Presenting analysis and results is essential to any technological project, whether internal to your company or to the professional community. To be effective, the presentation must be convincing, straightforward, articulate, and supported with clear, easy-to-digest slides that convey the results credibly.

The crucial objective is to ensure that your audience understands your message clearly and completely. Accomplishing this, however, is not easy. Studies have shown repeatedly that an audience generally understands and remembers 25% to 30% of what they hear but 60% to 75% of what they see. Noted exploration geophysicist Carl Savit often remarked that a presentation is successful if 20% of the audience gets 20% of your message. His words emphasize what you are up against when delivering presentations.

Key to this effort is putting yourself in the shoes of your audience, who are hearing your story for the first time. Empathy for the audience is essential whether you are conveying your information in a written paper or in an oral presentation. Here, we offer suggestions to aid the clarity and effectiveness of oral presentations. We focus on two aspects: tips for the presentation style itself and tips on the quality and form of slides.

Presentation style

Start smart. First, avoid the tendency to tell every last neat thing you did in your project. Successful talks are usually those that convey not just results but also ideas, concepts, and insights. Be concise. Focus on the main points, and emphasize that the details of the project are in the written paper, expanded abstract, or project report. Professional success often relies on your ability to stress the important points of presentations in the allotted time. When an audience assimilates your message, you gain credibility and respect. If you present your talk so that those who are not experts in the topic area can understand it, then not only will the non-experts appreciate and understand the talk, you will find that those with expertise will appreciate it as well.

Anxiety before a presentation — particularly if you are new to the process — is common. Relax: the audience is not judging you. They are there because they truly want to hear what you have to say and are interested in your message.

It’s all right to be excited and enthusiastic — in fact, it’s preferable! Some of the least interesting presentations are given by individuals who have been in front of an audience so often that they come across as disinterested. Keep in mind that your talk is not a travelogue but a presentation of scientific analysis with interesting results that have implications for beneficial applications (e.g., finding oil and gas to provide energy for society, methods for hazardous waste remediation, identification and warning of natural events to prevent disasters, etc.) It’s helpful to imagine that you are sharing with a colleague, who is a friend, what you have learned in your project.

Always rehearse your talk so that you know exactly how long it will take and can deliver it clearly and concisely. Rehearsing also helps you polish your delivery. Ask a trusted colleague or two to watch your rehearsal and offer constructive criticism. It helps if your rehearsal audience is made up of individuals who are familiar with the material as well as those for whom the message is new.

Avoid using expressions such as “we next see,” “we see here that,” “next, I’ll show you,” “then, I did.” They lack warmth and separate you from your audience. It is more effective to use straightforward, declarative sentences that invite your audience into the presentation. Ideally, you want your audience to think that they themselves have virtually come up with (or could come up with) the ideas you are conveying. This is not as strange as it might seem. Astute members of your audience who really get the thread of what you are presenting are also thinking ahead and drawing conclusions.

As you give your presentation, communicate directly with your audience. It’s helpful to make repeated eye contact with at least one member of the audience; choose someone who seems particularly interested in your talk. You can use his or her responses to your words as a means of interacting with the audience.

Speak directly to your audience, not to the screen. Glance at your slides only enough to ensure that you are aware of what is being projected, then turn to the audience so that they can hear you and you can maintain that all-important eye contact with them. Make sure you keep your presentation as a talk rather than allowing it to degenerate into an explanation of the slides. Starting with the introduction, invite your audience with gestures and your tone of voice to participate in the presentation with you. Draw them into your presentation, and they will be focused with fascination on your every word.

Speak at an appropriate pace during your talk. Most people do not hear and absorb as fast as a rapid speaker talks, particularly now when the oil industry is global and many members have different first languages. Relax, slow down, speak clearly, and communicate. On the other hand, do not speak so slowly that the audience gets bored and tunes out. Use your voice for emphasis, varying the volume and the speed of your delivery. For the essential points, raise your voice, slow down, and pause afterward to let the message sink in.

Make sure your audience really understands the main point. Then, make sure they get each of the other key points in turn.

All presenters accidentally leave something out that they intended to say in a talk. By focusing on the main points, you ensure your audience will get the essential points — those that you really want them to grasp. As long as the audience understands these, it won’t matter that other items were left unsaid.

Remember, you’re telling a story — not writing one. Therefore, avoid using intricate, carefully crafted sentences as in written text. Recognize that in friendly speech, we do not typically speak in sentences, but in short phrases that convey the message concisely.

Editor’s note
A longer version of this article originally appeared in The Leading Edge. It has been reprinted with permission from that publication and the authors.