types of conference presentation

Conference Presentation: A comprehensive guide

In this guide learn how to choose a topic, develop content, deliver with confidence, and more.

Raja Bothra

Building presentations

Welcome to the world of conference presentations!

Whether you're an academic, a professional, or simply someone eager to share your knowledge, the art of delivering an effective conference presentation is a skill worth mastering.

In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the ins and outs of conference presentations, from understanding what they are to mastering the key elements that make them successful.

So, grab your "presentation slide" of inspiration and let's dive into the world of conference presentations.

What is a conference presentation?

A conference presentation is a means of conveying information, research findings, or ideas to an audience in a structured and engaging manner. It's a platform for individuals to showcase their expertise, share their insights, and foster discussions on topics ranging from academic research to professional insights. Whether you're presenting at an "academic conference" or a corporate gathering, the goal remains the same: to effectively communicate your message.

Types of Conference Presentations

Before we delve into the nitty-gritty details, let's explore the different types of conference presentations you might encounter:

Oral presentation

The quintessential "oral presentation" remains one of the most prominent formats across conferences, be it academic or professional. These presentations typically span a concise 15-20 minutes, providing a platform for presenters to delve into a wide array of topics:

Research findings : Share your latest research discoveries.
Completed works : Showcase your completed projects and their outcomes.
Innovative concepts : Introduce groundbreaking ideas that push the boundaries.
Theoretical Applications : Explore the theoretical underpinnings of your field.
Methodologies : Explain the methodologies you've employed in your work.

The structure of an oral presentation allows for a systematic exploration of these topics, followed by a brief Q&A session, providing valuable interactions with the audience.

Poster presentation

On the flip side, "poster presentations" offer a more relaxed and interactive avenue to convey your work. This format involves creating a visual "poster presentation" that succinctly highlights your key points. Here's why poster presentations are worth considering:

Concise and visually appealing : Posters condense your work into a visually engaging format.
Informal interaction : Presenters stand by their posters in a common area, ready to engage with curious attendees.
Networking opportunity : It's an excellent way to network with fellow researchers and gain valuable feedback on your work.

Poster presentations bridge the gap between the visual and the informative, making them an excellent choice for those looking to engage their audience in a more relaxed setting.

Beyond the basics

While oral and poster presentations are the cornerstone of many conferences, there are other presentation formats that cater to diverse objectives and preferences:

Panel discussions : Experts gather to discuss a specific topic in front of an audience, offering varied perspectives and insights.
Roundtables : In a more informal setting, a small group of individuals engage in in-depth discussions on a particular topic.
Workshops : Attendees immerse themselves in hands-on activities to acquire new skills or knowledge.
Keynote speeches : Prominent speakers take the stage to deliver inspiring talks on topics of paramount importance to the conference audience.
Lightning talks : These brief, high-impact presentations, typically lasting 5-10 minutes, cover a wide array of topics in a succinct manner.

Selecting the most appropriate presentation format depends on the nature of the conference and your personal preferences. If you're unsure about which format aligns best with your objectives, don't hesitate to reach out to the conference organizers for guidance. After all, the key to a successful conference presentation is choosing the format that allows you to shine and effectively convey your message.

How to structure an effective conference presentation

A well-structured presentation is like a well-composed symphony - it captures the audience's attention and leaves a lasting impression. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you create a harmonious presentation:

1. Begin with a clear introduction

The beginning of your presentation is your chance to make a memorable first impression. Start by introducing yourself and your topic. Use a "clear outline" to provide a roadmap for your presentation. For instance, you can say, "Today, I'll discuss the key elements of a successful conference presentation, including effective structure, engaging visuals, and impactful delivery."

2. Create an engaging body

The body of your presentation should contain the main points you want to convey. Here's where your "slide deck" comes into play. Each slide should emphasize a single point, keeping it concise and visually appealing. Remember the "good rule of thumb" - one slide per key idea.

3. Emphasize with visuals

Visual aids, such as graphs and images, can help "emphasize" your message and make complex information easily understood. However, don't overload your slides with visuals; use them strategically to "get the message across."

4. Maintain audience engagement

Your "presentation style" plays a vital role in keeping your audience engaged. Practice "body language" that conveys confidence and enthusiasm. Maintain "eye contact with your audience" to establish a connection. Utilize gestures to "emphasize" key points and establish a rapport with your audience.

5. Summarize key takeaways

As you approach the "end of your presentation," allocate some time to summarize the key takeaways. This reinforces the main points and ensures your audience leaves with a clear understanding of your message.

Do’s and don'ts of a conference presentation

Now that you know how to structure your presentation effectively, let's explore some do's and don'ts that can make or break your presentation.

Rehearse : "Rehearse your presentation" practise multiple times to ensure a smooth delivery.
Use visuals : Incorporate visuals, but don't let them "distract the audience."
Maintain eye contact : "Maintain eye contact with your audience" to establish a connection.
Engage the audience : "Give your audience" opportunities to participate, ask questions, or share their thoughts.
Time management : Stick to the allotted time. "Conference organizers" appreciate punctuality.

Don'ts:

Overwhelm with text : Avoid adding slide after slide filled with font text. Remember, less is often more.
Lack of preparation : Don't "rehearse" just once. The more you practice, the more confident you'll feel.
Reading slides : Don't simply "read your paper" or slides. Your audience can do that themselves.
Ignoring questions : Always address "questions from the audience" respectfully and thoughtfully. Avoid being unprofessional.
Going off topic : Stay on track. "Unrelated tangents" can confuse your audience.

Summarizing Key Takeaways

In this comprehensive guide, we've covered the essentials of crafting an "effective conference presentation." From structuring your presentation to engaging your audience, you now have the tools to shine at your next conference.

Conference Presentations are a means to share information or research effectively.
Types include oral (concise talks) and poster (visual presentations).
Other formats like panels, roundtables, workshops, keynotes, and lightning talks cater to different objectives.
Structure your presentation with a clear intro, engaging body, visuals, audience engagement, and key takeaways.
Do's: Rehearse, use visuals wisely, maintain eye contact, engage the audience, and manage time.
Don'ts: Avoid overwhelming text, lack of preparation, reading slides, ignoring questions, and going off-topic.

Remember, a great presentation is not just about delivering information; it's about creating a memorable experience for your audience. Whether you're "presenting at a conference" for the first time or you're a seasoned pro, these tips for presenting will help you make a lasting impression.

1. How can I create the best presentation for my conference talk?

To craft an impactful presentation for your conference talk, consider beginning with a PowerPoint template tailored to the theme of the event. The right template, such as a specialized conference strategy presentation template , can provide a solid foundation for organizing your content. Ensure your presentation flows seamlessly, incorporating bullet points strategically to highlight key information. Moreover, delivering an effective conference paper necessitates practicing in front of a mirror and employing gestures to underscore essential points.

‍ 2. What is the typical length of a conference presentation?

The length of your effective presentation may vary depending on the conference committee's guidelines, but most conferences allocate around 15-20 minutes for each presentation. It's important to remember to keep track of time as you present, as you may run out of time if you're not careful.

3. Do I need to submit an abstract before presenting a paper at a conference?

Yes, you typically need to submit an abstract related to your topic before being accepted to present at a conference. The conference committee reviews these abstracts to determine which presentations are most suitable and interesting to the audience members interested in your research.

4. How can I make my conference presentation memorable?

To make your memorable presentation, use slide decks effectively, and consider the presentation technology available on the conference platform. Emphasize key points and use gestures to engage your audience. Also, e.g., include relevant images and graphs in your slides to help the audience understand your research paper.

5. What should I do if I'm presenting at a conference where the audience is unfamiliar with my field?

If you're presenting at a conference where the audience is unfamiliar with your field, make sure to use simple language and avoid jargon. Provide enough context and background information related to your topic to help the audience understand. Additionally, be prepared to ask a question or two to engage the audience and familiarize them with your work during the Q&A session.

Create your conference presentation with prezent

Before we conclude, here's a valuable tip: Consider using presentation software like Prezent to streamline your conference presentation creation process. Prezent offers:

Time savings: Prezent can save you up to 70% of the time typically spent on crafting presentations, allowing you to focus on other critical conference preparations.
Brand consistency: Access to brand-approved designs from Fortune companies ensures that your conference presentation maintains a professional and consistent look.
Audience engagement: Prezent helps you understand your audience's preferences, enabling you to create presentations that resonate and engage effectively.
Cost efficiency: By standardizing presentations and streamlining communication, Prezent can cut communication costs by up to 60%, a valuable advantage for conference budgets.
Overnight service: Take advantage of Prezent's overnight presentation service for tight deadlines, ensuring you receive a polished presentation by the next business day.

In conclusion, a successful conference presentation is all about striking the right balance between structure, visuals, and engagement. Mastering these elements will not only boost your "presentation skills" but also ensure that your audience leaves with a deeper understanding of your work.

So, go ahead, "present your paper" with confidence, captivate your audience, and leave a lasting impression on the conference stage.

Happy presenting!

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84 Types of Conference Presentations

Conference presentations take many forms. Before submitting an abstract to a conference, be sure to consider what kind of presentation you want to make. Below, we discuss some common presentation types:

Traditional Paper/Oral Presentation : This is the standard oral presentation (usually 15 minutes plus additional time at the end for questions) where one or more speakers (joint-presenters) share research results, completed works, innovative concepts, theoretical application, methodologies or tools.
Student Presentation : These are similar to the traditional paper/oral presentations described above, but with an emphasis on students work. By providing a separate avenue for students to share their work or labelling the presentation as “students”, the pressure can be lessened. Sometimes, students have separate sessions, but other times, they are grouped with other paper presentations. If this is the case, the presentation is usually identified as student presentations in the program.
Poster Presentation : This is a less formal opportunity to share your work in a visual format. We discuss this in greater depth later in the chapter.
Panel Presentation : This is where multiple speakers present their perspective on a common issue usually for 60 to 90 minutes. While many students prefer to present posters or shorter oral presentations, if a group of students have a common research interest or concern, they can apply to a conference to present on a panel. The speakers are responsible for coordinating the panel and assigning roles (such as moderator). Each speaker on a panel is usally given at least one individual question as well as an introductory and closing remark.
Roundtables : are similar to panel in the sense that a group of discussants seated around a table comment on a theme. Roundtable presenters bring targeted questions to pose to participants at the table in order to learn from and with those attending. It is quite unlikely that you will present your work on a roundtable, but you can check out conference websites if you wish to learn more (see Box for a list of potential conference).
Lightning Round-Tables : These are opportunities to network by briefly summarizing your work to a small audience (usually in 15 minutes or less) followed by an interactive discussion. Discussants will then move to another table and repeat the procedude. This provides the opportunity to get more intimate connections for other participants and attendees.

In addition to the above presentations, at conference, you will likely see expert lectures , keynote addresses and debates . These are presented by established academics in the field so we will not discuss them. However, it is a great idea to go to these presentations at conferences. For the rest of the chapter, we will focus on oral presentations and posters because these are what you will most likely present at conferences. If you wish to submit an abstract for other presentation types, be sure to discuss it with your advisor, supervisor or mentor.

Practicing and Presenting Social Research Copyright © 2022 by Oral Robinson and Alexander Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Home Blog Business Conference Presentation Slides: A Guide for Success

Conference Presentation Slides: A Guide for Success

cover for conference presentation slides guide

In our experience, a common error when preparing a conference presentation is using designs that heavily rely on bullet points and massive chunks of text. A potential reason behind this slide design mistake is aiming to include as much information as possible in just one slide. In the end, slides become a sort of teleprompter for the speaker, and the audience recalls boredom instead of an informative experience.

As part of our mission to help presenters deliver their message effectively, we have summarized what makes a good conference presentation slide, as well as tips on how to design a successful conference slide.

Table of Contents

What is a conference presentation

Common mistakes presenters make when creating conference presentation slides, how can a well-crafted conference presentation help your professional life, how to start a conference presentation, how to end a conference presentation, tailoring your message to different audiences, visualizing data effectively, engaging with your audience, designing for impact, mastering slide transitions and animation, handling time constraints, incorporating multimedia elements, post-presentation engagement, crisis management during presentations, sustainability and green presentations, measuring presentation success, 13 tips to create stellar conference presentations, final thoughts.

The Britannica Dictionary defines conferences as

A formal meeting in which many people gather in order to talk about ideas or problems related to a particular topic (such as medicine or business), usually for several days.

We can then define conference presentations as the combination of a speaker, a slide deck , and the required hardware to introduce an idea or topic in a conference setting. Some characteristics differentiate conference presentations from other formats.

Time-restricted

Conference presentations are bounded by a 15-30 minute time limit, which the event’s moderators establish. These restrictions are applied to allow a crowded agenda to be met on time, and it is common to count with over 10 speakers on the same day.

To that time limit, we have to add the time required for switching between speakers, which implies loading a new slide deck to the streaming platform, microphone testing, lighting effects, etc. Say it is around 10-15 minutes extra, so depending on the number of speakers per day during the event, the time available to deliver a presentation, plus the questions & answers time.

Delivery format

Conferences can be delivered in live event format or via webinars. Since this article is mainly intended to live event conferences, we will only mention that the requirements for webinars are as follows:

Voice-over or, best, speaker layover the presentation slides so the speaker interacts with the audience.
Quality graphics.
Not abusing the amount of information to introduce per slide.

On the other hand, live event conferences will differ depending on the category under which they fall. Academic conferences have a structure in which there’s a previous poster session; then speakers start delivering their talks, then after 4-5 speakers, we have a coffee break. Those pauses help the AV crew to check the equipment, and they also become an opportunity for researchers to expand their network contacts.

Business conferences are usually more dynamic. Some presenters opt not to use slide decks, giving a powerful speech instead, as they feel much more comfortable that way. Other speakers at business conferences adopt videos to summarize their ideas and then proceed to speak.

Overall, the format guidelines are sent to speakers before the event. Adapt your presentation style to meet the requirements of moderators so you can maximize the effect of your message.

The audience

Unlike other presentation settings, conferences gather a knowledgeable audience on the discussed topics. It is imperative to consider this, as tone, delivery format, information to include, and more depend on this sole factor. Moreover, the audience will participate in your presentation at the last minute, as it is a common practice to hold a Q&A session.

Mistake #1 – Massive chunks of text

Do you intend your audience to read your slides instead of being seduced by your presentation? Presenters often add large amounts of text to each slide since they need help deciding which data to exclude. Another excuse for this practice is so the audience remembers the content exposed.

Research indicates images are much better retained than words, a phenomenon known as the Picture Superiority Effect ; therefore, opt to avoid this tendency and work into creating compelling graphics.

Mistake #2 – Not creating contrast between data and graphics

Have you tried to read a slide from 4 rows behind the presenter and not get a single number? This can happen if the presenter is not careful to work with the appropriate contrast between the color of the typeface and the background. Particularly if serif fonts are used.

Using WebAIM tool to check color contrast

Use online tools such as WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to make your slides legible for your audience. Creating an overlay with a white or black transparent tint can also help when you place text above images.

