Collecting Your Content
When you’re working on your research, every last detail seems important and worth sharing with others—whether they are familiar with your field or not. That’s why it’s important to practice how you talk about your research and to think about ways to get people interested and excited in what you do.
- 7 Things to do When you Have to Give a Short Speech, by Bill Murphy, Jr., Inc.
- Explaining Your Work to Friends and Family, PhD Talk
- What to Do When They Say, “Tell Us About Your Research,” by Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Do You Have Mysterious Dragons in Your Research?, by Joseph Barber, Inside Higher Ed
- How to Give More Persuasive Presentations, Nancy Duarte
Images and Visuals
If your presentation includes visuals, make sure to select them carefully. You’ll want to find images or tables that are visually appealing and that emphasize key aspects of your work. Most importantly: strive for simplicity! Cluttering your slides with images and text can overwhelm your audience.
- 10 Tips on How to Make Slides That Communicate Your Idea, from Ted’s In-House Expert, TED
- Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, by Nancy Duarte, ebook
- How to Add Powerful (and Legal) Images to Your Presentations, by David Teten
- Presentation Zen, by Gar Reynolds
- 10 Tips for Designing Presentations That Don’t Suck, by Joshua Johnson
- Get access to high-resolution images from professional photographers through our campus' Digital Asset Library and the UC-wide Digital Asset Library (all photos come with photographer information for proper attribution)
Performance
Giving a speech can be a nerve-racking experience, but it is important to practice this skill in order to become more confident and comfortable in front of others.
- Tips and Techniques for More Confident and Compelling Presentations, by Matt Abrahams
- Conquering Stage Fright, by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America
- 9 Speaking Tips for Non-Native Speakers, by Ryan Avery
- Four Ways to Make Your Research Presentation Stand Out, GradLife blog
Disciplinary Resources & Example Talks
There are a number of discipline-specific resources that may help you as you prepare to communicate both inside and outside of your discipline.
- TED Talks You Should Be Watching, from the American Historical Association
- Public Humanities Resource Library, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Object Lessons, from The Atlantic and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- LSE Impact Blog, from the London School of Economics and Political Science
- SciComm Blog, from PLOS (science, technology, and medicine)
- Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
- "Talk nerdy to me," TED Talk with Melissa Marshall
- Communication 101: Communication Basics for Scientists and Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Previous Grad Slam Talks: See how other students have approached their presentations
- TED Talks: Approximately 3-minute talks on “ideas worth spreading”
- PhD Comics Two-Minute Thesis: PhD Comics challenged graduate students to explain their work in two minutes – the best have been turned into videos!
- 3 Minute Thesis Competition Winners: Winning presentations from a multi-university thesis competition in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the South Pacific