Tips for Presenting Your Undergraduate Research

Presentation Tips 

• Practice - The best presentation are by people who have practiced their speech over and over again. The more you practice, the less nervous you'll be, the more you can focus on the content of your presentation. And having the beginning of your presentation memorized will get you past your nervous jitters. 
• Know Your Audience - Are you presenting to a room of experts, a room of generalists, or a room of non-scientists? Cater your presentation to your audience. When in doubt, don't be afraid to explain the basics. It's typically always appreciated, even for seasoned scientists. 
• Be Yourself - Showing your personality in a presentation, especially by using occasional humor, will help your audience engage with both yourself and your material. 

Resources

• Scientific Presentations: A Cheat Sheet -- An article with tips from scientists who have given and attended years worth of presentations. 
• Creating a 10-15 Minute Scientific Presentation -- A guide with videos from Northwestern about how to make a short presentation as effective as possible. 
• Scientific Presentations: The Assertion-Evidence Based Approach -- This website from PSU includes sample slides, model presentations, resources on creating posters, and guides for instructors using presentations in their teaching. 
• How to Give Good Presentations -- This guide from Harvard has such useful advice as what is expected at different kinds of talks (workshop, scientific meeting, etc) and how to format your powerpoint slides.