Preparing presentations
By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor March 2025
Suggestions as you prepare to present.
I am sure we all find conferences very valuable and informative. We connect with colleagues, get inspired, follow new developments, start new collaborations and projects, talk with customers and suppliers and strengthen relations by exposing our human side over an enjoyable lunch or dinner. One of the main goals of course is to follow new technical developments. Technical people prepare presentations to inform and sometimes for commercial goals. Each presentation starts a year before as an idea and follows by initial tests, and if successful, continues with full scale testing and product development. Sometimes this work continues for more than a year. At the end of all this hard work, the presenter stands in front of peers and talks about the subject with the aid of data, graphs and pictures that inform the audience.
After all this work one would think that the presentation would be the easiest part. In reality it isn’t and, in some cases, a whole year of work can be lost to the audience if the presentation is not well prepared or well delivered. I will present to you thoughts that are based on my experience and suggestions and guidance that I received from many wise people.
First of all, one must think about the environment where the delivery is going to take place. Who will be the audience? What is it that we want them to retain after the talk—better still, after a couple of weeks? Most people do not have a photographic memory and will not remember 95% of what they are able to see. So, what two to three key things should they clearly see and retain? They can always get in touch later for more details.
Will it be easy for people sitting in the back if numbers or letters are small? Some colors like yellow are very difficult to see from a distance. Letters should be easy to read. Colors must be complimenting and not distracting or obscuring. The slides must not have a lot of data or bullet points. I am so thankful to my first research leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New Crop Industrial Research Unit, Mr. Robert Kleiman, who ruthlessly would cut my slides to no more than three bullet points. The presenter might think that if they have all the information on the slide, they can talk about each section of that slide, and a crowded slide will not be a problem. But for most people in the audience this is not easy to follow. When a slide appears with a lot of information, it triggers a frantic feeling of trying to absorb everything on the slide before the slide changes. In this state of mind, to follow what is being said and restrict our minds only to follow what is being said is very difficult. The brain works much faster than the speed of speech, so the mind wanders. Questions appear, and by that time the slide changes. The presenter must prevent the minds of the audience from wandering and must have the answers to the possible questions that will appear in people’s minds, hopefully on the same slide.
Most scientists make the mistake of trusting that the data will speak for itself, and what they have learned and absorbed during a whole year of work can be retained in the mind of a listener in a few seconds. We all know this does not happen. So, if the listener is probably not going to retain the information that fast, how can we make the best out of the situation? Suggestions are toward targeting the retention of three to four points after the whole presentation. If we consider that these listeners will go on to listen to more talks and then have private meetings, dinners and late nights that go on for three or four days back to back, we will quickly come to the conclusion that the logical thing to do would be to target a more modest goal of delivering a few points. If the audience remembers this without getting stressed, they can always review the full length of the presentation when they have the time and place to soak in all the information.
Then there is the delivery. The speed, clarity, volume, speaker movement and the appearance of the speaker must compliment the topic so as to not distract the listeners.
Now if you have noticed, everything I suggest is geared toward making it easier for the audience to retain the information. In my experience this concept is a key point to helping the speaker to overcome fear of public speech. It is said that public speaking is ranked second after fear of death. I had no public speaking experience until I started teaching at the university. I had quite a few years of private tutoring during my high school and university years. The key goal in tutoring, which I was paid for, was to make sure the student understood the subject. Everything I said was tailored to their way of thinking, to their way of understanding. The time and environment were adjusted so they would not get distracted. I used this background in my lectures to over 100 students and then incorporated the idea that the audience was not there to criticize me or even see me. I was the most knowledgeable person in that room to deliver on a subject they really wanted to learn. I wanted to deliver the message and wanted them to retain it, and they wanted to learn it. Both sides came out with a lot of passion and positive energy. Suddenly, fear of speech disappeared! I had taken the “me concept” out of the equation. Everyone was focused on the subject! From then on, the lectures became very enjoyable experiences.
I wish everyone many fruitful interactions in the coming conference season.
Dr. Selim Erhan is director of business development for Process Oils Inc. in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at serhan@processoilsinc.com.