Seminar Presentation Tips

Converting Your Paper to a 20-Minute Presentation

Platform Techniques

Visual Aids

Converting Your Paper to a 20-Minute Presentation

Plan your talk around the allotted 20 minutes:

• About 15 minutes, plus 5 minutes for Q&A.

Make sure you have time for the key points, especially your conclusions.
• In general, allocate the time as follows:
• minutes 1 - 5 (max): Introduction and background
• minutes 5 - 10 (roughly): Body (analysis, detailed discussion, etc.)
• minutes 10 - 15 (again, roughly): Conclusion, recommendations, and other closing remarks
• minutes 15 - 20: Questions and answers
• Of course, there's some room for adjusting how much time to give what. Some folks only need 2 or 3 minutes for intro, others only 2 or 3 for the conclusion, etc.

Organize your talk clearly:

• At the very least, have a recognizeable Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. A more detailed structure will depend on your specific topic.
• Even if the introduction has to be very brief (a minute or so), make sure include it, to give listeners some sense of what to expect. DON'T just jump into details.
• Similarly, include a conclusion, however brief -- don't just stop talking.

Use your introduction to:

• tell us what question or issue you investigated
• tell us why it's important
• outline the rest of your talk

Use your conclusion to:

• Summarize key points, suggest future research or applications, etc.
• Answer the question / issue you raised in the introduction
• Clearly signal that you're finished

Don't try to include everything in the paper:

• There's no way you'll have time. Use the presentation to explain the issue/question, go over the key points or highlights of your analysis, and tell us your conclusion. Save highly detailed information for the Q&A.

Platform Techniques

• Talk with your audience -- think of your presentation as a "formal conversation."

DON'T just read your paper aloud -- it's painfully dull for your listeners, and there's
no way you can do it in the time allowed.
• Look out at your audience -- make eye contact with people.
• Use gestures and move around when appropriate.

Visual Aids

• Use overhead transparencies or other visual aids, so the audience can see AND hear your ideas.
• Keep your visual aids simple, brief, and uncluttered. For text slides, use a max. of 7 words by 7 lines.
• DON'T reproduce pages verbatim from your paper -- they'll be far too small and busy for anyone to read.
• Make visual aids big enough to see.
• Text transparancies should typically use 24 to 36 point type
• Drawings should have lines dark enough to show up on the screen
• To test the size of your visual aids, try these helpful checks:
• 1 inch to 10 foot rule: For every 10 feet away the audience is from the screen, letters or other symbols should be 1 inch high on the screen (i.e., not on the transparancy itself, but projected on the screen)
• "view from the floor": Place a printout of your transparancy on the floor, and stand up. If you can read it comfortably from your standing height, it's probably big enough to project OK too.
• Limit yourself to 7 - 8 overheads for the main presentation. Bear in mind that it typically takes people about 20 to 30 secondes just to START processing a new overhead, let alone really make sense of it.
• Spend an average of about 2 - 3 minutes on each. Use at least one for your introduction, and at least one for your conclusion.
• Have additional overheads ready with more detailed information, for the Q&A session, especially if you're anticipating that people will have questions

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Author: Kathy Farrell
Copyright © 1996, Kathleen L. Farrell
First Release: April 19, 1997