Powerpoint presentation is one of the most effective ways to communicate our science. However, mastering the art of presentation can be a long and enduring journey. There are two parts of a good presentation. One is about speaking, and the other is the actual presentation itself. If you have a fear of public speaking, please check out our previous post on “combat the public speaking fear”.
This post focuses on the design components of a good presentation. Luckily for us, there are many fundamental principles that you can learn from this short-ish video to help you achieve that mastery. This video, suggested by Hongyang Hao from Dan Starr’s lab, features Stanford neurologist Susan McConnell. Susan McConnell is a world-respected scholar and science communicator with iBiology. She is a member of both National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she is also both an HHMI scholar and a Pew Scholar. The list goes on and on.
You may know some of the recommendations already from the video, especially, if you are a UC Davis BMCDB graduate student who went through our awesome rotation class. However, I’m sure there is much more new information that you can learn from this video. Also, it is just a good practice to systematically evaluate your presentation skills once a while, and make sure your presentations don’t have the pitfalls mentioned in the video.
Mentioning the rotation class made me remember my first presentation in that class. All I can say is “ughhhhh”. I’m so glad it is better now.
Yulong
Want to see more awesome videos like this one? Make sure to check out iBiology and their videos on the importance of giving a good presentation and more tips on creating effective slides.
Suggested by Hongyan Hao
Edited by Anna Feitzinger, Keith Fraga
For any content suggestions or general recommendations, please email to UCDBioScope@gmail.com and put science 2.0 in the title.