Presentations have always made me nervous. All through high school, sixth form, and my undergrad degree. Now, as a PhD student, I’ve finally achieved the lofty height of not totally hating them. I do still get nervous though. Anyway, the point is that presentations are an incredibly important part of any degree and academic career. You can’t avoid them, so might as well try and get really good at them.
Academic presentations are important for a number of reasons:
1. Improving communication skills
During a PhD you will have to present, typically to your research group, maybe to your department, or at a conference, or even to a general audience. I would advise seeking opportunities to present at these different levels of complexity, as this is a good test of your understanding. Oftentimes presenting to specialists in the same field is easier than presenting to non-specialists, where you will have to remove subject-specific jargon, and really dig down to your core message. Typically you will excel at presenting your research to a more general audience concisely only if you really understand your research well. In addition, communication skills are crucial for academia and other jobs as well. While presenting a talk may be different than writing a research paper, there is a “core” set of communication skills that giving a talk will help you to refine.
2. Improve your own understanding of your research
Before presenting your research, you have to make sure that you’ve understood it really well. You have to think about the best way to explain the problem you’re trying to address, or the best way to present the data that you’ve gathered. Working through your research like this before a presentation often deepens your understanding. You have to consider what the key messages of your research are. What results do you have that support this? What are the questions your research leaves unanswered? Are there any gaps in your argument that you’re likely to be asked about? I’ve often found that after dedicating time to preparing a presentation is when I understand my research the best. Being asked a question that you haven’t prepared for is also another opportunity to learn something. The questioner may raise an important viewpoint that you haven’t considered, or may mention a relevant paper you weren’t aware of. I’ve been in the position of receiving a question I couldn’t answer, and this made me realise that I needed to brush up on certain areas.
3. Builds confidence in presenting
I think the thing that undermines most presentations (besides going into too much specific detail) is nerves. While I still get nervous presenting, I’ve gotten to the point through practice that my nerves don’t inhibit my ability to present. Being confident will improve the quality of your presentations, and the best way to get that confidence is through experience!
4. Opens opportunities
Most if not all academic jobs will require you to give a presentation on your work, so a good presentation can open many doors. Likewise, even if your research is of great quality, if you deliver a terrible presentation you might not get that job. Giving a good presentation doesn’t just help you get your research across, but it also demonstrates that you have good communication skills, a key ability for an academic career.
Another example is if you’re at a conference presenting a poster or a talk. A good presentation delivered in this context could open the door to a collaboration or job offer.
5. Allows you to share your research with others
Last but not least, presentations allow you to share your research with others. Dissemination is a key part of the research cycle, as ultimately no one can benefit from or utilise your research if it hasn’t been released into the world. I’m a strong believer in the idea that since most research is publicly funded, it should be disseminated to the public, e.g. through outreach events.
To conclude, giving presentations is a key part of the PhD experience. So, embrace the opportunity to give presentations, and take advantage of the many benefits they offer.
"If you think presentations cannot enchant people, then you have never seen a really good one." - Guy Kawaski