Mistake #3 – Not rehearsing the presentation

This is a sin in conference presentations, as when you don’t practice the content you intend to deliver, you don’t have a measure of how much time it is actually going to take.

Locating the rehearsing timing options in PowerPoint

PowerPoint’s rehearse timing feature can help a great deal, as you can record yourself practising the presentation and observe areas for improvement. Remember, conference presentations are time-limited , don’t disrespect fellow speakers by overlapping their scheduled slot or, worse, have moderators trim your presentation after several warnings.

Mistake #4 – Lacking hierarchy for the presented content

Looking at a slide and not knowing where the main point is discouraging for the audience, especially if you introduce several pieces of content under the same slide. Instead, opt to create a hierarchy that comprehends both text and images. It helps to arrange the content according to your narrative, and we’ll see more on this later on.

Consider your conference presentation as your introduction card in the professional world. Maybe you have a broad network of colleagues, but be certain there are plenty of people out there that have yet to learn about who you are and the work you produce.

Conferences help businesspeople and academics alike to introduce the results of months of research on a specific topic in front of a knowledgeable audience. It is different from a product launch as you don’t need to present a “completed product” but rather your views or advances, in other words, your contribution with valuable insights to the field.

Putting dedication into your conference presentation, from the slide deck design to presentation skills , is definitely worth the effort. The audience can get valuable references from the quality of work you are able to produce, often leading to potential partnerships. In business conferences, securing an investor deal can happen after a powerful presentation that drives the audience to perceive your work as the very best thing that’s about to be launched. It is all about how your body language reflects your intent, how well-explained the concepts are, and the emotional impact you can drive from it.

There are multiple ways on how to start a presentation for a conference, but overall, we can recap a good approach as follows.

Present a fact

Nothing grabs the interest of an audience quicker than introducing an interesting fact during the first 30 seconds of your presentation. The said fact has to be pivotal to the content your conference presentation will discuss later on, but as an ice-breaker, it is a strategy worth applying from time to time.

Ask a question

The main point when starting a conference presentation is to make an impact on the audience. We cannot think of a better way to engage with the audience than to ask them a question relevant to your work or research. It grabs the viewer’s interest for the potential feedback you shall give to those answers received.

Use powerful graphics

The value of visual presentations cannot be neglected in conferences. Sometimes an image makes a bigger impact than a lengthy speech, hence why you should consider starting your conference presentation with a photo or visual element that speaks for itself.

an example of combining powerful graphics with facts for conference presentation slides

For more tips and insights on how to start a presentation , we invite you to check this article.

Just as important as starting the presentation, the closure you give to your conference presentation matters a lot. This is the opportunity in which you can add your personal experience on the topic and reflect upon it with the audience or smoothly transition between the presentation and your Q&A session.

Below are some quick tips on how to end a presentation for a conference event.

End the presentation with a quote

Give your audience something to ruminate about with the help of a quote tailored to the topic you were discussing. There are plenty of resources for finding suitable quotes, and a great method for this is to design your penultimate slide with an image or black background plus a quote. Follow this with a final “thank you” slide.

Consider a video

If we say a video whose length is shorter than 1 minute, this is a fantastic resource to summarize the intent of your conference presentation.

If you get the two-minute warning and you feel far off from finishing your presentation, first, don’t fret. Try to give a good closure when presenting in a conference without rushing information, as the audience wouldn’t get any concept clear that way. Mention that the information you presented will be available for further reading at the event’s platform site or your company’s digital business card , and proceed to your closure phase for the presentation.

It is better to miss some of the components of the conference than to get kicked out after several warnings for exceeding the allotted time.

Tailoring your conference presentation to suit your audience is crucial to delivering an impactful talk. Different audiences have varying levels of expertise, interests, and expectations. By customizing your content, tone, and examples, you can enhance the relevance and engagement of your presentation.

Understanding Audience Backgrounds and Expectations

Before crafting your presentation, research your audience’s backgrounds and interests. Are they professionals in your field, students, or a mix of both? Are they familiar with the topic, or must you provide more context? Understanding these factors will help you pitch your content correctly and avoid overwhelming or boring your audience.

Adapting Language and Tone for Relevance

Use language that resonates with your audience. Avoid jargon or technical terms that might confuse those unfamiliar with your field. Conversely, don’t oversimplify if your audience consists of experts. Adjust your tone to match the event’s formality and your listeners’ preferences.

Customizing Examples and Case Studies

Incorporate case studies, examples, and anecdotes that your audience can relate to. If you’re speaking to professionals, use real-world scenarios from their industry. For a more general audience, choose examples that are universally relatable. This personal touch makes your content relatable and memorable.

Effectively presenting data is essential for conveying complex information to your audience. Visualizations can help simplify intricate concepts and make your points more digestible.

Choosing the Right Data Representation

Select the appropriate type of graph or chart to illustrate your data. Bar graphs, pie charts, line charts, and scatter plots each serve specific purposes. Choose the one that best supports your message and ensures clarity.

Designing Graphs and Charts for Clarity

Ensure your graphs and charts are easily read. Use clear labels, appropriate color contrasts, and consistent scales. Avoid clutter and simplify the design to highlight the most important data points.

Incorporating Annotations and Explanations

Add annotations or callouts to your graphs to emphasize key findings. Explain the significance of each data point to guide your audience’s understanding. Utilize visual cues, such as arrows and labels, to direct attention.

Engaging your audience is a fundamental skill for a successful presentation for conference. Captivate their attention, encourage participation, and foster a positive connection.

Establishing Eye Contact and Body Language

Maintain eye contact with different audience parts to create a sense of connection. Effective body language, such as confident posture and expressive gestures, enhances your presence on stage.

Encouraging Participation and Interaction

Involve your audience through questions, polls, or interactive activities. Encourage them to share their thoughts or experiences related to your topic. This engagement fosters a more dynamic and memorable presentation.

Using Humor and Engaging Stories

Incorporate humor and relatable anecdotes to make your presentation more enjoyable. Well-timed jokes or personal stories can create a rapport with your audience and make your content more memorable.

The design of your conference presentation slides plays a crucial role in capturing and retaining your audience’s attention. Thoughtful design can amplify your message and reinforce key points. Take a look at these suggestions to boost the performance of your conference presentation slides, or create an entire slide deck in minutes by using SlideModel’s AI Presentation Maker from text .

Creating Memorable Opening Slides

Craft an opening slide that piques the audience’s curiosity and sets the tone for your presentation. Use an engaging visual, thought-provoking quote, or intriguing question to grab their attention from the start.

Using Visual Hierarchy for Emphasis

Employ visual hierarchy to guide your audience’s focus. Highlight key points with larger fonts, bold colors, or strategic placement. Organize information logically to enhance comprehension.

Designing a Powerful Closing Slide

End your presentation with a compelling closing slide that reinforces your main message. Summarize your key points, offer a memorable takeaway, or invite the audience to take action. Use visuals that resonate and leave a lasting impression.

Slide transitions and animations can enhance the flow of your presentation and emphasize important content. However, their use requires careful consideration to avoid distractions or confusion.

Enhancing Flow with Transitions

Select slide transitions that smoothly guide the audience from one point to the next. Avoid overly flashy transitions that detract from your content. Choose options that enhance, rather than disrupt, the presentation’s rhythm.

Using Animation to Highlight Points

Animate elements on your slides to draw attention to specific information. Animate text, images, or graphs to appear as you discuss them, helping the audience follow your narrative more effectively.

Avoiding Overuse of Effects

While animation can be engaging, avoid excessive use that might overwhelm or distract the audience. Maintain a balance between animated elements and static content for a polished presentation.

Effective time management is crucial for delivering a concise and impactful conference presentation within the allocated time frame.

Structuring for Short vs. Long Presentations

Adapt your content and pacing based on the duration of your presentation. Clearly outline the main points for shorter talks, and delve into more depth for longer sessions. Ensure your message aligns with the time available.

Prioritizing Key Information

Identify the core information you want your audience to take away. Focus on conveying these essential points, and be prepared to trim or elaborate on supporting details based on the available time.

Practicing Time Management

Rehearse your presentation while timing yourself to ensure you stay within the allocated time. Adjust your delivery speed to match your time limit, allowing for smooth transitions and adequate Q&A time.

Multimedia elements, such as videos, audio clips, and live demonstrations, can enrich your presentation and provide a dynamic experience for your audience.

Integrating Videos and Audio Clips

Use videos and audio clips strategically to reinforce your points or provide real-world examples. Ensure that the multimedia content is of high quality and directly supports your narrative.

Showcasing Live Demonstrations

Live demonstrations can engage the audience by showcasing practical applications of your topic. Practice the demonstration beforehand to ensure it runs smoothly and aligns with your message.

Using Hyperlinks for Additional Resources

Incorporate hyperlinks into your presentation to direct the audience to additional resources, references, or related content. This allows interested attendees to explore the topic further after the presentation.

Engaging with your audience after your presentation can extend the impact of your talk and foster valuable connections.

Leveraging Post-Presentation Materials

Make your presentation slides and related materials available to attendees after the event. Share them through email, a website, or a conference platform, allowing interested individuals to review the content.

Sharing Slides and Handouts

Provide downloadable versions of your slides and any handouts you used during the presentation. This helps attendees revisit key points and share the information with colleagues.

Networking and Following Up

Utilize networking opportunities during and after the conference to connect with attendees who are interested in your topic. Exchange contact information and follow up with personalized messages to continue the conversation.

Preparing for unexpected challenges during your presenting at a conference can help you maintain professionalism and composure, ensuring a seamless delivery.

Dealing with Technical Glitches

Technical issues can occur, from projector malfunctions to software crashes. Stay calm and have a backup plan, such as having your slides available on multiple devices or using printed handouts.

Handling Unexpected Interruptions

Interruptions, such as questions from the audience or unforeseen disruptions, are a normal part of live presentations. Address them politely, stay adaptable, and seamlessly return to your prepared content.

Staying Calm and Professional

Maintain a composed demeanor regardless of unexpected situations. Your ability to handle challenges gracefully reflects your professionalism and dedication to delivering a successful presentation.

Creating environmentally friendly presentations demonstrates your commitment to sustainability and responsible practices.

Designing Eco-Friendly Slides

Minimize the use of resources by designing slides with efficient layouts, avoiding unnecessary graphics or animations, and using eco-friendly color schemes.

Reducing Paper and Material Waste

Promote a paperless approach by encouraging attendees to access digital materials rather than printing handouts. If print materials are necessary, consider using recycled paper.

Promoting Sustainable Practices

Advocate for sustainability during your presentation by discussing relevant initiatives, practices, or innovations that align with environmentally conscious values.

Measuring the success of your conference presentation goes beyond the applause and immediate feedback. It involves assessing the impact of your presentation on your audience, goals, and growth as a presenter.

Collecting Audience Feedback

After presenting at a conference, gather feedback from attendees. Provide feedback forms or online surveys to capture their thoughts on the content, delivery, and visuals. Analyzing their feedback can reveal areas for improvement and give insights into audience preferences.

Evaluating Key Performance Metrics

Consider objective metrics such as audience engagement, participation, and post-presentation interactions. Did attendees ask questions? Did your content spark discussions? Tracking these metrics can help you gauge the effectiveness of your presentation in conveying your message.

Continuous Improvement Strategies

Use the feedback and insights gathered to enhance your future presentations. Identify strengths to build upon and weaknesses to address. Continuously refine your presentation skills , design choices, and content to create even more impactful presentations in the future.

Tip #1 – Exhibit a single idea per slide

Just one slide per concept, avoiding large text blocks. If you can compile the idea with an image, it’s better that way.

Research shows that people’s attention span is limited ; therefore, redirect your efforts in what concerns presentation slides so your ideas become crystal clear for the spectators.

Tip #2 – Avoid jargon whenever possible

Using complex terms does not directly imply you fully understand the concept you are about to discuss. In spite of your work being presented to a knowledgeable audience, avoid jargon as much as possible because you run the risk of people not understanding what you are saying.

Instead, opt to rehearse your presentation in front of a not-knowledgeable audience to measure the jargon volume you are adding to it. Technical terms are obviously expected in a conference situation, but archaic terms or purely jargon can be easily trimmed this way.

Tip #3 – Replace bulleted listings with structured layouts or diagrams

Bullet points are attention grabbers for the audience. People tend to instantly check what’s written in them, in contrast to waiting for you to introduce the point itself.

Using bullet points as a way to expose elements of your presentation should be restricted. Opt for limiting the bullet points to non-avoidable facts to list or crucial information.

Tip #4 – Customize presentation templates

Using presentation templates is a great idea to save time in design decisions. These pre-made slide decks are entirely customizable; however, many users fall into using them as they come, exposing themselves to design inconsistencies (especially with images) or that another presenter had the same idea (it is extremely rare, but it can happen).

Learning how to properly change color themes in PowerPoint is an advantageous asset. We also recommend you use your own images or royalty-free images selected by you rather than sticking to the ones included in a template.

Tip #5 – Displaying charts

Graphs and charts comprise around 80% of the information in most business and academic conferences. Since data visualization is important, avoid common pitfalls such as using 3D effects in bar charts. Depending on the audience’s point of view, those 3D effects can make the data hard to read or get an accurate interpretation of what it represents.

using 2D graphics to show relevant data in conference presentation slides

Tip #6 – Using images in the background

Use some of the images you were planning to expose as background for the slides – again, not all of them but relevant slides.

Be careful when placing text above the slides if they have a background image, as accessibility problems may arise due to contrast. Instead, apply an extra color layer above the image with reduced opacity – black or white, depending on the image and text requirements. This makes the text more legible for the audience, and you can use your images without any inconvenience.

Tip #7 – Embrace negative space

Negative space is a concept seen in design situations. If we consider positive space as the designed area, meaning the objects, shapes, etc., that are “your design,” negative space can be defined as the surrounding area. If we work on a white canvas, negative space is the remaining white area surrounding your design.

The main advantage of using negative space appropriately is to let your designs breathe. Stuffing charts, images and text makes it hard to get a proper understanding of what’s going on in the slide. Apply the “less is more” motto to your conference presentation slides, and embrace negative space as your new design asset.

Tip #8 – Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation

You would be surprised to see how many typos can be seen in slides at professional gatherings. Whereas typos can often pass by as a humor-relief moment, grammatical or awful spelling mistakes make you look unprofessional.

Take 5 extra minutes before submitting your slide deck to proofread the grammar, spelling, and punctuation. If in doubt, browse dictionaries for complex technical words.

Tip #10 – Use an appropriate presentation style

The format of the conference will undoubtedly require its own presentation style. By this we mean that it is different from delivering a conference presentation in front of a live audience as a webinar conference. The interaction with the audience is different, the demands for the Q&A session will be different, and also during webinars the audience is closely looking at your slides.

Tip #11 – Control your speaking tone

Another huge mistake when delivering a conference presentation is to speak with a monotonous tone. The message you transmit to your attendees is that you simply do not care about your work. If you believe you fall into this category, get feedback from others: try pitching to them, and afterward, consider how you talk.

