Susan McConnell (Stanford): Designing effective scientific presentations

www.ibiology.org/professional...
What is the best way to give a talk that engages and informs your audience? Dr. McConnell gives helpful advice on preparing and presenting an effective scientific talk. She reviews the basics of PowerPoint or Key Note and gives advice on choosing fonts, colors and slide styles. She also recommends ways to structure your talk so the audience stays awake and engaged. Her final recommendation is practice, practice, practice! Whether you are a graduate student presenting journal club or a tenured professor giving an invited lecture, this talk is sure to prove useful.

[@riptideanaklusmos5721]

11 years later this is the most helpful video on giving presentations!

[@KundanKumar-dc5jf]

Reason may be you will use this idea to create stunning presentations for Breakthrough Junior Challenge

[@Oodlenoots]

0:00 Intro 3:05 Font style/size 5:29 Color contrast 8:50 Layout (heading, text, lists) 11:19 Use of empty space 12:20 Simple image on each slide 13:51 How many slides to show 14:57 Avoid busy slides 19:10 Data: Don't overdo it 21:21 Minimum essential components 25:19 Structure of a good talk 26:30 Use of home slide 29:27 Meat & Taters; Keeping the audience's attention 31:45 The specificity dive 35:07 Conclusions 37:40 Conclusion/Q&A slide 38:33 Conclusion of this actual presentation

[@caothanhlong7577]

Thank you very much! It helped me a lot.

[@massilejerez27]

my hero!

[@maradeeym1029]

not all heros wear capes!

[@leticiawakem8890]

Thanks

[@hmissile574]

thank you

[@divalyri6735]

What's so hilarious is that at about 30 minutes into her presentation she switched to a dark screen and I found myself getting very sleepy and I almost stopped the video. Then she goes back to the white screen, shows a bell chart, and starts talking about how the attention span of the audience goes down over a period of time. That's EXACTLY how my attention span was during her presentation. But it was a good presentation though.

[@social.2184]

She actually wanted us to feel . She was giving us a practical demonstration on attention span. LOL

[@dinornis]

I hadn't realised this was an 8+ year-old video until reading the comments! It still largely stands the test of time 🥰 one thing that could be interesting to mention is accessibility (it looks like Michael Alley's book doesn't discuss this). Things like high contrast (not using text that blends in with the background) discussed in the video are great examples of important accessible features for disabled listeners/viewers. I like the idea of a centring slide! Thanks for this video, it's given me lots to consider as an undergrad who's new to PP presentations (but has sat through a lot of terrible ones!) 😊

[@armacino89]

This is the best presentation I've ever seen :) I listened every minute of it without skipping! Thank you so much..

[@social.2184]

These are the kind of video for which I love KZbin and the Internet.

[@hopeforescape884]

This video from Jan 2011 still holds up in Jan 2023. 10/10 Thanks for the video doctor : )

[@jumanamp806]

nice one :) you managed to give a talk on "how to talk" very effectively!

[@ardhi108]

This is what I'm looking for. I will have scientific presentation at International seminar next Tuesday. Thank you so much for the tutorial :-)

[@tama7n7anne]

"Use of animation" advise really saved my life. Thank you so much!!!

[@satsumajuice4]

giving a talk at a symposium tomorrow, this really helped!

[@Karatechick135]

thank you so much, this has been a wonderful help! I'm presenting my first ever seminar for my honours so more than a little nervous, but this has been amazing. Thank you!!

[@mkilptrick]

This really explains how the human brain works. Don't corrupt it with a lot of snow unless you are trying to fool it like politics. Excellent presentation.

[@seeker313]

Man I love her personality! Thank you very much professor for providing the whole idea in a comprehensive, insightful and effective way!

[@ritvikrangaraju6994]

This is fantastic. Seriously, I have to give a talk at a conference in a few weeks and I didn't know where to begin. Now I'm confident that I have the tools to make it as good as possible.

[@profLidiaRudnicka]

This is great! A must for every beginner- lecturer and very useful for everyone who gives talks 🏆. Thank you!

[@khalidmasoodi2812]

A very informative talk delivered meticulously. Thank you

[@KhalilWinner1092]

Thank you so much! that was really helpful.. I'm having my first paper presentation this week and the tips in your video were really helpful.. This was one of the best presentations I've ever seen.. Really good job.,!

[@nervousneuron]

This was a good talk. I like the 'data dives' suggestion and coming back to a home slide. It's almost like breaking a lecture up into parts, making it easier for someone to pay attention to the next 'data dive' even if they spaced out on a previous one. It sucks when you lose track of something, and then everything else following that point in the talk doesn't make any sense.

[@bulletproofbrain8194]

Wow, this was an amazing presentation! Thanks a lot, for all the suggestions for an effective presentation!

