Presentation Skills

Science & Technology Leadership Institute
Improving science and technology by improving leadership and communications

Improving science and technology by improving leadership and communications

Giving Consistently Compelling Presentations
For Science, R&D, IT and Engineering Professionals

How many excellent ideas have been lost because they were presented poorly? Do your presentations do justice to the quality of your ideas? Can you effectively communicate what you know? Science and technology depend on effective presentations to bring new ideas from individuals' thinking to tangilbe results. Without effective presentations, the best ideas wither on the vine.

While presentations are important, they are also difficult to do well in science and technology for three reasons::
- Audiences are usually skeptical, critical, difficult to convince
- New concepts are often difficult to explain clearly and simply
- Most technical people have limited skills, comfort and effectiveness when it comes to presenting

We understand and address the chlallenges science and technology presenters face. Featuring extensive practice, feedback and coaching, our presentation skills training consistently, significantly improves comfort, confidence, clarity, logic, compelling story, and influence. We specialize in teaching presenters not only how to deliver their material effectively but also how to engage the groups they present to in full, positive, highly effective discussions to develop ideas and take positive action.

Technical Presentations: Challenges, Mistakes

Presentations of any kind cause stress for many people; several studies feature data pointing out that most people fear giving a presentation more than they fear death. Giving a technical presentation is even more challenging than other kinds of presentations for three reasons:

Complex concepts. The concepts alone provide a significant challenge for many technical presentations. Most technical presentations involve concepts that are complex and difficult to explain. Technical presenters don't just have to present the concepts, they have to make them understandable to people who often lack a baseline understanding of the core ideas and contexts.
Skeptical audience. Audiences for most technical presentations value their own objectivity and skepticism. Enjoying "playing devil's advocate," they comfortably, often enthusiastically, challenge presenters who bring them new ideas.
Lack of presentation experience. Most technical presenters have far more skills and experience developing ideas than presenting them.

Technical Presenters' Common Mistakes

We observe technical presenters making several recurring mistakes, struggling with several issues:

Seeming apathetic. Many technical presenters look and sound disinterested in their own material. Most technical presenters register surprise when they review videos of themselves and observe their seeming lack of interest presenting ideas they care about deeply.

Lost in the data. Many technical presenters flood their audience with data, providing numerous fascinating details and footnotes but failing to point out which aspects of the data are most significant.

Limited logic. Ironically, many technical presenters who value their objectivity present their material in such a way that the logic of their argument is unclear. When they review it, they are often surprised to see that their presentation lacks coherence, flow and logical connections.

Limited preparation. People who wouldn't dream of sending an email without drafting, reviewing and re-drafting still sometimes think they "should" be able to present their material without fully preparing and practicing their presentation.

Ineffective discussions. Most real world "presentations" of technical material are really discussions, exchanges of a group's reactions and thoughts about the material the presenter provided. Most technical presenters handle discussion awkwardly and ineffectively at best, missing the potential to use discussion to develop their ideas further.

Improving Technical Presentations

However challenging technical presentations are, however inexperienced and unskilled most technical presenters may be, it's important to note making improvements is entirely possible. Our intensive practice-based approach registers signficant, lasting gains over brief periods of time.

Our approach ensures results for several reasons:

Extensive practice. Our training involved extensive and multiple forms of pJust several sessions enable participants to improve their comfort and effectiveness.
Extensive feedback. Practice is more valuable when it includes feedback. Our participants receive written, verbal and video feedback on their presentations.

Practice is more valuable when it includes feedback. Our participants receive written, verbal and video feedback on their presentations.

Real material. Participants work with their own material, not "canned" cases from textbooks. Participants learn and apply skills using their own materials, practicing the situations most important to them.

Extensive customization. We customize all programs to meet the specific needs and interests of participants and their companies.

Participants Learn

Participants in our presentation skills training learn a strategic mix of core competencies:

The four key components of the different types of biotech presentations, and how to structure your own presentation to tell a compelling story
How to translate complex information into slides and visual aids that clearly communicate essential information and key points
Why Powerpoint can be a presenter’s best friend --- or worst enemy
How to understand your own presentation style and overcome discomfort
Tips for connecting with your audience before the presentation begins and strengthening that connection throughout your presentation
Increasing your own awareness of how you look and sound: clearly projecting your ideas, beliefs, convictions, interests, passion
Building in natural eye contact, gestures and movement to emphasize key points
Structuring discussions for full engagement while maintaining control
Overall, how to move from tentative, unclear, ineffective presenting to consistent, highly effective presenting of essential information