Giving Conference Presentations

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Giving Conference Presentations

• Kevin Eric DePew
• October 2, 2007
• ODU English

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Presentation Overview

• Why Present?
• The Presentation Texts
• Giving the Presentation
• Designing the Presentation

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Why Present?

• Opportunity to go to Conferences
• exposure to current scholarship
• meet new people
• start collaborations
• Develop professional identity
• Get feedback

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Presentation Texts

• The call for papers (CFP)
• Your response to the CFP
• The conference paper
• Handouts (optional)
• PowerPoint (optional)

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The Conference Paper

• 20 minutes
• 8 pages, double-spaced 8 - 15 slides
• Genre
• Problem purpose of presentation
• Frame connection to conversation
• Response solution to problem, examples
• Consider audience purpose
• Save some details for QA

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Roundtable

• A position statement made to prompt discussion
• Often for practical issues
• Focus on problem and response
• Include academic conversation when necessary

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Handouts

• Gives your audience an artifact of your
  presentation can include
• your contact information
• your abstract
• references
• Illustrations or examples
• suggestions
• space for notes
• Use CRAP for design

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PowerPoint Presentation

• Helps you to present extemporaneously, but
  maintain focus
• Organization
• structured ? loose
• Effect
• orientation ? distraction
• More on PPT later

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Giving Presentations

• Conference Presentation Etiquette
• Reading vs. Speaking
• The Physical Presentation

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Presentation Etiquette

• DO NOT
• exceed your time limit
• give a different paper
• be unorganized
• DO
• show confidence in your work
• know your material
• be respectful

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Reading vs. Speaking

• Know the culture
• Reading
• A helps to keep you organized, on-task
• D often prevents eye contact, loss of ethos
• Speaking
• A demonstrates knowledge in material
• D can appear unorganized

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Physical Presentation

• Pay attention to your location especially if
  using a screen for PPT
• Make eye contact
• Do not talk to the screen or paper point to text
  when appropriate
• If using PPT do not read slides, but use them to
  organize your talk

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Designing PPT Presentations

• The way that each slide looks affects how the
  audience receives information
• Therefore, pay attention to
• Fonts
• Color
• Special Effects
• Images
• Repetition

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Appropriateness

• Use appropriate backgrounds, images, and special
  effects for your presentation
• Discuss one issue per slide
• Use as little text as possible
• long passages
• do not place entire quote on slides
• excerpt, verbalize, or place in handout

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Giving Presentations

• Why Present?
• The Presentation Texts
• Giving the Presentation
• Designing the Presentation