serious and have fun 106
Part III What to Say and Do at Each Stage of the Presentation 108
11 Ten Ways to Begin a Presentation 109
11.1 Say what you plan to do in your presentation and why 110
11.2 Tell the audience some facts about where you come from 112
11.3 Give an interesting statistic that relates to your country 112
11.4 Give an interesting statistic that relates directly to the audience 113
11.5 Get the audience to imagine a situation 114
11.6 Ask the audience a question/Get the audience to raise their hands 114
11.7 Say something personal about yourself 116
11.8 Mention something topical 117
11.9 Say something counterintuitive 117
11.10 Get the audience to do something 118
12 Outline and Transitions 120
12.1 Consider not having an Outline slide 121
12.2 Use an Outline slide for longer presentations and for arts, humanities, and social sciences 122
12.3 Use transitions to guide your audience 123
12.4 Exploit your transitions 123
12.5 Signal a move from one section to the next 124
12.6 Only move to the next slide when youve finished talking about the current slide 124
12.7 Only use an introductory phrase to a slide when strictly necessary 124
12.8 Be concise 124
12.9 Add variety to your transitions 125
13 Methodology 126
13.1 Regain the audiences attention 127
13.2 Give simple explanations and be careful when giving numbers 127
13.3 Give examples first, technical explanations second 127
13.4 Reduce redundancy 128
13.5 Just show the key steps in a process or procedure 128
13.6 Explain why you are not describing the whole process 128
13.7 Use active and passive forms effectively 129
13.8 Indicate where you are in a process 130
13.9 Tell a story rather than sounding like a technical manual 130
13.10 Bring your figures, graphs, etc., alive 132
13.11 Minimize or cut the use of equations, formulas, and calculations 133
14 Results and Discussion 134
14.1 Tell the audience what they need to knownot everything that you know 135
14.2 Explain statistics, graphs, and charts in a meaningful way 135
14.3 Communicate the value of what you have doneput your results in the big picture 135
14.4 Avoid phrases that might make you sound overconfident or arrogant 136
14.5 Tell the audience about any problems in interpreting your results 137
14.6 Be positive about others in your field 137
14.7 Explain whether your results were expected or not 138
14.8 Be upfront about your poor/uninteresting/negative results 138
14.9 Encourage discussion and debate 139
15 Conclusions 140
15.1 Be brief and dont deviate from your planned speech 141
15.2 Make sure your final slides give useful information 141
15.3 Show your enthusiasm 142
15.4 Five ways to end a presentation 143
15.4.1 Use a picture 143
15.4.2 Directly relate your findings to the audience 144
15.4.3 Give a statistic 144
15.4.4 Ask for feedback 145
15.4.5 Talk about your future work 145
15.5 Write/Show something interesting on your final slide 145
15.6 Prepare a sequence of identical copies of your last slide 146
16 Questions and Answers 147
16.1 Dont underestimate the importance of the QA session 148
16.2 Prepare in advance for all possible questions 148
16.3 Learn what to say before you introduce the QA session 148
16.4 Give the audience time to respond to your call for questions 149
16.5 Get the questioner to stand up and reply to the whole audience 149
16.6 Repeat the questions 149
16.7 Remember that it is not just your fault if you cant understand the question 150
16.8 Dont interrupt the questioner unless 150
16.9 Be concise 150
16.10 Always be polite 151
17 Useful Phrases 152
17.1 Introductions and outline 153
17.2 Transitions 154
17.3 Emphasizing, qualifying, giving examples 155
17.4 Diagrams 157
17.5 Making reference to parts of the presentation 159
17.6 Discussing results, conclusions, future work 159
17.7 Ending 160
17.8 Questions and answers 161
17.9 Things that can go wrong 163
17.10 Posters 163
Links and References 165
Introduction 165
Part I: Preparation and Practice 165
Chapter 2 165
Chapter 3 166
Chapter 4 166
Chapter 5 166
Part II: What to Write on the Slides 166
Chapter 6 167
Chapter 7 167
Chapter 8 167
Chapter 9 167
Chapter 10 167
Part III: What to Say and Do at Each Stage of the Presentation 168
Chapter 11 168
Chapter 13 168
Chapter 14 168
Chapter 15 169
Other Sources 169
Acknowledgements 170
About the Author 171
Contact the Author 172
Index 173