Practicing breathing exercises can help to articulate your speech skills, especially if anxiety hinders your presentation performance.

Tip #12 – On eye contact and note reading

In order to connect with your audience, it is imperative to make eye contact. Not stare, but look at your spectators from time to time as the talk is directed at them.

If you struggle on this point, a good tip we can provide is to act like you’re looking at your viewers. Pick a good point a few centimeters above your viewer and direct your speech there. They will believe you are communicating directly with them. Shift your head slightly on the upcoming slide or bullet and choose a new location.

Regarding note reading, while it is an acceptable practice to check your notes, do not make the entire talk a lecture in which you simply read your notes to the audience. This goes hand-by-hand with the speaking tone in terms of demonstrating interest in the work you do. Practice as often as you need before the event to avoid constantly reading your notes. Reading a paragraph or two is okay, but not the entire presentation.

Tip #13 – Be ready for the Q&A session

Despite it being a requirement in most conference events, not all presenters get ready for the Q&A session. It is a part of the conference presentation itself, so you should pace your speech to give enough time for the audience to ask 1-3 questions and get a proper answer.

Don’t be lengthy or overbearing in replying to each question, as you may run out of time. It is preferable to give a general opinion and then reach the interested person with your contact information to discuss the topic in detail.

Observing what others do at conference events is good practice for learning a tip or two for improving your own work. As we have seen throughout this article, conference presentation slides have specific requirements to become a tool in your presentation rather than a mixture of information without order.

Employ these tips and suggestions to craft your upcoming conference presentation without any hurdles. Best of luck!

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A Guide to Conference Presentations

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Giving a presentation at an academic conference can be both stressful and rewarding. While it's incredibly helpful to get feedback and insights on your project from other researchers in your field, it can also be intimidating to hold your work up for scrutiny from others.

Today we're going to share some tips for making your conference presentations as compelling and distinctive as possible, as well as some tips for dealing with conference day nerves and the post-presentation discussion.

Don't make your audience sit through an uninspired, generic presentation – instead, try to focus on your unique insights and let other conference attendees see your enthusiasm and commitment to your subject. Enthusiasm on the part of the presenter goes an awfully long way to making a presentation more exciting to watch!

Here are our tips for improving your conference presentation.

Titling your presentation
How to use slides
Personable or professional?
Pitching your voice
Moving around
Dealing with nerves
Post-presentation questions

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Give your presentation a fun title

Cute, funny, or pun-based titles are not for everyone, but if you like the idea then it's fine to use a jokey title for your presentation. If that's not your style, then try to pick a title which conveys the interesting big-picture ideas that you'll be discussing, rather than the fine grain details. This helps people from outside your sub-field to know what your talk is about. For example, 'Queen Bee: Social Structures of Hive Species' sounds much more interesting to a non-expert than 'Scent-based communication among hymenoptera'.

Use simple, clear slides

The quickest way to turn your presentation from something interesting to something dragging and dull is by throwing loads of text onto your slides. Whenever you put up a new slide, your audience will stop listening to your speech for a moment while they read the very salient text you've put in front of them. If your slides have long paragraphs on them, then the audience will take several minutes reading the information and not hearing what you're saying during that time.

Counter this problem by using a smaller number of slides – no more than 1 slide per minute of talking, and no more than 25-30 slides in total – and by streamlining each slide as much as possible. If you've spent a lot of time in academia, you've probably become very used to presentations with hundreds of bland, text-heavy slides that distract from the presenter rather than supporting them. But just because this is common, doesn't mean it's the right way to present! Remember, the audience is supposed to absorb information from your talk, not from reading hundreds of slides. Your slides should be minimal, with no more than a few bullet points or keywords on each slide.

A slide doesn't need to fit all of your information on it, as you can give all the relevant details in your talk. The slide should be merely a guideline for what you are discussing. A good slide might have just three keywords on it, which you will discuss in detail. By getting rid of extraneous information, you make it easier for your audience to follow your talk and engage with your points.

Try to cut down your slides as much as you possibly can. Also, try to use illustrations, graphics, or graphs wherever possible to convey information in a visual way. If you're worried about forgetting what you were going to say, then use the notes feature which allows you to add notes which are only visible to the presenter to each slide. This way, you can see the information you need but your audience doesn't get distracted by all the extra text.

You could also try something different: instead of the usual PowerPoint or Keynote, you could try an alternative presentation software such as Prezi, or even consider getting rid of slides altogether if you are a very confident speaker.

Make your presentation more personable

Here's something that many presenters forget: it's okay for your presentation to be a bit personal. You can smile, crack a joke, or refer to examples from your real life to convey your point. Of course, you want to remain professional and not to be too silly or inappropriate. But you needn't be robotic or totally flat. In fact, it's much harder for an audience to engage with a presenter who speaks in a monotone and never injects a moment of levity into their speech.

To get better at this, try to remember to look at your audience when presenting. It can help to have a supportive friend or colleague in the audience who you can look to when you need someone to smile at. Also, feel free to emphasise your points by using hand gestures or by pointing to important information. You needn't stand with your hands pinned to your sides through the whole talk. You can rest your hands on the podium if you have one, or walk back and forth across the stage if you're using a microphone attached to your clothing. You can also emphasise findings that you personally found to be especially interesting, or talk about a finding which took you by surprise. This personal touch will make your presentation more distinctive to you and therefore more memorable.

Pitch your voice at the appropriate volume and speed

This one might sound silly – does it really matter how you speak in a presentation, as long as your materials are good? In fact, yes it does. If your voice is too quiet, your audience will have to strain to hear you, which is tiring for them and makes them much more likely to switch off. Conversely, if your voice is too loud it can be almost painful to listen to. Try to pay attention to the volume of your voice, and remember that most people tend to be too quiet, so you should lean towards speaking a little louder.

Similarly, many people don't realise how fast they speak, especially if they are a bit nervous. Speaking too fast causes several problems: firstly, people will not be able to hear each sentence and might get lost, and secondly, they won't have time to think about your point and consider it before you've moved onto the next point. Conversely, as we all remember from school, there's nothing more boring than having to listen to someone with a slow, droning voice. If in doubt, try giving a practice presentation to friends or colleagues and ask them for feedback.

Feel free to move around

You needn't force yourself to stand stock still while presenting. In fact, it will make your presentation more engaging if you use the same facial expressions and gestures that you would if you were talking to a friend. While it's not a good idea to bounce around and move very fast, as this can be distracting, it is fine to walk around a little, to use your hands to indicate as well as or instead of a laser pointer, or to use your hands to emphasise particular points. Try to use movements that feel natural to you instead of standing totally still, as this will make your talk more dynamic and personal.

Above all, try to relax, and this will help your presentation to be smoother and more natural, which will be appreciated by your audience. And on that subject...

How to deal with nerves when making a presentation

Make sure you're prepared in advance.

The very best way to keep your nerves under control is to have practised your entire presentation from beginning to end beforehand, at least once. A few days before your presentation, recruit a friend or two to sit with you and be your audience. You can practise in an empty lecture hall or classroom if one is available and if that will help you to feel more comfortable. But it's also fine to practise at your house, or even in a cafe or bar if you bring a laptop with you. Run through your whole presentation, including slides, and take note of any areas where you struggled to find the right words or weren't sure what topic to speak on next. That way, you can know which specific topics or slide you need to remind yourself of.

However, it's important not to over-rehearse. You don't need to have your entire presentation memorised, and in fact doing so will only make your presenting style appear stilted and unnatural. You should be familiar with the material you're presenting (and if your presentation is about your research, you are likely to already be as familiar with the material as you need to be), and be able to anticipate some questions or criticisms that your audience might have. But remember that you are already an expert in this area – hence why you're presenting on it at a conference. There's no need to attempt to cram lots of extra information into your brain the day before a presentation; rather, let the knowledge that you already have guide you in how you present.

Make sure the IT equipment works beforehand

One issue that is almost bound to arise when you present, and can be very stressful, is problems with the computer, projector, or slides which you have prepared. Between different file formats, different laptop adaptors, and the difficulty in getting video or sound effects to work correctly in your presentation space, there is a lot that can go wrong.

The best way to deal with this is to make sure you've tested out all of the equipment earlier in the day before your presentation. Don't wait until 10 minutes before you begin in order to test! If there are problems, you need to know earlier so that you can find the correct adaptor, get help from IT support , and so on. If you're presenting in the afternoon, find a time in the morning at which you can test. If you're presenting in the morning, arrive very early, or consider testing the day before. That way you won't have any last-minute technical problems to deal with.

Tips for dealing with nerves while you're speaking

It's common to feel flustered, hyper-vigilant, or a bit overwhelmed when you start to present. The best solution for this is to give yourself the opportunity to take a few seconds to get yourself together. A good way of achieving this is to have a bottle of water in front of you – if you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, stop talking and have a drink of water and take a deep breath before you continue. It might feel to you as if you are standing in front of everyone and doing nothing for ages, but don't worry, it's only a few seconds and won't feel that long to the audience.

Another common problem is feeling like you don't know where to put your hands, or what to do with your body. If there is a lectern or podium in front of you, then make use of it – rest your hands on either side and grip it gently, which will help to make you feel grounded. If there's no lectern, then a good tip is to gently squeeze together your thumb and index finger while you're speaking; this pressure will help as an outlet for your nervousness which your audience won't notice.

Finally, one great way to reassure yourself during a presentation is to find a friendly face in the audience who you can can look to when you're feeling unsure. If possible, ask a friend or colleague to come along, and catch their eye when you need to. Otherwise, pick an audience member who seems open and friendly and look at them – the point is to think of your audience as a collection of friendly people, rather than as a singular scary judging entity.

When you can keep your nerves under control, your presentation will be more fun for you and more engaging for your audience.

Answering questions after a conference presentation

Even when you've spent a lot of time preparing your conference presentation and trying new presentation tools, there is one aspect of presenting that intimidates many people: answering questions during or after the presentation. At its best, a question and answer session can give you valuable new ideas about your research and help you to anticipate what kind of reviewers' comments you might receive when you publish your work. At worst, a question session can feel like a whole room full of people aggressively criticising your work and pointing out its flaws.

There are, of course, a few things you can do to make audience participation run a little more smoothly.

Keep the discussion to the end of the presentation

Depending on the type of presentation you are giving, generally you should expect questions to come at the end after you have finished presenting. If you are presenting in a workshop or in a teaching session, then there may be clarifying questions asked during your talk too. If someone asks a quick question during your presentation – such as asking you to explain an acronym or to define a term – then you should pause to answer them. But if someone starts to ask a more conceptual or complex question, it's fine to tell the audience to save their questions until the end.

Be prepared

The best way that you can feel more comfortable when fielding questions is to be prepared in advance. While you can't know exactly what will be asked at any given presentation, you can make some educated guesses about the kind of topics that are likely to come up. If there is a point in your presentation that you know is unclear – for example, if you used a highly complex experimental methodology or statistical analysis and you didn't have time to explain it fully during the presentation – then it's likely that someone will ask about this. Also, you can expect typical questions about what your plans are for the next stage in our research, or about how you interpreted your results.

Knowing the topics that are likely to be asked about, you can prepared yourself in advance. One great tip is to prepare extra slides with more information about your methodology or with more data to illustrate your points. When someone asks about an issue that you didn't have time to cover, you can bring up the relevant extra slide and talk them through it. You should also think of a couple of key points that you would use to answer questions about your next project or about the interpretation of your results.

Ignore the rambling and focus on the question

Often times, when people ask questions they may ramble somewhat before getting to the point. Asking questions can be intimidating for the questioner too, so sometimes this comes simply from nervousness. At other times, professors who are used to holding a floor may talk for some time as a preamble to the question. Hopefully, you have a moderator who will encourage the questioners to keep their comments brief.

But if you are confronted with a rambler, then don't panic. You don't need to respond to every single one of their points. Instead, try to sum up the essential gist of their comments and respond briefly to the topic as a whole. You can even clarify their question before responding, by saying “If I'm hearing you right, what you are asking is...” If the questioner has brought up a lot of different topics, then simply pick the one topic that is most relevant to your presentation and respond to that.

It's okay to say that you don't know

Something that often makes presenters nervous, especially if they are new to presenting, is the idea that someone might ask a question which you are unable to answer. Someone could ask for a particular factual piece of information that you don't have, or they could ask you about a specific paper which you have not heard of or have not read. If this happens, you needn't berate yourself or try to make up an answer off the cuff. It is perfectly okay to say that you don't know the answer to that question but you will look it up, or that you haven't seen the paper in question but that you will read it afterwards. You can also offer to discuss the topic further with the questioner after the session is finished.

Don't be concerned that this will make you look incompetent. In fact, being honest about the limitations of your knowledge is one of the marks of a honest and knowledgable researcher and your audience will respect you for it.

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What Are The Common Types Of Conference Presentations?

Conference presentations are crucial in disseminating research findings, fostering collaboration, and sharing knowledge across various disciplines. With different types of conference presentations available, researchers and professionals can showcase their work in diverse formats.

Whether it’s a traditional oral presentation, a poster session, a panel discussion, or an interactive workshop, each presentation style offers unique benefits and challenges.

In this blog, we explore the different types of conference presentations, highlighting their distinctive features and providing insights into how to make the most of each format.

Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or preparing for your first conference, understanding the various presentation types can help you tailor your content, engage your audience effectively, and leave a lasting impact.

Importance of Conference Presentations

Conference presentations play a vital role in academic and professional settings. Here, we delve into the importance of conference presentations.

Enhancing Learning: Conference presentations provide valuable learning opportunities by exposing attendees to cutting-edge research, innovative methodologies, and emerging trends. Through presentations, individuals can stay updated on the latest developments in their respective fields, gain new perspectives, and broaden their knowledge base.
Networking Opportunities: Conferences offer a conducive environment for networking, allowing professionals to connect with peers, experts, and potential collaborators. Presenting at conferences enables individuals to engage in discussions, establish meaningful connections, and build professional relationships that can lead to future collaborations, mentorships, or job opportunities.
Dissemination of Research: Presenting research findings at conferences allows researchers to share their work with a wider audience beyond their immediate academic or professional circles. This exposure not only increases the visibility of their research but also invites feedback, constructive criticism, and valuable insights from fellow experts in the field.
Career Development: Conference presentations offer an avenue for professional growth by showcasing individuals’ expertise, research contributions, and presentation skills. Presenting at conferences demonstrates competency, builds credibility, and enhances visibility within the academic or professional community, positively impacting career advancement prospects.
Community Building: Conferences foster community among attendees who share common interests, challenges, and goals. Through presentations, individuals contribute to the collective knowledge and experience of the community, strengthening connections and fostering a supportive and collaborative environment.

Conference presentations offer researchers and professionals a platform to share their work and contribute to advancing knowledge. Here, we will explore some common types of conference presentations.

1. Traditional Oral Presentations

Traditional oral presentations involve delivering a talk to an audience using slides or other visual aids. They are typically structured with an introduction, methods, results, and conclusion.