[@majidmirabolghassemi3223]

Great and very helpful presentation that I have ever seen. I learn many things and at the same time I was gotten positive feeling .Thanks Dr.McConnell

[@buithanh8519]

I'm preparing for my thesis presentation. I kept listening non-stop to your guidances. It was very awesome

[@dvjones262]

This remains an excellent tutorial on how to give a technical presentation - life science based or in any other field. I just used some of the info in a lecture and told my students to be sure and watch this.

[@deekshachandana1356]

I'm already feeling confident about my upcoming presentation.. Thanks! :)

[@Stylax32]

When talking in front of a large audience I use an inverted triangle formation. I choose 3 people.The first in the center of the front row and one on both the extreme left and extreme right of the very back row and alternate my gaze between the 3 during the presentation. Gives everyone the feeling your addressing them at some point.

[@Indrux7]

This video is pure gold! Thanks!!

[@mengzhu8385]

Glad to find out this video before my graduation presentation!

[@amHusssein]

Great stuff. I'm preparing presentation for my viva and this really helped. Thank you.

[@nenengwindaz8054]

Thank you so much Susan, best presentation i ever had!

[@josephgill-lussier3906]

Beautiful smile, intelligent and practical talk!

[@silviadangelo6725]

Thank you so much for sharing this video!!!! What a great help!! Many many thanks

[@ishtiakahmed10]

This is the best presentation ever i seen and learnt about power point presentation and trully helpful to improve slides presentation. She touches all the sides of power point presentation. Thank you so much for the video

[@jjsanchez2]

Thank you for this video! I redesigned my talk after watching your video, I thought it was very helpful!

[@aaronslepkov5835]

Great. Assigned for my Science Communications grad course. Some particularly expert recommendations:1. Use of a Home Slide; 2. Summary slide with complex terms, acronyms and jargon to help with Q&A (!); 3. Only show what you plan to highlight or mention. Don't be lazy and the audience will appreciate your efforts.

[@kevinwalkingPH]

I'm looking for videos to help me on a presentation for October and this video had been really helpful. Thanks!

[@alekseiegorov9857]

Amaizing presentation about presentations! Thank you!

[@SpadeTheCat]

"You're probably tuning into this talk because you're interested in improving your speaking skill." Nah, I just gotta watch this for class.

[@dhruvmulmule3618]

Thank you! this video was really helpful.

[@forzakazakh]

This is so useful!Thank you so much!

[@jinwookim1022]

This is just what I want to learn. It would be greatly helpful. Thank you very much!

[@hongjieyan6342]

it is very helpful , thank you so much for your tips

[@shbt2011]

This is so helpful, my advisor made us watch the whole video :( , but we still liked it. Also, I think it's a good video to watch when tripping.

[@christinawicker190]

a fantastic talk

[@JeSuisNo_one247]

You are definitely correct

[@teresating3111]

Thank-you for such an effective presentation on presentations! You have covered all the points I would have myself, and now I will only need to have the students (non English speaking PhDs) watch this video, do some followup tasks and then we can move forward more efficiently. Thanks!

[@happyfelixcat]

one comment about "less is more". I think a common strategy used by a lot people is that put the redundant slides after the end of the talk. In this way, if someone in the audience bring up a question that could be perfectly answered by those slide, voilà.

[@wienvasp]

This talk is really informative and helpful. Great Thanks!

[@zeinabousaid8217]

Thank you so much for this, just what i was looking for

[@user-qu5jy3ki2b]

A perfect lecture, Thanks.

[@suyashsawale9508]

Very helpful and insightful presentation. Thank you.

[@user-kn9lv9xv2t]

Thank you for really helpful tips!!

[@AhmedAdelSaleh]

Great video Thank you Dr.McConnell

[@thomasmccormack9136]

It would be really great if some examples of PPTs from actual presentations were uploaded here.

[@drrakeebahmad8736]

Great to listen this professional talk...

[@yunfeiwang7415]

Thank you so much! It's pretty helpful before my prospectus!

[@GagaSoshified]

this is great!! thank you so much!! appreciate it a lot!

[@Daioos]

this video helped a lot ! thank you

[@md.shirajurrahman6314]

Great job... very nice to hear...& thank you...

[@sysvrev0]

Wow. Great stuff! Thanks.

[@sayankundu2978]

I really want to convey my respectful thanks for teaching us the presentation style....May I request iBiology to make some more video on the topic

[@nirmalkukreja7901]

Thanks for your advice mam. It was really helpful. My presentation went a lot better with your sugestions. I knew how to began and how to end it.

[@user-nf6ml5oy3g]

Thank you! It's really helpful!

[@michaelrishot1839]

It is good sometimes, to understand how to simplify complex things (that's simplify not double talk) so that people understand clearly how things are.

