Last Minute Presentation Reminders

I’ve been called on sort of short notice to present the work from the YouthTube paper for CSCW 2016. That’s taken up a lot of my nervous energy, so I thought perhaps this week’s blog should go to some good tips that I’ve collected for myself as I get ready for my first conference presentation.

• The best hook to start a presentation is one that gives the audience an idea of what they should be listening for in the presentation and tricks them into listening in the first place.
• A clear story is better than all the evidence of fancy science.
• On slides, a few memorable words is better than a fully written paragraph.
• Use a road map, table of contents, progress bar, anything to help the audience keep track of where you are in the talk.
• If a fellow grad student asks a question and looks like they might be nervous, be nice, because asking questions is just as scary as giving presentations. Everybody wants to look good.
• Remember that this is not the proving ground for the work. If it wasn’t good enough to have a good presentation, then it couldn’t have been accepted.
• Don’t go over the time limit. ​