To deliver an effective oral presentation, you should be well-prepared, concise, and engaging. Practice your delivery and ensure your key points are clear and easy to understand.

2. Poster Sessions

Poster sessions allow visually presenting research findings on a poster board. This format allows for one-on-one interactions and in-depth discussions with attendees.

When designing a poster, focus on clear and concise visuals, including key findings and conclusions. Be prepared to explain your work and answer questions from interested participants.

3. Panel Discussions

Panel discussions involve experts discussing a specific topic or theme in front of an audience. Panelists share their insights, exchange ideas, and engage in a dialogue.

As a panelist, thoroughly research the topic, prepare talking points, and contribute actively to the discussion. Moderators should facilitate the conversation, encourage audience participation, and ensure a balanced and inclusive discussion.

4. Interactive Workshops

Interactive workshops are hands-on sessions that encourage active participation and collaboration among attendees. These sessions often involve group activities, discussions, and practical exercises.

When designing an interactive workshop, consider the learning objectives and create engaging activities that promote knowledge exchange and skill development. Provide clear instructions and encourage interaction among participants.

5. Lightning Talks

Lightning talks are brief, timed presentations aiming to deliver key information concisely. They typically last a few minutes and require speakers to present their main points quickly and effectively.

To deliver a compelling lightning talk, focus on a clear and concise message, use visuals to support your points, and practice your timing to ensure you stay within the allocated time.

Tips For Conference Presentations

Conference presentations are an integral part of academic and professional life. Below, we will provide valuable tips to enhance your conference presentations and make them impactful.

Know Your Audience: Understanding your audience is crucial for tailoring your presentation to their needs and interests. Research the conference attendees and their backgrounds to adapt your content, examples, and terminology accordingly. Consider their level of expertise and the goals they hope to achieve by attending your presentation. However, you should also wear proper dress for the conference to reflect your expertise.
Structure Your Presentation: A well-organized presentation helps the audience follow your ideas and retain information. Begin with a clear introduction that captures attention and provides an overview of your topic. Use logical transitions between sections and a concise summary at the end. Break down complex concepts into smaller, easily digestible parts to facilitate understanding.
Visual Aids: Utilize visual aids such as slides, graphs, and images to enhance your presentation. Keep them simple and uncluttered, with minimal text and visually appealing graphics. Visuals should support and reinforce your spoken words, not overshadow them. Practice your presentation with visuals to ensure a seamless flow and proper timing.
Engage Your Audience: Foster interaction and engagement throughout your presentation. Incorporate questions, brief activities, or thought-provoking prompts to encourage participation. Engage the audience by making eye contact, using gestures, and maintaining an enthusiastic tone. Active engagement keeps the audience attentive and invested in your presentation.
Practice, Practice, Practice: Rehearse your presentation multiple times to improve your delivery and confidence. Practice in front of a mirror or record yourself to assess your body language and speaking style. Time yourself to ensure you stay within the allotted duration. Familiarity with your material will boost your confidence and help you deliver a smooth and polished presentation.
Handle Questions Effectively: Anticipate potential questions and prepare concise and well-informed responses. Be open to feedback and differing viewpoints, and address questions respectfully. If you don’t know the answer to a question, acknowledge it honestly and offer to follow up with more information later. Handling questions confidently demonstrates your expertise and strengthens your credibility.

How Do Oral Presentations Differ From Other Presentation Formats?

Oral presentations differ from other presentation formats in several key ways. Firstly, oral presentations typically involve a speaker delivering a prepared speech or talking to an audience. This format allows for direct communication and immediate interaction with the audience.

Unlike poster presentations or panel discussions, oral presentations are often more structured and require careful planning and organization of content. The speaker must effectively convey their research or ideas within a limited time, usually 10 to 20 minutes. This brevity necessitates concise and clear communication, focusing on essential points.

Additionally, oral presentations commonly include visual aids such as slides or multimedia elements to enhance understanding and engagement. The speaker’s delivery style, including tone, body language, and vocal variation, significantly impacts the overall effectiveness of the presentation.

Unlike interactive workshops or roundtable discussions, oral presentations usually have limited audience participation, primarily through question-and-answer sessions at the end. Overall, oral presentations demand strong presentation skills, effective content delivery, and the ability to engage and captivate the audience within a specified time limit.

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Are Panel Discussions An Effective Way To Present Research?

Panel discussions can be an effective way to present research, fostering engaging conversations and diverse perspectives. During panel discussions, multiple experts discuss a specific topic, providing valuable insights and creating a dynamic atmosphere.

These discussions allow in-depth exploration of complex issues, encouraging audience interaction and exchanging ideas. By bringing together experts with different viewpoints, panel discussions offer a comprehensive understanding of the research topic.

However, note that panel discussions should complement, rather than replace, other presentation formats. While they promote dialogue and collaboration, panel discussions may not provide the same level of depth and focus on individual research findings.

Careful moderation, thoughtful selection of panelists, and clear communication goals are essential for ensuring the success of panel discussions as a means of presenting research.

Dos and Don’ts of Virtual Presentations: Mastering the Online Conference Experience

As virtual conferences become increasingly prevalent, mastering the art of online presentations is essential for researchers and professionals. Here, we will explore the dos and don’ts of virtual presentations.

The Dos of Virtual Presentations

Prepare and Test Your Technology: Ensure your internet connection, audio, and video equipment work smoothly before your presentation. Practice using the virtual conference platform to familiarize yourself with its features and troubleshoot any issues in advance.
Create Engaging Visuals: Design visually appealing slides with clear, concise content. Use compelling images, graphs, and charts to support your key points. Keep the text minimal and use a readable font size for optimal visibility.

The Don’ts of Virtual Presentations

Overload Your Slides: Avoid cluttering your slides with excessive text or complex visuals. Instead, focus on delivering a clear and concise message. Your slides should complement your presentation and not distract the audience.
Neglect Interaction and Engagement: Virtual presentations can feel impersonal, so actively engage your audience to maintain their interest. Use polls, chat features, or interactive Q&A sessions to encourage participation and foster a sense of connection.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the different types of conference presentations empowers researchers and professionals to effectively communicate their work and engage with their audience. Each presentation format brings its advantages and challenges, whether the concise delivery of lightning talks, the interactive nature of workshops, or the visual impact of poster presentations.

By tailoring their content and adopting appropriate strategies for each type, presenters can maximize the impact of their research, foster collaboration, and contribute to the collective knowledge in their field. Embracing the diversity of conference presentations allows for a richer conference experience and facilitates meaningful connections among participants.

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12.2: Types of Conference Presentations

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Traditional Paper/Oral Presentation : This is the standard oral presentation (usually 15 minutes plus additional time at the end for questions) where one or more speakers (joint-presenters) share research results, completed works, innovative concepts, theoretical application, methodologies or tools.
Student Presentation : These are similar to the traditional paper/oral presentations described above, but with an emphasis on students work. By providing a separate avenue for students to share their work or labelling the presentation as “students”, the pressure can be lessened. Sometimes, students have separate sessions, but other times, they are grouped with other paper presentations. If this is the case, the presentation is usually identified as student presentations in the program.
Poster Presentation : This is a less formal opportunity to share your work in a visual format. We discuss this in greater depth later in the chapter.
Panel Presentation : This is where multiple speakers present their perspective on a common issue usually for 60 to 90 minutes. While many students prefer to present posters or shorter oral presentations, if a group of students have a common research interest or concern, they can apply to a conference to present on a panel. The speakers are responsible for coordinating the panel and assigning roles (such as moderator). Each speaker on a panel is usally given at least one individual question as well as an introductory and closing remark.
Roundtables : are similar to panel in the sense that a group of discussants seated around a table comment on a theme. Roundtable presenters bring targeted questions to pose to participants at the table in order to learn from and with those attending. It is quite unlikely that you will present your work on a roundtable, but you can check out conference websites if you wish to learn more (see Box for a list of potential conference).
Lightning Round-Tables : These are opportunities to network by briefly summarizing your work to a small audience (usually in 15 minutes or less) followed by an interactive discussion. Discussants will then move to another table and repeat the procedude. This provides the opportunity to get more intimate connections for other participants and attendees.

Academic Conference Presentations

A Step-by-Step Guide

© 2022
Mark R. Freiermuth 0

Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, Tamamura-machi, Japan

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Takes the presenter on a journey from initial idea to conference presentation
Addresses topics such as abstract writing, choosing a conference, posters and online versus face-to-face presentations
Based on the author's own experiences

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Front matter, next up on stage….

Mark R. Freiermuth

Conferences: Choose Wisely Grasshopper

Getting started: the precise abstract, after the excitement fades: preparing for the presentation, tea for two or more: the group presentation, conferences: live and in-person, ghosts in the machine: the virtual presentation, the seven deadly sins: what not to do, the top five, back matter.

English for Academic Purposes
public speaking
research presentation
academic skills
conferences
poster presentations

About this book

This book provides a step-by-step journey to giving a successful academic conference presentation, taking readers through all of the potential steps along the way—from the initial idea and the abstract submission all the way up to the presentation itself. Drawing on the author's own experiences, the book highlights good and bad practices while explaining each introduced feature in a very accessible style. It provides tips on a wide range of issues such as writing up an abstract, choosing the right conference, negotiating group presentations, giving a poster presentation, what to include in a good presentation, conference proceedings and presenting at virtual or hybrid events. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students, early-career researchers and non-native speakers of English, as well as students and scholars who are interested in English for Academic Purposes, Applied Linguistics, Communication Studies and generally speaking, most of the Social Sciences. With that said, because of the book’s theme, many of the principles included within will appeal to broad spectrum of academic disciplines.

-Sarah Mercer , Professor for Foreign Language Teaching and the Head of the ELT Research and Methodology Department, University of Graz, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

About the author.

Mark R. Freiermuth is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Gunma Prefectural Women's University, Japan.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Academic Conference Presentations

Book Subtitle : A Step-by-Step Guide

Authors : Mark R. Freiermuth

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21124-9

Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan Cham

eBook Packages : Social Sciences , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-031-21123-2 Published: 05 January 2023

eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-21124-9 Published: 04 January 2023

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : VII, 159

Number of Illustrations : 45 b/w illustrations

Topics : Applied Linguistics , Research Skills , Career Skills , Sociology of Education

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11 Tips To Make Your Conference Presentation Outstanding

Table of contents.

The world of conferences are great opportunities for like-minded individuals to come together and share their common denominator interest with one another.

Conferences provide attendees with an opportunity to learn and share with others who share similar experiences or interests all under one roof. Conferences are usually large in nature bringing people from across the country, or even across the world, together.

If you find yourself presenting at an upcoming conference, the honest truth is the stakes are high. Oftentimes, conferences have a lot of people in attendance. When you have your moment to shine to share your presentation with a large crowd of audience members, you want it to go flawlessly.

Truthfully, so do we.

That’s why we’ve put together this in-depth blog post to help you navigate the world of conferences and how to master your conference presentation with 11 actionable tips.

Are You Presenting At An Upcoming Conference? We Should Talk

What are conference presentations.

First, let’s get an understanding of what a conference presentation is.

A conference presentation is an opportunity for people to communicate with a large audience of like-minded individuals typically congregating around a common interest or topic.

A conference can vary in length from a one, full day event, all the way up to a week-long program. Conferences are usually a great opportunity for these like-minded individuals to network and learn from one another on new topics, research or major events.

Now that we know what a conference is, there are several common types of conferences you might encounter during your professional career.

Let’s take a look at the common types of conferences below.

Common Types Of Conferences

Although these are some of the common types of conferences you’ll encounter, this isn’t a fully finalized list. There are more types of conferences than simply what’s mentioned below.

However, you’re more than likely to encounter one of the following whether you’re just entering the industry, a student who’s networking or even if you’re passionate on a certain topic and like to be involved in the community.

Academic Conferences

Academic scholars attending an academic conference presentation related to science

Academic conferences are opportunities for researchers to present their work with fellow peers and colleagues. They’re important because they provide an opportunity for academics from multiple institutions to connect at a single location and network.

Academic conferences can be divided further into professional conferences . Professional academic conferences are geared more towards professors and academics who have spent more time in their field of study such as social sciences or medicine.

On the other hand, undergraduate programs may still hold conferences for academia but these are more geared towards undergraduate students who might just be sharing their semester research presentation.

You might be thinking to yourself, “This just sounds like a research presentation .”

Although you’re not wrong, you’re only partly right.

Research presentations are only one part of the overall academic conference. An academic conference is a combination of multiple research presentations combined into one event. You might have multiple academics speaking at a conference sharing their research presentations, but one does not equal the other.

Annual General Meetings

Shareholders attending an annual general meeting presentation.

Shifting gears to the more business side of things, another form of conferences are annual general meetings.

Annual general meetings, or AGM for short, are typically mandatory, yearly gatherings of a company’s interested shareholders which might consist of investors and employees.

At an AGM, directors of a company share with the shareholders the annual report which covers key topics of interest to the shareholders. These key points might include the company’s financial performance, quarterly reports, upcoming yearly vision, plans for expansion, the company’s performance and strategy.

Shareholders who have voting rights often vote on current issues facing the company and which direction the company should pursue. Some of these decisions might include who is to be appointed onto the board of directors, what executive compensation will be, dividend payments and the selection of auditors.

Conventions

Overhead image of a large crowd of people walking throughout a convention center floor.

Like most conferences, conventions are large meetings consisting of people with a share ideology or profession. You often hear of conventions in terms of entertainment or politics.

On the entertainment side of things, conventions are gatherings where people of the same interest come together to network and immerse themselves in the unifying experience of enjoying the same things as those around you. Some notable conventions you might’ve heard of are Comic Con, Fan Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Here, you’ll find people sharing a mutual enjoyment of entertainment indulgences.

Political conventions or Party Conferences are the other form of conventions you’ll often hear about.

These are often held by the respective political party where members of said political party come together to network and most importantly, vote on a party leader or delegate.

Press Conferences

press release round table with moderators and key spokespeople.

The smallest form of a conference you’ll encounter is a press conference.

A press conference is an organized event to officially distribute information from a specified spokesperson. Unlike other public relation tactics such as a press release which is still a tool to disseminate information to the public, a press conference is an alternate public relation tactic where media is selectively invited to attend the event to get the information.

Press conferences are often smaller in size due to the shrinking landscape of media outlets. Additionally, press conferences are usually high-stake events usually having highly notable individuals in attendance or presenting. To limit the risk and maximize the safety of these VIPs, press conferences are usually more exclusive.

This is why press conferences are often reserved for bigger news stories and why journalists who are new to the industry try very hard to get on the good side of these conference organizers. Due to the sheer exclusivity of the event, the opportunity to get a unique news story is greater.

Product Launches

The last conference we’ll go over is a product launch.

A product launch, much like a press conference, is another great public relations tactic used to build anticipation and gain the buy-in of the public. They are a coordinated effort to demonstrate new products soon to be released to the general public.

Famous product launches can be seen executed by the world’s top companies such as Apple, Tesla and Disney.