[@fabriziofrancomorris3410]

This has been so helpful, thank you

[@Shihy52x]

I have to say that she is an expert

[@vidhyabangar726]

oo ko ooooo9oooooooooooooooooooooooooo kokon ioœœ ok opinion o99ooo oo oo oo ooOOO on OOO koo

[@vidhyabangar726]

o

[@vidhyabangar726]

o

[@vidhyabangar726]

o

[@vidhyabangar726]

oó

[@fasogoss]

If you watch this till the end , then you should understand she is and expert and got all your attention.

[@yueyu2403]

Wow she is so good! Thanks for all the tips

[@miao4813]

It is quite helpful, Thanks for your advices!

[@shiladri007]

This is quite brilliant!

[@zeinabahmadian9282]

Thank you, it was wonderful.

[@9208310602]

gr8 video...helped me a lot...thanx Susan !

[@NahtanN-jj9lc]

You're amazing, thanks a million

[@NHEdit-vh9yq]

Thank you and much appreciated. I hope move inspiring videos from you in the future. By having this might give impact for my final year project. wish me luck.:)

[@wgcvirtual]

Amazing presentation. I'd like to know which softwares were used to unify powerpoint with the video image of the presenter in one single screen. I noticed the presenter was apparently looking at a screen on her right side, so she could be sure exactly where to indicate on the screen in order to, at the end, look like she really had a powerpoint screen behind her.

[@alacatooo]

Probably just a. Green screen

[@DrorProductiones]

Amazing video realy helpful thank you!

[@wenbinyang1689]

Wonderful presentation on how to give a presentation

[@dominickchoi813]

Thank you very much... this is very informative

[@user-vm4uw6vc6h]

Very very helpful, thank you!

[@DownloadVLC]

Great ideas to doing a scientific presentation.

[@elMARABIYOCHO1989]

This is extremely helpful.

[@pornpimonek-eudomsuk3741]

very helpful advice, thk so much : )

[@masio2605]

I wish this was an obligatory presentation to watch by everyone in STEM. How pretty the life would become? :) Hehe. No more talks where you just sit agitated because you cannot follow the speaker most of the time.

[@elahehemamgholizadeh3948]

It was really great video!

[@somon90]

This presentation was quite good, from a presentation standpoint. From a design standpoint some things could be added: Comic sans is a badly designed ineffective font that doesn't work well when anti-aliased, please don't use it, people in the audience will loath your presentation if you use it. Limit yourself to one, at max two fonts; this applies to figures to. Many fonts will distract the viewer and look bad. No boxes, don't put boxes around figures, images or text, it serves no purpose and just makes the presentation look bad You absolutely don't have to limit your text colour to blue and black, I would avoid primary colours and go for darker tones. For light backgrounds and lighter tones for dark backgrounds, use adobe kuler to check contrasts. Limit your colour use, two or three colours is enough, try to apply this to figures, this might be hard in some figures, avoid primary colours and use adobe kuler to find nice complementary colour selections. A nicely designed presentation will make it more memorable and will make people pay more attention, a effective presentation need not be ugly.

[@permanentcynthia]

this is extremely useful!

[@s1spencer19]

This is incredibly useful! I have sent your video to all of my trainees and have changed my own talks with your advice in mind. Thanks so much!

[@irasciblelad]

Melissa Spencer hey! I want to make a request here. Can you email me this talk at [e-mail]. I can't Download it as I am in China (isolated from outside world) . Thanks

[@scicommlab]

You can download the video from the website - let us know if this works for you: www.ibiology.org/ibioseminars/techniques/susan-mcconnell-part-1.html

[@irasciblelad]

iBiology yes I have download it. Thanks

[@drrakeebahmad8736]

Your sincere acknowledgement ensures that you are pure hearted soul...

[@user-gn7fp9xm5t]

Helps a lot. Thank u very much!!!

[@AurobindVidyarthi]

Amazing Tips..!!

[@asst.prof.drrafa3261]

Thanks for such wonderful prsentation

[@Colonies_Dev]

this is such a good talk

[@hanyue6436]

fantastic talk forever

[@TeachTheGeek]

When practicing the presentation, time it so you don't go over the allotted time. If you're given 15 minutes to present, practice so you finish at 14 minutes. Inevitably, you'll adlib when you actually present. You've given yourself a 1 minute buffer so you'll still finish within time.

[@fat_cat_s2]

Very helpful presentation! I really appreciate it a lot. I got lots of tips here and could successfully have a good presentation for my intern work 3 months ago

[@kevinvientianelaos]

What are the tips you can tell?

[@yating1112]

it is really helpful for me, thanks!!

[@joeyzalman8254]

very clear thank you!

[@mariarevelesmiranda6409]

Oh, is great.. Thank you so much

[@nicolethebossplayz2883]

You are a perfect scientist

[@amanrayat4411]

Really informative 👏

[@zhenzhenzhang5489]

useful guide for starting a powerpoint presentation.

[@dxtulip3288]

thank you very much!

[@MissHannahIBanana]

"Did I remember to load that gel" , this is too accurate.

[@franciscorocha6913]

Thkx a lot!its really helpful.