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.
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