These companies often use product launches to garner attention for an upcoming line of products that will soon be available to the public. The main goal of product launches in recent years is to drive pre-order sales which help raise capital to bring the product development over the finish line without needing to expend any further owned-capital of the company.

Conference Presentation Tips

No matter the conference you find yourself attending and more than likely presenting at, conference presentation tips remain the same. You can apply the following 11 important points to any conference.

With some slight adjustments to each, you’ll soon be a master of conference talk, being able to command any large room of people and retain the audience’s attention with ease.

1 - Do Your Homework

Before you begin putting together your conference presentation slide deck, you need to first do your homework. With any good finalized product, it got that way thanks to the preparation which went into it ahead of time and your presentation is no exception.

What you might want to consider doing before you begin putting together your slide deck is answering the following questions and drafting an outline.

What key message do you want the audience to take away after the presentation?

What do you want them to feel?

How do you want them to act?

Can I achieve these results with the information I already have?

By asking yourself these questions and acting appropriately based on the answer, you’ll be setting yourself up for a good presentation.

2 - Understand Your Audience

Knowing your audience isn’t just about who they are, it’s about understanding what they’re interested in, how they retain information and what motivates them.

Understanding your audience is the first step of mastering presentation psychology and without it, you won’t have a strong foundation for your presentation. You could have the most visually appealing presentation but if it doesn’t resonate with the audience, it won’t matter.

So before you go ahead and start building a presentation based on what you think your audience is interested in, you should really come to a solidified conclusion and know what your audience is interested in.

3 - Know Your Timing

Presentations range in different lengths. You’ll encounter presentations as short as one minute to others that last over an hour. Start preparing your presentation by knowing what your time limit is.

You can typically find this information out by contacting an organizer of the conference.

4 - Use Visual Aids

Visual aids are tools to help you communicate visually.

Some presentation visual aids you might want to consider using are graphs, tables, pictures and videos. If you really want to be seen as an expert presenter, you should even be focusing on the colors you use for your slides.

Now, it might seem like you need a creative degree to master all this, but the reality is you don’t. Luckily, you can outsource your presentation design to a presentation design agency like Presentation Geeks who not only create top-tier presentation slide decks used by Fortune 500 companies, they also can provide presentation consulting services .

Don’t forget, you yourself are a visual communication tool as well. Be sure to dress appropriately for your upcoming conference presentations because you want to make a good impression. Let’s take a political convention as an example. If you’re running as a candidate to be the leader of a major political party, you want to make sure you peak the audience’s interest and gain their trust by dressing appropriately as superficial as that sounds.

5 - Keep It Simple

Don’t overcomplicate your presentation, especially the slide deck.

It’s crucial to keep your presentation, especially the visual aids portion as simple as possible because too much information will confuse the audience and they will likely forget what you’ve said.

Focus on the key details in your slides and use them as supplementary tools. Many presenters will think they need to have a grand conference presentation with fancy technology, transitional devices and other outlandish tactics. The reality is, you want your information to be easily understood by keeping it simple.

6 - Practice, Practice, Practice

The way to become a better presenter is through practice.

You want to ensure you command the room with your confidence. You won’t be doing that if you’re reading from a paper aloud.

You need to ensure you’re confident. Practice your conference presentation multiple times and consider recording yourself as you do. You’ll pick up on your body language and analyze how well you’re using your body language to communicate what you’re saying. Scan the audience and share your eye contact with everyone. Don’t forget to speak clearly and slowly

7 - Prepare For The Worst

Murphy’s Law states that what can go wrong, will go wrong. You should keep this theory in the back of your mind and expect the worst to happen.

Just because the worst can and probably will happen, doesn’t mean there isn’t a solution. That is why you need to prepare for the worst.

You should be able to present all your conference presentations if the venue changes at the last minute, if you don’t have the technology you were expecting to use, if you forgot your handouts like a conference paper. You should be prepared for the worst but have a solution.

8 - Know Your Space

Let’s say your fortunate, which you probably will be, and the venue doesn’t change last minute. That’s great! Use this to your advantage and get familiar with your space.

Ahead of your conference presentations, you should go and scope out the area you will be presenting to get an idea of how you can walk around, what technology will be present, what the lighting will be light, etc.

There are so many areas of concerns and unknowns that can be addressed by doing a little bit of field assignment homework ahead of time.

9 - Go Beyond The Slides - Engage Your Audience

An audience will more likely remember what you have to say and feel connected by being engaged.

You can engage your audience by targeting more senses of the human body. If you only target their auditory and visual senses, you’ll eventually lose them. Walk through the crowd if you can. Have the audience move their necks, stretch and move!

10 - Get The Audience To Participate By Encouraging Questions

Good presenting is one-way communication.

Excellent presenting is two-way communication.

Another way to go beyond the slides and your one-way presentation speech by giving an opportunity for the audience to ask further questions.

This is not only beneficial to the audience to help them get a better understanding of your topic, but it will also help you to answer questions.

It gets you to reflect on your presentation from an angle you might not have thought of before. Out of all the questions audience members will ask, there is usually one or two awe-inspiring questions that get even the presenter to take a moment to reflect.

Use these moments to better your presentation for the future.

11 - Evaluate & Refine

Speaking of making your presentation better for the future, remember to evaluate and refine your presentation and presentation skills.

A true master of any profession or skill knows they truly aren’t a master because learning never stops. You should take the same ideology and apply it to your own presentation skills.

Whether it’s self-reflection or a survey of the audience after your conference presentation, try and evaluate how well you presented and refine your future presentation based on the presentation feedback you received.

The summary of everything mentioned above if applied correctly will result in your being a master of conference presentations. The great thing about these techniques is they can be applied to any type of conference presentation.

Not only that, but if you understand the basic fundamentals of presenting, you can begin exploring other realms of presentations. To really take your presentation skills to the next level, enlisting the help of a presentation design agency such as Presentation Geeks will help you surpass the competition.

Author: Content Team

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8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

By Krystle Wong , Aug 11, 2023

From persuasive pitches that influence opinions to instructional demonstrations that teach skills, the different types of presentations serve a unique purpose, tailored to specific objectives and audiences.

Presentations that are tailored to its objectives and audiences are more engaging and memorable. They capture attention, maintain interest and leave a lasting impression.

Don’t worry if you’re no designer — Whether you need data-driven visuals, persuasive graphics or engaging design elements, Venngage can empower you to craft presentations that stand out and effectively convey your message.

Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive presentation template library and customizable design options make it a valuable tool for creating slides that align with your specific goals and target audience.

Click to jump ahead:

8 Different types of presentations every presenter must know

How do i choose the right type of presentation for my topic or audience, types of presentation faq, 5 steps to create a presentation with venngage .

When it comes to presentations, versatility is the name of the game. Having a variety of presentation styles up your sleeve can make a world of difference in keeping your audience engaged. Here are 8 essential presentation types that every presenter should be well-acquainted with:

1. Informative presentation

Ever sat through a presentation that left you feeling enlightened? That’s the power of an informative presentation.

This presentation style is all about sharing knowledge and shedding light on a particular topic. Whether you’re diving into the depths of quantum physics or explaining the intricacies of the latest social media trends, informative presentations aim to increase the audience’s understanding.

When delivering an informative presentation, simplify complex topics with clear visuals and relatable examples. Organize your content logically, starting with the basics and gradually delving deeper and always remember to keep jargon to a minimum and encourage questions for clarity.

Academic presentations and research presentations are great examples of informative presentations. An effective academic presentation involves having clear structure, credible evidence, engaging delivery and supporting visuals. Provide context to emphasize the topic’s significance, practice to perfect timing, and be ready to address anticipated questions.

2. Persuasive presentation

If you’ve ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with compelling arguments, you’ve experienced a persuasive presentation .

This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective. Expect to encounter solid evidence, logical reasoning and a dash of emotional appeal.

With persuasive presentations, it’s important to know your audience inside out and tailor your message to their interests and concerns. Craft a compelling narrative with a strong opening, a solid argument and a memorable closing. Additionally, use visuals strategically to enhance your points.

Examples of persuasive presentations include presentations for environmental conservations, policy change, social issues and more. Here are some engaging presentation templates you can use to get started with:

3. Demonstration or how-to presentation

A Demonstration or How-To Presentation is a type of presentation where the speaker showcases a process, technique, or procedure step by step, providing the audience with clear instructions on how to replicate the demonstrated action.

A demonstrative presentation is particularly useful when teaching practical skills or showing how something is done in a hands-on manner.

These presentations are commonly used in various settings, including educational workshops, training sessions, cooking classes, DIY tutorials, technology demonstrations and more. Designing creative slides for your how-to presentations can heighten engagement and foster better information retention.

Speakers can also consider breaking down the process into manageable steps, using visual aids, props and sometimes even live demonstrations to illustrate each step. The key is to provide clear and concise instructions, engage the audience with interactive elements and address any questions that may arise during the presentation.

4. Training or instructional presentation

Training presentations are geared towards imparting practical skills, procedures or concepts — think of this as the more focused cousin of the demonstration presentation.

Whether you’re teaching a group of new employees the ins and outs of a software or enlightening budding chefs on the art of soufflé-making, training presentations are all about turning novices into experts.

To maximize the impact of your training or instructional presentation, break down complex concepts into digestible segments. Consider using real-life examples to illustrate each point and create a connection.

You can also create an interactive presentation by incorporating elements like quizzes or group activities to reinforce understanding.

5. Sales presentation

Sales presentations are one of the many types of business presentations and the bread and butter of businesses looking to woo potential clients or customers. With a sprinkle of charm and a dash of persuasion, these presentations showcase products, services or ideas with one end goal in mind: sealing the deal.

A successful sales presentation often has key characteristics such as a clear value proposition, strong storytelling, confidence and a compelling call to action. Hence, when presenting to your clients or stakeholders, focus on benefits rather than just features.

Anticipate and address potential objections before they arise and use storytelling to showcase how your offering solves a specific problem for your audience. Utilizing visual aids is also a great way to make your points stand out and stay memorable.

A sales presentation can be used to promote service offerings, product launches or even consultancy proposals that outline the expertise and industry experience of a business. Here are some template examples you can use for your next sales presentation:

6. Pitch presentation

Pitch presentations are your ticket to garnering the interest and support of potential investors, partners or stakeholders. Think of your pitch deck as your chance to paint a vivid picture of your business idea or proposal and secure the resources you need to bring it to life.

Business presentations aside, individuals can also create a portfolio presentation to showcase their skills, experience and achievements to potential clients, employers or investors.

Craft a concise and compelling narrative. Clearly define the problem your idea solves and how it stands out in the market. Anticipate questions and practice your answers. Project confidence and passion for your idea.

7. Motivational or inspirational presentation

Feeling the need for a morale boost? That’s where motivational presentations step in. These talks are designed to uplift and inspire, often featuring personal anecdotes, heartwarming stories and a generous serving of encouragement.

Form a connection with your audience by sharing personal stories that resonate with your message. Use a storytelling style with relatable anecdotes and powerful metaphors to create an emotional connection. Keep the energy high and wrap up your inspirational presentations with a clear call to action.

Inspirational talks and leadership presentations aside, a motivational or inspirational presentation can also be a simple presentation aimed at boosting confidence, a motivational speech focused on embracing change and more.

8. Status or progress report presentation

Projects and businesses are like living organisms, constantly evolving and changing. Status or progress report presentations keep everyone in the loop by providing updates on achievements, challenges and future plans. It’s like a GPS for your team, ensuring everyone stays on track.

Be transparent about achievements, challenges and future plans. Utilize infographics, charts and diagrams to present your data visually and simplify information. By visually representing data, it becomes easier to identify trends, make predictions and strategize based on evidence.

Now that you’ve learned about the different types of presentation methods and how to use them, you’re on the right track to creating a good presentation that can boost your confidence and enhance your presentation skills .

Selecting the most suitable presentation style is akin to choosing the right outfit for an occasion – it greatly influences how your message is perceived. Here’s a more detailed guide to help you make that crucial decision:

1. Define your objectives

Begin by clarifying your presentation’s goals. Are you aiming to educate, persuade, motivate, train or perhaps sell a concept? Your objectives will guide you to the most suitable presentation type.

For instance, if you’re aiming to inform, an informative presentation would be a natural fit. On the other hand, a persuasive presentation suits the goal of swaying opinions.

2. Know your audience

Regardless if you’re giving an in-person or a virtual presentation — delve into the characteristics of your audience. Consider factors like their expertise level, familiarity with the topic, interests and expectations.

If your audience consists of professionals in your field, a more technical presentation might be suitable. However, if your audience is diverse and includes newcomers, an approachable and engaging style might work better.

3. Analyze your content

Reflect on the content you intend to present. Is it data-heavy, rich in personal stories or focused on practical skills? Different presentation styles serve different content types.

For data-driven content, an informative or instructional presentation might work best. For emotional stories, a motivational presentation could be a compelling choice.

4. Consider time constraints

Evaluate the time you have at your disposal. If your presentation needs to be concise due to time limitations, opt for a presentation style that allows you to convey your key points effectively within the available timeframe. A pitch presentation, for example, often requires delivering impactful information within a short span.

5. Leverage visuals

Visual aids are powerful tools in presentations. Consider whether your content would benefit from visual representation. If your PowerPoint presentations involve step-by-step instructions or demonstrations, a how-to presentation with clear visuals would be advantageous. Conversely, if your content is more conceptual, a motivational presentation could rely more on spoken words.

6. Align with the setting

Take the presentation environment into account. Are you presenting in a formal business setting, a casual workshop or a conference? Your setting can influence the level of formality and interactivity in your presentation. For instance, a demonstration presentation might be ideal for a hands-on workshop, while a persuasive presentation is great for conferences.

7. Gauge audience interaction

Determine the level of audience engagement you want. Interactive presentations work well for training sessions, workshops and small group settings, while informative or persuasive presentations might be more one-sided.

8. Flexibility

Stay open to adjusting your presentation style on the fly. Sometimes, unexpected factors might require a change of presentation style. Be prepared to adjust on the spot if audience engagement or reactions indicate that a different approach would be more effective.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and the best type of presentation may vary depending on the specific situation and your unique communication goals. By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the most effective presentation type to successfully engage and communicate with your audience.

To save time, use a presentation software or check out these presentation design and presentation background guides to create a presentation that stands out.

What are some effective ways to begin and end a presentation?

Capture your audience’s attention from the start of your presentation by using a surprising statistic, a compelling story or a thought-provoking question related to your topic.

To conclude your presentation , summarize your main points, reinforce your key message and leave a lasting impression with a powerful call to action or a memorable quote that resonates with your presentation’s theme.

How can I make my presentation more engaging and interactive?

To create an engaging and interactive presentation for your audience, incorporate visual elements such as images, graphs and videos to illustrate your points visually. Share relatable anecdotes or real-life examples to create a connection with your audience.

You can also integrate interactive elements like live polls, open-ended questions or small group discussions to encourage participation and keep your audience actively engaged throughout your presentation.

Which types of presentations require special markings

Some presentation types require special markings such as how sales presentations require persuasive techniques like emphasizing benefits, addressing objections and using compelling visuals to showcase products or services.

