Presentation level - There are presentations and presentations. You don't want to kill an ant with a bazooka, and so before you start full force you have to determine how important that presentation is. If we are talking about the weekly informal research conference of your group, the level of preparation and sophistication definitely has to be smaller than for the presentation you would when an important project is at stake. Because it would be hard to speak about options for all different levels of presentation, from now one assume that I am discussing what to do in a very important presentation.
Audience persona - This is arguably the most important aspect of a presentation. To be able to deliver the message, you have to understand what your audience wants to get out of your talk. In other words, your content is important, but it has to be completely tailored to the needs of your audience, otherwise the message won't get through. The most useful concept in defining what an audience might want out of your presentation is the "persona." This concept is well-defined in the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Scott. Scott explains that audiences should be characterized by two or three main traits that will help you understand exactly who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. When you talk, imagine you are having a one on one conversation with this persona, using the language level they need and also talking to their needs rather than to yours.
Structure - An image is worth a million words. We are visual animals, and images will stick to our minds. Whenever possible, avoid text in your slides and, instead, talk to your audience. Tell them a story and use your slides as a support tool, rather than reading bullets and sentences straight from the screen. In my opinion, the best reference on this topic is the book Beyond Bullet Points (Atkinson, 2005), where the author argues that the underlying structure of a presentation should follow the structure of a screenplay. This implies having the characterization of a main character, in our case the audience persona, a clear view of their context, points of conflict, and many other factors that fascinate us with good movies. If this structure works for blockbusters, there is no reason why you can't use it for your research. Of importance, don't be fooled by the idea that you are talking to a group of rational scientists that will objectively analyze what you say. We are all humans, and as such we are driven by emotions and several other cognitive factors in every judgment we make (Lakoff, 2001).
Technology - If you were to ask Alvan Feinstein, the father of Clinical Epidemiology in the United States, he would tell you that the best slides are those in black and white. Because they are pure content, your audience will be focused on what you have to say rather than on how good looking your presentation is. I come from a different perspective. We are human beings, and as such the way we absorb information is highly influenced by the media used to communicate the message. Whenever possible, my preference is to use high tech presentation techniques with images that will make it clear what I am trying to say. As far as technology, my current preference is to use custom made videos displayed using Macromedia Flash. A good example is the recent iPhone presentation by Steve Jobs, where he dazzled his audience with powerful images in combination with a real-time video. Of course, you should not aim for a high tech presentation if you are not sure that the resources will be there to deliver it.
Speaking - If a presentation is worth doing well, then you have to create a script and memorize it. This doesn't mean you will quote your script as a robot, but a script will allow you to fine tune the presentation in every single detail. These details include the tone of your voice, creating ups and downs that will make your audience vibrate as you move back and forth. Of importance, use short sentences loaded with meaning, using pauses after them so that your audience can think about what you are saying -- this creates a powerful effect. Scripts, therefore, require extensive practice and rehearsals. Each practice session has to necessarily result in an improvement of your script, making it more concise, more clear, and more emphatic. To me one of the best examples demonstrating this technique is Martin Luther King's speech with the famous "I have a dream" quote.
Atkinson, C. (2005). Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Microsoft Press.
Lakoff, G., & Nuñez, R. (2001). Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being. Basic Books.
Scott, D. M. (2007). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly. Wiley.
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