Demonstrations and how-to presentations on the other hand require clear markings for each step, ensuring the audience can follow along seamlessly.

That aside, pitch presentations require highlighting unique selling points, market potential and the competitive edge of your idea, making it stand out to potential investors or partners.

Need some inspiration on how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience? Here are 120+ presentation ideas to help you get started.

Creating a stunning and impactful presentation with Venngage is a breeze. Whether you’re crafting a business pitch, a training presentation or any other type of presentation, follow these five steps to create a professional presentation that stands out:

Sign up and log in to Venngage to access the editor.
Choose a presentation template that matches your topic or style.
Customize content, colors, fonts, and background to personalize your presentation.
Add images, icons, and charts to enhancevisual style and clarity.
Save, export, and share your presentation as PDF or PNG files, or use Venngage’s Presentation Mode for online showcasing.

In the realm of presentations, understanding the different types of presentation formats is like having a versatile set of tools that empower you to craft compelling narratives for every occasion.

Remember, the key to a successful presentation lies not only in the content you deliver but also in the way you connect with your audience. Whether you’re informing, persuading or entertaining, tailoring your approach to the specific type of presentation you’re delivering can make all the difference.

Presentations are a powerful tool, and with practice and dedication (and a little help from Venngage), you’ll find yourself becoming a presentation pro in no time. Now, let’s get started and customize your next presentation!

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Create a Conference Presentation

Common types of conference presentations.

Full paper - The length of a full paper is variable, usually between 20 and 40 min, and rarely exceeds one hour. A full paper may be followed by question time.
Short paper - This type of conference presentation can be as short as 10 min, and very often it is one in a series of short papers in a 1- or 2-hour session on a particular conference sub-topic or theme, each followed by 10 minutes question time. Timing is crucial as it is common for short paper sessions to be carefully managed by timekeepers who will ‘terminate’ your paper after the allocated time.
Workshop - The emphasis of most workshops is on their practical nature. Their purpose is for participants to experience a strategy, a technique or a practical demonstration, and to have opportunities to question you about the value or workability of what you are presenting.
Poster - You prepare a poster of your work (one or more A1 displays, including diagrams, text, references or visuals). This is displayed in an area of the conference venue. Your poster may be staffed at particular times when you are required to be available to provide further information or answer questions about your poster.
Discussion paper - It is assumed that participants have read the paper. A summary is presented at the beginning of the paper (usually, but not always by the paper presenter), and the session consists mainly of a discussion or defence of the issues, questions and ideas raised in the paper.
Panel presentation/discussion - You are one of several people on a panel discussing a theme/topic related to the conference. Your role is to be an expert in a particular issue, topic, technology, strategy or you represent an institution, department or company. Normally you receive advanced notice of this, but sometimes you can be asked to be a panel member at the conference.
Roundtable discussion - This is a short paper presentation followed by the presenter facilitating/workshopping discussion with participants in groups.

Preparing your conference presentation

There are significant differences between a written paper, essay or report and a conference presentation. The introduction of a conference presentation should be considerably longer than that of a written text. Repetition is vital in a conference presentation. An audience needs to hear information several times and in slightly different forms to understand it, whereas in a written text the reader can refer back if necessary. Informal rather than formal language should be used in an oral conference presentation.

Think of a ‘catchy’ title as most conferences run parallel sessions and your presentation may compete with numerous presentations offered at the same time.

You will need to submit an abstract to the conference committee for your presentation to be accepted. If you have already written your paper, this task should be fairly easy as the abstract is a summary of the paper which is usually around 200–400 words . Ensure the issues, questions, thesis as well as the conclusion findings are clearly stated in the abstract.

In case the paper has not been written yet, prepare the abstract in such a way that you do not commit yourself to details that will not be addressed in the final paper.

Ensure that you follow guidelines set by the conference organizers regarding length, layout, references, etc. Write the paper as you would an essay, a report, or, more and more commonly, a journal article. The latter is particularly important if the conference proceedings are to be published (refereed or non-refereed). Check previous conference proceedings or journals in your field to ensure consistency with style, referencing, etc.

Presenting your conference presentation

When presenting your conference presentation you need to know your answers to the following questions:

Is the purpose clearly stated: are you reporting, comparing, convincing, arguing, questioning…?
Is the thesis/topic clearly stated: “In this paper, I want to report the findings of recent research which shows that under certain conditions, dolphins can be taught how to read simple text”?
Are your main arguments/ideas supported with evidence?
Are all the materials relevant to the topic?
Have you demonstrated your knowledge of the subject?
Is the level of technicality suited to the audience?
How do you reply to audience’s questions: long questions, ‘mini papers’ disguised as questions…?

Organise your presentation

Most presentations are organised according to a predictable pattern. They have three main stages: introduction, body and conclusion (i.e. tell them what you are going to say; then say it; then tell them what you have said).

When a presentation does not have these clear sections, it can be very difficult for listeners to follow what is being said.

Introduction

This is the most crucial part of any presentation. You need to capture the audience’s interest in your topic and establish rapport with them. Your introduction should let the audience know what they are going to hear in the presentation. They need to know what to expect in order to get interested and to be able to follow you. Giving them an outline of your presentation in your introduction enables them to do this.

You need to:

capture the audience’s attention with a question, quotation, anecdote, or interesting statistic, etc.
main theme or main argument
main points you will cover and the order in which you will cover them.

The body of your presentation must be clearly organised with the main points highlighted. One effective technique is to number your ideas. Any idea which is new to your audience needs to be presented simply with supportive evidence or examples which will make it more easily understood. Each important idea should be presented several times in different ways within the body of your presentation. Your audience needs several opportunities to absorb the full meaning and the significance of the most important ideas. It is also important to state the links between your ideas clearly.

The body is where you develop your main ideas/argument, using supporting ideas/evidence. Use techniques that make it easy for the listener to follow your talk:

number your ideas: “ There are three main factors... ”
arrange your ideas in logical order, such as chronological; cause and effect; problem–solution
use transitional devices to help the audience follow the direction of your talk: “ secondly…; another important point is...; on the other hand…; I would now like to move on and look at another aspect of the research.. .”
state the main idea
refer to experts, provide examples to illustrate the idea
provide statistics, facts, tell anecdotes (if time permits)
provide case studies, etc.
repeat important ideas using different words so the audience has several opportunities to absorb them
don’t make the information too dense – remember the audience is listening, not reading!

The conclusion sums up main points. The conclusion should reinforce the central ideas of the presentation and signal a forceful ending. A weak, inconclusive or apologetic closing detracts from a good presentation. You should show in your conclusion that you have covered all the points that you said you would in your introduction. You should also show that you are confident, and that you have communicated effectively.

It is important to have a strong conclusion so the audience is left with a good impression.

Summarise the main ideas of your presentation.
Don’t introduce any new ideas.
Work towards a strong ending – don’t finish abruptly or say ‘That’s all’. Perhaps leave the audience with something to think about.

Presentation Tips

Advance preparation.

The more you know about your audience, the more likely you will be able to give an effective presentation. Try to find out as much as you can about who will be there, what their background is, why they will be coming, and how much they will already know about the topic. Go to the room where you will make your presentation and get a feel of its size, acoustics, seating, etc. If you can, familiarise yourself with the equipment in the room.

Clear pronunciation

Your voice must be clear and distinct. If you know you have difficulty with pronunciation, speak a little more slowly than usual. Use intonation, stress, changes in pace (slow down at important points, speed up at details, anecdotes) and pause to keep the listeners’ attention, and focus attention on important points.

Body language

It has been estimated that 75% of meaning transferred is non-verbal. Try to maintain eye contact with your audience as this helps keep your audience engaged. Focus on standing straight and directly facing your audience, using hand gestures to emphasise important information.

Visual aids

A presentation can be enhanced by the effective use of overhead transparencies (slides), charts, pictures, posters or PowerPoint presentations (with limited graphic/sound gimmicks). They provide variety and can help reinforce points made. However, you are still the main communicator of your message. Be familiar with your visual aids, refer to them specifically and only display them when you are referring to them, otherwise they will only be a distraction.

Physical charts, graphs, pictures, etc.: ensure that the size is appropriate for a large room. If necessary, back up with handouts.
Video: ensure the segment shown is not too long in relation to the overall length of your presentation.
Limit the amount of material on each visual: your listeners should be able to read and understand a visual in five seconds or less.
Be sure your visuals are large enough to be seen by everyone: the lettering should usually be minimum 20-22 pt. font.
Use diagrams, graphs and charts instead of words where possible.
Eliminate unnecessary detail from diagrams, graphs and charts.

Expression and style

Try to speak to your audience using notes rather than memorising or reading your presentation. In order to do this, you will have to practise your presentations as many times as you can. If possible, perform in front of an audience. Otherwise, practise in front of a mirror or record yourself on your phone. This will also give you an idea of how long your presentation will take.

Use a conversation style to make your audience feel personally involved. Each time you use the word ‘you’, the audience feels compelled to pay attention.

Adapted from Barthel, A. 2010, ‘Presenting a conference paper’, ELSSA Centre, University of Technology Sydney.

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Conference Presentations

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This resource provides a detailed overview of the common types of conference papers and sessions graduate students can expect, followed by pointers on presenting conference papers for an audience.

Types of conference papers and sessions

Panel presentations are the most common form of presentation you will encounter in your graduate career. You will be one of three to four participants in a panel or session (the terminology varies depending on the organizers) and be given fifteen to twenty minutes to present your paper. This is often followed by a ten-minute question-and-answer session either immediately after your presentation or after all of the speakers are finished. It is up to the panel organizer to decide upon this framework. In the course of the question-and-answer session, you may also address and query the other panelists if you have questions yourself. Note that you can often propose a conference presentation by yourself and be sorted onto a panel by conference organizers, or you can propose a panel with a group of colleagues. Self-proposed panels typically have more closely related topics than conference-organized panels.

Roundtables feature an average of five to six speakers, each of whom gets the floor for approximately five to ten minutes to speak on their respective topics and/or subtopics. At times, papers from the speakers might be circulated in advance among the roundtable members or even prospective attendees.

Workshops feature one or a few organizers, who usually give a brief presentation but spend the majority of the time for the session facilitating an activity that attendees will do. Some common topics for these sessions typically include learning a technology or generating some content, such as teaching materials.

Lightning talks (or Ignite talks, or Pecha Kucha talks) are very short presentations where presenters' slide decks automatically advance after a few seconds; most individual talks are no longer than 5 minutes, and a lightning talk session typically invites 10 or more presenters to participate over the course of an hour or two rather than limiting the presenters like a panel presentation. A lightning talk session will sometimes be held as a sort of competition where attendees can vote for the best talk.

SIGs (Special Interest Groups) are groups of scholars focused on a particular smaller topic within the purview of the larger conference. The structure of these sessions varies by conference and even by group, but in general they tend to be structured either more like a panel presentation, with presenters and leaders, or more like a roundtable, with several speakers and a particular meeting agenda. These styles resemble, respectively, a miniconference focusing on a particular topic and a committee meeting.

Papers with respondents are structured around a speaker who gives an approximately thirty-minute paper and a respondent who contributes their own thoughts, objections, and further questions in the following fifteen minutes. Finally, the speaker gets that same amount of time to formulate their reply to the respondent.

Poster presentations ask participants to visually display their ideas on a research poster, which is typically displayed with other research posters in a specific area at a conference. The poster needs to be understandable on its own (without the author) as viewers sometimes look through the posters outside the bounds of the poster session, which is a scheduled period of time where poster authors stand with their posters and engage viewers in conversation about the work. Research posters have long tended to follow common templates for design, but in recent years some scholars have begun challenging these templates for improved usability (for example, the Better Poster campaign as described here or the APA template based on the original, here.

You can read more about research posters on our resource here .

Presenting the conference paper

Aim to take less time than you are given! If your presentation slot is 15 minutes, aim for 13 or 14 when you practice. A little leeway and a slightly shorter presentation is a courtesy to your audience and to your fellow presenters, and will not at all imply that you are unprepared or unprofessional — in fact, being able to keep well within your allotted time is the mark of a good presenter.

Make sure you speak slowly and clearly, using accessibility aids if available such as a microphone or closed captioning on a slide deck. Many presenters have begun bringing accessibility copies of their talks, which are printed transcripts of the talk using a larger font for audience members who need them. It is also becoming increasingly common for presenters at conferences to share their slides and copies of their talk via a shortened link or QR code found on the bottom of the slides so that audiences may access them later or even while they are in your session.

The conventions for presentation differ based on field. Some fields tend toward reading papers aloud with very little audiovisual accompaniment; others use slide decks; others speak extemporaneously. You can find out more about typical practices in your field by attending conferences yourself and by asking mentors. Generally, you will be able to improve the accessibility of your presentation if you have a visual accompaniment and prepared remarks.

Even in fields where presenters tend to read papers verbatim, it is rarely a good idea to bring a paper from a class or another research paper you have written without editing it for an oral presentation. Seminar papers tend to be too long to read in 15 minutes, and often lead to graduate students surpassing their time limits. Moreover, research papers are meant to be read — they lack the kinds of repetition and simple sentence structure that are more beneficial to listeners. Finally, conference presentations do not serve the same purposes as most class papers — typically in a class, you're expected to show that you have understood the material, but at a conference, listeners are more interested in hearing what contributions you have that might help them in their own research. It's typical to move the bulk of your literature review to an appendix or another document so that you can discuss other scholarship in the area if it comes up in the Q&A, but during your presentation you're left free to focus on your own methods and findings. (Many presenters will even say: "I'm skipping a lot of [X material] for the sake of time, but I'm happy to discuss it later with anyone who's interested.")

Since you will present your paper orally, you may repeat important points and say more about the structure of the essay than a written submission to a journal (or a paper for your undergraduate or graduate courses) would require. This often means signposting orally when you are moving to a new section of the paper or when you are shifting to a new idea. The thesis of your paper should come early in your presentation to give listeners a clear understanding of what is to follow. At this point, you may also overview or forecast your paper and tell listeners how you will move from one argument to the next. It is generally advised to quickly summarize your important points in a bulleted list at the end of your presentation to remind everyone of the two or three most essential arguments or findings.

If you use a slide presentation, you may want to follow the guidelines presented in the OWL resource, Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation .

Conference Presentations - Top Tips for Success

Hosting & Hospitality Read time: 8 minutes

Understanding Conference Presentations

Conference presentations - 6 tips for success, conference presentation format guidelines, how to start a conference presentation, how to end a conference presentation, conference presentations at icc belfast.

Navigating conference presentations can be a formidable task, particularly for those venturing into it for the first time. The challenges of capturing and maintaining the audience's attention, delivering content with clarity, and managing nerves can seem overwhelming. However, the benefits of mastering this skill are multifaceted. Effective conference presentations not only elevate a speaker's reputation but also enhance the overall quality of the event, fostering knowledge exchange, engagement, and networking.

For event organisers seeking to enhance their conferences, and for speakers aiming to excel on stage, this blog serves as a compass. Whether it's an academic seminar, an annual general meeting, or an address at the opening ceremony of a large-scale conference, the principles of an impactful presentation remain consistent. Drawing on previous experience, the award-winning ICC Belfast team will offer real life examples which offer techniques to craft compelling narratives, employ visual aids effectively and engage diverse audiences. By amalgamating insights from various types of conferences, this guide equips event organisers and keynote speakers alike with the tools needed to leave a lasting impact in the dynamic world of conference presentations.

A conference presentation is a structured communication where a speaker delivers information, insights, or research findings to an audience, typically at a formal gathering. It involves sharing information, insights, research findings, ideas, or opinions with an audience gathered to learn and engage with the presented content.

In the diverse landscape of conferences, presentations take on various forms, each tailored to specific objectives and audiences. Understanding the different types of conference presentations is pivotal for speakers as it lays the foundation for effective communication and engagement.

Types of conference presentations:

Full paper - A comprehensive presentation detailing research methods, results, and conclusions, often accompanied by visual aids.
Short paper - A condensed version of a full paper, highlighting key aspects of research or ideas.
Workshop - An interactive session where participants engage in hands-on activities or collaborative learning under the guidance of a facilitator.
Poster - Visual representation of research or ideas displayed on a board, allowing for one-on-one discussions with attendees.
Discussion paper - A presentation aimed at stimulating dialogue about a specific topic, often involving thought-provoking questions.
Panel discussion - A group of experts engage in a moderated conversation, offering diverse viewpoints on a shared theme.
Roundtable discussion - Similar to a panel, but typically involves all participants discussing a topic with less formal structure.

Conference Presentations Tips | Infographic | ICC Belfast

A good conference presentation hinges on understanding the audience's motivations for attending, tailoring content to their knowledge level, and maintaining simplicity and consistency throughout the talk. Conference presentations should always include captivating visuals and clear structure to enhance the delivery of information.

To ensure success of conference presentations, the experienced ICC Belfast team have curated a list of top tips that encompass effective content creation, delivery techniques, and strategies for audience interaction.

Practice and rehearse
Speak clearly and enunciate
Use body language
Use appropriate visuals
Utilise storytelling
Encourage Audience Interaction

1. Practice and Rehearse

Practice is an essential ingredient for a successful conference presentation, as it cultivates confidence, smooth delivery, and the ability to handle unexpected situations. Begin by rehearsing on your own, and then practice in front of a colleague to receive constructive feedback.

For the 2023 SistersIN Celebration Event , Oonagh O’Reilly, Director of Sales and Marketing at ICC Belfast, organised for the cohort to come to the venue for a rehearsal. As the conference emcee, this ensured that Oonagh knew the key moments within the event programme and could tailor her delivery to keep the energy high. Furthermore, allowing the event organisers to get acquainted with the presentation space allowed them to get familiar with the environment, understand the technical production set up and ensured timings did not exceed the allocated slots.

Oonagh’s top tips for practice and rehearsing for a presentation:

Rehearse on your own and with a colleague - Begin by rehearsing your conference presentation alone, practicing each section while focusing on clarity and flow. Then, when you feel confident enough, present in front of a colleague you trust. This offers invaluable feedback on content, delivery, and overall impact and helps you fine-tune your presentation based on external perspectives.
Timing – Timing is not just important for an emcee, but for everyone involved in the event programme. It is crucial for maintaining audience engagement and respecting the event schedule. My number one advice for sticking to your time allocation is to practice your presentation with a timer. This allows you to adjust your pace, elaborate on key points, or refine sections as needed.
Get familiar with the presentation space – When I am presenting at an event, I will always take the opportunity to get acquainted with the space beforehand. For anyone presenting at ICC Belfast, our team will often encourage event organisers to explore the layout of the venue, noting where they'll stand, how the visuals will be displayed, and how their voice carries in the room. Familiarity with the physical setup, lighting, and technical aspects can significantly boost your confidence and adaptability during the actual presentation.

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Main Auditorium | SistersIn Celebration Event 2023 | Case study image | ICC Belfast |1920x1080px

2. Speak Clearly and Enunciate

Speaking considerations are pivotal for the success of a conference presentation, as they directly impact the audience's comprehension and engagement. In the context of hybrid events, where virtual presentations are prominent, maintaining eye contact with the camera, speaking clearly, and encouraging interaction through virtual platforms offers an inclusive and dynamic experience.

As part of the 2023 Future Shapers Programme , Laurel Gray, Senior Event Manager at ICC Belfast, attended AIPC’s Annual Conference in Luxembourg. Laurel presented a whitepaper to senior event leaders from more than 50 countries on a new industry concept - E:QUAL - co-created in collaboration with Future Shapers peers to help raise standards of health, wellbeing, welfare, safety, recruitment, and training for event professionals.

Laurel’s top speaking considerations when delivering a presentation:

Cadence considerations - Pay attention to your cadence, ensuring a steady pace with intentional pauses for emphasis and allowing for natural breaths. When you incorporate well-timed pauses, you are allowing your audience to absorb the information and as the presenter it also gives you a moment to catch your breath.
Volume considerations - Mind your volume, especially if using speaking equipment, to maintain clarity and avoid straining listeners. Ensure your volume is consistent and appropriate for the room size and audience. If speaking equipment is involved, conduct sound checks before the presentation to avoid technical hiccups.
Hybrid considerations - In the realm of virtual presentations at hybrid events, pay special attention to your audience. Maintain eye contact with the camera, address remote participants directly, and acknowledge their questions and comments. Leverage the support offered by venues like ICC Belfast by utilising high-quality audiovisual equipment, reliable internet connections, and appropriate lighting.

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3. Use Body Language

Body language is a critical element for achieving success in conference presentations as it amplifies your message, establishes a connection with the audience, and conveys confidence. Nonverbal cues such as gestures, posture, and eye contact enhance your overall communication, making your content more engaging, credible, and memorable.

In 2022, Jenni Yau, Senior Association Account Manager at ICC Belfast, gave a quickfire presentation at the ICCA Global Association Forum on how legacy initiatives contribute to a successful ESG strategy. With reference to One Young World and the hybrid launch event that took place at ICC Belfast in 2021, Jenni spoke about how the passion of Team Belfast helped to win this event for the city in a year that coincides with the 25 th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Jenni’s top tips for using body language effectively when delivering a presentation:

Presentation style – For every presentation I do I like to tailor my body language to match the tone and style of the presentation. For example, if the content is formal, I maintain a poised posture and controlled gestures. For a more enthusiastic talk, I’ll try and express energy through dynamic movements and facial expressions that complement the narrative.
Expressing ideas and engaging audiences - Leverage body language to enhance the communication of your ideas. Use gestures to emphasise key points and visualise concepts. Move purposefully around the stage to maintain audience engagement and spatially represent different ideas or perspectives.
Maximising eye contact and avoiding reading – I believe when you establish strong eye contact with your audience you inevitably build rapport and credibility. Focus on connecting with different sections of the audience, ensuring everyone feels involved. Minimise reading from notes by practicing your presentation thoroughly. This allows you to maintain a natural flow and engage with the audience directly, fostering a more authentic connection.

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Main Auditorium | Jenni Yau | Hero Image | ICC Belfast | 1920x1080px

4. Include Appropriate Visuals

Visuals are the cornerstone of effective conference presentations, offering a multi-dimensional layer to content. Well designed visuals, such as slides or multimedia elements, not only reinforce key points but also cater to diverse learning styles, enabling audiences to grasp complex information more easily and enhancing the overall impact of your message.

At the Tessitura Learning & Community Conference (TLCC) Europe 2022 , Barry Connolly, Head of ICT, Digital, Data and Insights at ICC Belfast alongside Pete McKevitt, Head of Entertainment at Waterfront Hall and Ulster Hall, gave a presentation to the Tessitura global community on our organisation’s digital transformation. Using visual aids, Barry and Pete's session, ‘Automation for Domination’, broke down the complex marketing and workflow automations that were implemented across our core systems including Tessitura in order improve the customer journey and improve the average working day for colleagues.

Barry’s top tips for using visuals when delivering a presentation:

Utilise diverse visual aids - Incorporate a variety of visual aids like graphs, charts, pictures, infographics, and videos to cater to different learning styles. When presenting, ensure each visual element directly supports the content you're discussing, avoiding overcrowded slides and opting for clarity over complexity.
Branding considerations - Align visual aids with your branding by using consistent colours and fonts. This fosters a professional and cohesive look throughout the presentation. As the presenter you will want branding elements to enhance rather than distract from the content, striking a balance between visual appeal and clarity.
Leverage the venue’s visual support – The venue's advanced technology should guarantee high-quality displays, sound, and smooth multimedia transitions which will elevate your presentation's impact and engagement. For example, state-of-the-art AV equipment available to event organisers at ICC Belfast will ensure a seamless integration of visuals into your presentation.

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Main Auditorium | Barry Connolly | ICC Belfast

5. Utilise Storytelling

Storytelling and anecdotes serve as powerful tools in conference presentations, adding a human touch and emotional resonance to your content. By weaving relatable narratives, you engage the audience on a personal level, making complex concepts more accessible and memorable. Stories captivate attention, create connections, and help listeners relate your message to their own experiences, enhancing the overall impact and effectiveness of your presentation.

At the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO) Festival of Learning 2023 event Charlie McCloskey, Director of Events and Customer Experience at ICC Belfast, was asked to take part in a roundtable discussion about award-winning conferences. Charlie shared the real life example of accessibility enhancements made in advance of Harkin Summit to make ICC Belfast a truly inclusive conference venue. As a result, delegates of Harkin Belfast congratulated ICC Belfast and organisers on a fantastic programme and standard of the event for disabled professionals.

We’re going to use this as the standard and the mark going forward for making sure that all of our Summits are totally accessible in every way possible and that’s what you have done here.

Senator Tom Harkin, Founder of the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement

Charlie’s top tips for captivating audiences through storytelling:

Illustrating complex ideas – I like to use storytelling to simplify intricate concepts. When you craft narratives that parallel your main points, this helps the audience digest the content because they can relate it back to their own situations or experiences. This engagement fosters better understanding and retention of your message.
Mnemonic purposes - Employ anecdotes as mnemonic devices to aid audience recall. Associating information with a compelling story makes it easier for listeners to remember key takeaways long after the presentation ends, enhancing the lasting impact of your content.
Crafting concise stories - Opt for concise, focused stories that directly support your presentation's objectives. Avoid digressions or long-winded narratives that might detract from your core message. Stories should be succinct, contributing to the overall flow of the presentation while maintaining the audience's attention and engagement.

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6. Encourage Audience Interaction

Incorporating audience interaction into a conference presentation is pivotal for fostering engagement, active participation, and a sense of connection.

For Event Tech Live 2022, Dave Young, Head of Production at ICC Belfast, presented ‘Expectations of Venue Tech’ on the Innovation Theatre stage. Throughout the presentation, Dave encouraged audience engagement by inviting questions and incorporated interactive elements like QR codes which helped transform his presentation from a one-sided dialogue into a dynamic exchange of ideas. This involvement kept the audience attentive throughout and created a follow up action which extended his knowledge sharing between industry peers.

Dave’s top tips for encouraging audience interaction include:

Prepare for Q&A session - Allocate time for a structured Q&A session at the end of your presentation. Anticipate potential questions related to your content and rehearse concise and clear answers. This encourages audience engagement and allows attendees to seek clarifications, fostering an open dialogue.
Contact information on final slide - Include your contact information on the final slide, encouraging attendees to reach out for further discussions or questions. This accessible approach facilitates post-presentation interactions and extends the conversation beyond the conference room. I like to include a QR code that links directly to my LinkedIn profile.
Practicalities of virtual discussion in hybrid presentations - In the context of hybrid conferences, ensure smooth virtual interaction. Utilise technology platforms like those supported by ICC Belfast to enable remote participants to ask questions or engage in discussions. Allocate time for both in-person and virtual interactions, offering equal opportunities for all attendees to contribute and ensuring a cohesive experience for both groups.

CONNECT WITH DAVE

The structure and format of a presentation hold the key to its success, as they determine the clarity and impact of your message. When preparing a presentation, it's essential not to jump directly into creating a slide deck. Instead, start by outlining your content, identifying key points, and structuring a coherent narrative. This foundational step ensures your presentation flows logically, engages the audience, and maintains focus on the core message before visual aids are integrated.

When formatting a conference presentation use a three-part framework: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Start by introducing your topic, then make your key points and finish by summarising the overall message. A clear and logical structure like this will ensure your presentation is easy for audiences to follow.

The introduction should begin with a compelling opener to capture the audience's attention, followed by a clear statement of your presentation's purpose and objectives.
In the main body, delve into your key points, supported by relevant evidence, data, and anecdotes. Maintain a logical flow and use visual aids effectively to enhance comprehension.
Conclude by summarising the main takeaways and reinforcing your message, leaving the audience with a memorable closing statement or call to action.

When starting a conference presentation, think about the mindset of the audience. Put yourself in their position and ask - what would I want to hear? With this in mind, start your presentation with an attention-grabbing opening that aligns with the audience's needs. This could be a thought-provoking question, a surprising fact or a compelling quote.

After capturing the audience's attention, introduce yourself briefly and provide context for your presentation topic. Clearly state the purpose and objectives of your presentation, letting the audience know what they can expect to learn or gain from your talk. Briefly outline the main topics or key points that will be covered in the presentation, creating a roadmap for the audience to follow. This structured introduction not only engages the audience from the outset but also provides them with a clear sense of direction for the presentation ahead.

Concluding a conference presentation effectively leaves a lasting impression on your audience. Start by summarising the main ideas and key takeaways from your talk, reinforcing the core message you aimed to convey. Consider revisiting the roadmap you outlined in the introduction, showcasing how each topic has been covered. Tie up loose ends, address any unanswered questions or points of ambiguity to offer closure to your audience. End with a powerful closing statement that reinforces your message or encourages action. In your final slide, consider displaying your contact information for further engagement and questions. A well structured conclusion not only reinforces your presentation's impact but also ensures your audience leaves with a clear understanding of the content and a memorable call to action.

Navigating the world of presentations, whether for conferences, seminars, or meetings, comes with a set of challenges and questions. As you strive to deliver impactful talks and engage your audience effectively, uncertainties may arise. These FAQs aim to address some common queries related to presentation practices, providing insights and practical tips to enhance your presentation skills.

What are some common mistakes in conference presentations?

Some common mistakes in conference presentations include overcrowded slides with too much text, lack of clear structure or organisation, reading directly from the slides, not engaging the audience, and exceeding the allotted time. It's important to avoid these pitfalls and focus on delivering a clear, engaging, and well structured presentation.

How do you get over conference presentation nerves?

To overcome conference presentation nerves, it's helpful to practice your presentation multiple times, both alone and in front of friends or colleagues. Breathing exercises, visualisation techniques, and positive self-talk can help manage anxiety. Familiarise yourself with the presentation space, arrive early, and establish eye contact with friendly faces in the audience to build confidence.

Many of the ICC Belfast team have found this short video clip, ‘More confidence in 2 minutes’ , based on a talk originally delivered by Amy Cuddy to be a useful resource.

How do you cite a conference presentation?

When citing a conference presentation, include the presenter's name, presentation title in quotation marks, the name of the conference, date, location, and URL if it's available online.

With state-of-the-art facilities and expert technical teams, ICC Belfast ensures seamless production of conference presentations, enhancing speakers' impact. The venue is equipped with cutting-edge audio visual technology, including high-quality displays and sound systems, ensuring that presentations are visually and audibly impactful. Our event delivery teams are on hand to provide seamless support, from setting up multimedia elements to troubleshooting any technical issues that may arise. The venue's adaptability is a standout feature, accommodating various presentation formats, including virtual conference presentations, and providing hybrid event solutions.

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Common Formats for Conference Presentations

Articles on conferences and meetings.

Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs)
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Research Learning Contracts

The two most common formats for the presentation of research findings at conferences are:

oral presentations ; and
poster presentations

Oral Presentations

Depending on to whom you speak some individuals will tell you that oral presentations are preferable compared to poster presentations. Some people feel that oral presentations are more prestigious and offer more cache than do poster presentations.

Oral presentations are generally short talks or panel discussions delivered by one or more individuals to a room of interested meeting attendees. Depending on the meeting, the speaker(s) may read a prepared speech or the speaker may more informally discuss his/her work using visual aids such as a PowerPoint presentation using a laptop computer. A very brief time is allotted for individual oral presentations. An oral presentation is typically between 15 and 30-minutes in duration. Consequently, the presentation must be clearly and succinctly presented and there will be little if any time for questions from the audience.

There are two types of oral presentations:

, which can be further categorized as:
contributed; or

Panel Discussion

At some meetings oral presentations may be taped and available for purchase by meeting attendees. At many meetings, taping and/or photographs at oral presentations may be forbidden.

Individual Oral Presentations

Contributed Anyone who submits a proposal or meeting abstract is potentially eligible to deliver a contributed talk. “Contributed” simply means that you as a conferee submitted your paper for consideration of presentation as versus “invited” which means the meeting organizers or symposium organizer invited you to speak. At some conferences, contributed talks are of shorter duration than invited talks but generally there are no substantive differences otherwise.

Invited In some sessions often referred to as symposia, organizers invite experts in a specific area to share their recent work. These presentations are called invited talks. Invited talks may be given slightly longer time periods than contributed talks. Invited speakers must also submit proposals or meeting abstracts.

Depending on the specific meeting, the organizers may or may not offer invited speakers benefits that contributed speakers may not receive. At some conferences, invited speakers may be offered free or reduced registration, lodging, travel, and even a small honorarium. However, an invited to be an invited speaker may come with none of these perks. If you are “invited” don’t make assumptions – ask the organizer what, if any, services the conference is providing to invited speakers. At some conferences simply being invited is considered to be a significant honor.

Presentations may be made by individuals or by panels. In panel discussions, two or speakers presenting different perspectives or different aspects of the presentation topic will sequentially summarize their work and relate it to that of the other panelists. Once all of the speakers have made their presentations there is generally an open discussion of the papers.

Poster Presentations

Poster sessions offer meeting organizers the opportunity to offer large numbers of meeting attendees the opportunity to present their work. Poster presenters are usually provided a significant amount of space (3′ x 4′ or more) on which to display a visually attractive poster summarizing their research project. Generally, poster presenters have the opportunity to share their work over an extended period of time often an hour or more. At some meetings, the poster may be displayed for an entire day! This allows the poster presenter to describe and discuss their research in greater detail than would be possible in an oral presentation to significantly more people. In my opinion, posters are in no way inferior to oral presentations and may in fact be far more useful.

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Presentation Types

We encourage you to think creatively about your presentations, design, and format to provide attendees with the best experience. Please choose the presentation type that best fits your material and utilizes your content in the greatest way. Skill-building workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, and expert lectures continue to be the most popular session types at the annual conference.

Birds of a Feather Gatherings : Birds of a Feather sessions are relatively small and informal gatherings designed to build networks and explore ideas. Rather than give a formal presentation, facilitators will prepare questions or ideas around a particular topic for you to discuss.

Demonstrations: Demonstrations are formal 60-minute presentations that show how to use or apply an evaluation concept or tool. These sessions differ from Skill-Building Workshops which provide a hands-on experience.

Expert Lecture: Expert Lectures are formal 60-minute presentations by a SINGLE expert in the field who will share conceptual or methodological innovations through a lecture followed by a response to audience questions.

Ignite Presentations : This presentation is just five minutes long, consisting of 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. These presentations are given in rapid succession, one following another - and can be extremely fun! During an hour-long session, you can see up to 10 presentations on a variety of topics.

Panel: This formal, thematic, 60-minute presentation focuses on an issue facing the field of evaluation. The overall abstract is to provide a coordinated presentation by two or three panelists, and possibly a discussant, on the general topic of the panel.

Paper: AEA will be dedicating time for a limited number of paper presentations at Evaluation 2023. We encourage students, those early in their careers, and those who haven’t presented at a regional or national/international meeting in the past to submit their papers for consideration. TIGs will review paper submissions with this lens to give opportunities to those who are often not included in the program.

Professional Development Workshops: Professional Development (PD) Workshops are great learning opportunities that provide attendees with in-depth lessons, group activities, and real-world case studies.

Multi-paper Sessions: Multi-paper sessions include three or more paper presentations on a common theme. Each paper presenter will have approximately 15 minutes to present and discuss the key points of his or her work. Submit for these session types only if you are a group submitting a minimum of three papers you would like to present as part of one complete multi-paper session. Individual papers must be submitted using the “paper” session type.

Roundtables: Roundtables are 60-minute oral presentations, which typically include 30 minutes of presentation, followed by 30 minutes of discussion and feedback. Roundtable presenters should bring targeted questions to pose to others, in order to learn from and with those attending. Roundtables are an ideal format for an in-depth discussion on a particular topic.

Skill-Building Workshop: As part of a 60-minute session taking place during the conference, workshops teach a specific skill needed by many evaluators and include one or more exercises that let attendees practice using this skill. These sessions differ from Demonstrations in that attendees will have a hands-on opportunity to practice the skill. These sessions differ from Professional Development Workshops in that they take place during the conference, are significantly shorter in length, and thus do not allow for as much breadth or depth in exploring the topic, and may be presented by someone with less facilitation experience than expected for the pre- and post-conference workshops.

Think Tank: A Think Tank is a 60-minute session focusing on a single issue or question. Initially, a chairperson orients attendees to the issue or question and relevant context. Then, attendees break into small groups to explore the issue or question and finally reconvene to share their enhanced understanding through a discussion facilitated by the chairperson. The abstract should succinctly identify the question or issue to be addressed, the relevant contextual factors, and the roles of the individual breakout groups.

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12.2: Types of Conference Presentations

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Traditional Paper/Oral Presentation : This is the standard oral presentation (usually 15 minutes plus additional time at the end for questions) where one or more speakers (joint-presenters) share research results, completed works, innovative concepts, theoretical application, methodologies or tools.
Student Presentation : These are similar to the traditional paper/oral presentations described above, but with an emphasis on students work. By providing a separate avenue for students to share their work or labelling the presentation as “students”, the pressure can be lessened. Sometimes, students have separate sessions, but other times, they are grouped with other paper presentations. If this is the case, the presentation is usually identified as student presentations in the program.
Poster Presentation : This is a less formal opportunity to share your work in a visual format. We discuss this in greater depth later in the chapter.
Panel Presentation : This is where multiple speakers present their perspective on a common issue usually for 60 to 90 minutes. While many students prefer to present posters or shorter oral presentations, if a group of students have a common research interest or concern, they can apply to a conference to present on a panel. The speakers are responsible for coordinating the panel and assigning roles (such as moderator). Each speaker on a panel is usally given at least one individual question as well as an introductory and closing remark.
Roundtables : are similar to panel in the sense that a group of discussants seated around a table comment on a theme. Roundtable presenters bring targeted questions to pose to participants at the table in order to learn from and with those attending. It is quite unlikely that you will present your work on a roundtable, but you can check out conference websites if you wish to learn more (see Box for a list of potential conference).
Lightning Round-Tables : These are opportunities to network by briefly summarizing your work to a small audience (usually in 15 minutes or less) followed by an interactive discussion. Discussants will then move to another table and repeat the procedude. This provides the opportunity to get more intimate connections for other participants and attendees.

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Conference Presentation: A Comprehensive Guide
Types of Conference Presentations. Before we delve into the nitty-gritty details, let's explore the different types of conference presentations you might encounter: ‍ Oral presentation. The quintessential "oral presentation" remains one of the most prominent formats across conferences, be it academic or professional.
Types of Conference Presentations
84 Types of Conference Presentations Conference presentations take many forms. Before submitting an abstract to a conference, be sure to consider what kind of presentation you want to make. ... If you wish to submit an abstract for other presentation types, be sure to discuss it with your advisor, supervisor or mentor. Previous/next navigation ...
Conference Presentation Slides: A Guide for Success
Conference presentations are bounded by a 15-30 minute time limit, which the event's moderators establish. These restrictions are applied to allow a crowded agenda to be met on time, and it is common to count with over 10 speakers on the same day. ... Select the appropriate type of graph or chart to illustrate your data. Bar graphs, pie ...
The Exhaustive Guide to Preparing Conference Presentations
We often see tables used in conference presentations. With this 10-slide template pack, you can choose from a variety of different table formats and styles. Editing the slides is easy too, so just type in your data and let the template do the rest for you! Academic Conference Presentation Templates. Timeline Pictures PowerPoint Template
A Guide to Conference Presentations
A Guide to Conference Presentations. Giving a presentation at an academic conference can be both stressful and rewarding. While it's incredibly helpful to get feedback and insights on your project from other researchers in your field, it can also be intimidating to hold your work up for scrutiny from others. Today we're going to share some tips ...
What Are The Common Types Of Conference Presentations?
Here, we will explore some common types of conference presentations. 1. Traditional Oral Presentations. Traditional oral presentations involve delivering a talk to an audience using slides or other visual aids. They are typically structured with an introduction, methods, results, and conclusion.
Types of Conference Presentations
Types of Conference Presentations. Here are the commonly used formats for conference presentations: 1. Oral Presentation. Oral presentations are the standard form of presentation where the speaker(s) share details about their research questions, methodology, findings, applications, etc. It lasts between 15-30 minutes.
6 Essential Tips for Creating an Effective Conference Presentation Your
What core principles do the best conference presentations share?. In a survey by Kelton Global:. 90% of people questioned for a felt a solid narrative is key; 55% of respondents agreed a good story holds their concentration throughout presentations better than anything else; And 33% say visual stimulation is absolutely necessary to keep them engaged.; Narrative drive and concrete themes are ...
12.2: Types of Conference Presentations
12.1: Introduction- Speech! Conference presentations take many forms. Before submitting an abstract to a conference, be sure to consider what kind of presentation you want to make. Below, we discuss some common presentation types: Traditional Paper/Oral Presentation: This is the standard oral presentation (usually 15 minutes plus additional ...
Academic Conference Presentations: A Step-by-Step Guide
About this book. This book provides a step-by-step journey to giving a successful academic conference presentation, taking readers through all of the potential steps along the way—from the initial idea and the abstract submission all the way up to the presentation itself. Drawing on the author's own experiences, the book highlights good and ...
Beyond the Podium: Understanding the differences in conference ...
In addition to the different types of conferences, there are several types of conference presentations. Understanding them is important to make the right presentation for a conference before submitting your abstract. Types of Conference Presentations Here are the commonly used formats for conference presentations: 1. Oral Presentation
11 Tips To Make Your Conference Presentation Outstanding
4 - Use Visual Aids. Visual aids are tools to help you communicate visually. Some presentation visual aids you might want to consider using are graphs, tables, pictures and videos. If you really want to be seen as an expert presenter, you should even be focusing on the colors you use for your slides.
8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]
CREATE THIS PRESENTATION. 2. Persuasive presentation. If you've ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with compelling arguments, you've experienced a persuasive presentation . This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective.
11 Types of Presentations
Conference presentations, a significant aspect among the various types of presentation styles, offer opportunities to share research, insights, and expertise with a broader audience. Unlike other presentation types, conference presentations allow presenters to engage with peers, exchange ideas, and contribute to their field of study.
Create a Conference Presentation
Common types of conference presentations. Full paper - The length of a full paper is variable, usually between 20 and 40 min, and rarely exceeds one hour.A full paper may be followed by question time. Short paper - This type of conference presentation can be as short as 10 min, and very often it is one in a series of short papers in a 1- or 2-hour session on a particular conference sub-topic ...
Conference Presentations
Types of conference papers and sessions. Panel presentations are the most common form of presentation you will encounter in your graduate career. You will be one of three to four participants in a panel or session (the terminology varies depending on the organizers) and be given fifteen to twenty minutes to present your paper. This is often ...
Conference Presentations
Understanding the different types of conference presentations is pivotal for speakers as it lays the foundation for effective communication and engagement. Types of conference presentations: Full paper - A comprehensive presentation detailing research methods, results, and conclusions, often accompanied by visual aids.
Common Formats for Conference Presentations
A very brief time is allotted for individual oral presentations. An oral presentation is typically between 15 and 30-minutes in duration. Consequently, the presentation must be clearly and succinctly presented and there will be little if any time for questions from the audience. There are two types of oral presentations:
Conference Session Types
Please choose the presentation type that best fits your material and utilizes your content in the greatest way. Skill-building workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, and expert lectures continue to be the most popular session types at the annual conference. Birds of a Feather Gatherings: Birds of a Feather sessions are relatively small ...
Types of Presentation for a Conference
Oral and poster presentations are the most common types of presentations for accepted papers at conferences. Oral Presentation. Conference presentations that are commonly used. Full paper - The ...
Types of Conference and Academic Presentations
Types of Conference and Academic Presentations. This article will aid you in deciding which presentation format is best for your project. This was an exciting week for the students at my university. It was symposium week and students present their research projects to the rest of the university-whether it was for a class, a senior project, or ...
12.2: Types of Conference Presentations
Below, we discuss some common presentation types: Traditional Paper/Oral Presentation: This is the standard oral presentation (usually 15 minutes plus additional time at the end for questions) where one or more speakers (joint-presenters) share research results, completed works, innovative concepts, theoretical application, methodologies or tools.
Conference Papers and Presentations
Conference paper guide from Claremont Graduate University's Writing Center. Has information about the different types of presentations that take place at conferences; information about writing conference proposals and abstracts; information specific to humanities and the social sciences; and, tips for delivering conference papers.
Call for Presentations: 2024 Ohio Prevention Conference
The deadline for presentation proposals is 5:00 p.m. on May 17, 2024. Successful submissions will be informed by theory, research, or practice and all submissions should reflect innovation and an understanding of the social determinants of health. Presentation topics should address one of the following: Administration and supervision; Child welfare