Chapter 11

Presentation in Seminars and

Conferences

Seminars and conferences offer alternative means of dissemi-

nation of research results. But they are by no means substitute
for publications in scientific journals. This is because, barring a
few prestigious ones, most conferences do not have strong peer-
review systems. People know that, and that is why conference
presentations are not treated in equal footing with journal papers
when Institute authorities take stock of one’s research output.
The main utility of a conference presentation is that it offers
a chance of directly exposing your work before people who may
be working on similar or related areas. It offers possibility of dis-
cussion which are often invaluable in generating new ideas. Such
discussions often lead to new avenues of research, sometimes
even new collaborations.
Some conferences ask the intending participants to submit
full papers; but most often one has to submit an abstract (or a
relatively longer ‘extended abstract’). Where full papers are sub-
mitted, these are normally published in the Conference Proceed-
ings. Nowadays most conference proceedings are distributed in
electronic format in CDs or USB sticks and one can also search
and download papers from the conference website. These papers
are to be treated as publications, in the sense that the same
2 Chapter 11. Presentation in Seminars and Conferences

content cannot be sent to a journal for publication (it will amount

to self-plagiarism). So one has to be careful in choosing the
subject matter for presentation in a conference.
Sometimes researchers present in conferences when a piece
of work is still not mature enough for communication to a journal.
The aim is to sound the idea among peers and to get feedback.
They then finish the work by taking into account the comments
received in the conference. In such cases one has to ensure that
there is significant amount of new material in the journal paper,
and that the text is freshly written (chunks of text should not be
copied and pasted from the earlier paper).
Some conferences allow one to present a work that has al-
ready been published in a journal, for better dissemination. In
such presentations it is a good idea to include the new work that
has been done on that problem after publication of the journal
paper—so that there is some new material in the conference
presentation that is not available in the published paper.

11.1 The art of preparing visual presentation

material

Barring the field of mathematics where ‘chalk-and-talk’ is still the

primary mode of presentation, nowadays all conference presenta-
tions are accompanied by slides prepared with LATEX, Powerpoint,
or similar software. These visual material should be very carefully
prepared to convey the key ideas effectively.
Note the following issues when preparing the slides.

1. Before starting to prepare the slides, get an idea of the au-

dience to be expected. Are they specialists in your area of
work, or are coming from different specializations? What
background can you expect in the audience? Prepare the
presentation with the typical person in the audience in mind.

2. Typical conference presentations are of 15-20 minute dura-

tion. Seminar talks may be for 30-40 minutes. And invited
11.1. The art of preparing visual presentation material 3

talks in Universities and Institutes are typically for an hour.

Prepare one slide per minute of presentation time. If you
prepare too many slides, you will not be able to go through all
of them. If you prepare too few slides, you will have to display
a single slide for too long a time, resulting in visual boredom.

3. The first slide should contain the title of the presentation,

the authors’ names and their affiliations. Except for very
short presentations where time is at premium, the second
slide should give a plan of the talk—so that the audience can
anticipate what is coming.

4. Describe the background knowledge briefly so that your work

is put in perspective. Clearly present the question whose an-
swer you are seeking through this work. Present the hypothe-
ses, and your method of testing each hypothesis. Present your
results in such a way that the audience can themselves reach
the same conclusions that you will present in the last slide.

5. Say it in pictures. Images can add interest and support the

content. Graphs convey data better than tables. Most slides
should be dominated by images, with very few words. You
should not type in everything that you want to say. You are
there to explain, and the slides should assist your explanation.

6. Focus on the key points by writing them in bullets. Try to limit

yourself to no more than about 4-5 major bullets per slide. Do
not write blocks of text (nobody reads them). A good idea is
to adopt what is known as the 6 × 6 rule: no more than about
6 lines of text per slide with 6 words per line.

7. Each slide should convey one main idea.

8. Try to compose each slide in an aesthetically pleasing way. Do

not mix different fonts in a single slide. Normally sans serif
fonts look better in slides. Use this font in 24 pt size for better
legibility. Use highlighting and colour sparingly, where you
4 Chapter 11. Presentation in Seminars and Conferences

really intend to emphasize something. Do not fill the slides

completely with images and text; allow some white spaces.

9. In the projection the colours may not look the same as in

your computer’s monitor. So choose high contrast colours,
so that lines that are intended to be in different colours are
distinguishable even if the colour-fidelity of the projector is
not good.

10. The whole set of slides should follow the same basic design.
Use design templates for consistency.

11. Special effects in slide transitions tend to distract the audi-

ence away from what you are trying to convey. Limit the use
of these.

12. Do not get lost in the details. Downplay the specifics, and
emphasize the important issues of your work. You may keep a
couple of slides after the last “Thank You” slide, which you can
display only if there are questions demanding the specifics.

13. Plan the slides in such a way that you do not have to go back
and forth while delivering the talk. While explaining a slide if
you need to refer to a picture or an equation that appeared
a few slides before, put that picture or equation again in the
current slide. That eases the presentation.

11.2 The art of delivering a talk at a conference

Even if the slides are well prepared, the success of the enterprise
depends on how you present it. Here are some recommendations
on the style of presentation.

1. Smile when you start your talk. This is important, because

it reduces your nervousness and allows you to connect with
your audience. During the presentation, adopt a conversa-
tional tone. Do not read slides. Talk to the audience; make
eye contact with them.
11.3. Poster presentation 5

2. A peculiar habit of most Indians is to start a talk with the word

‘So’. Remember, the word ‘so’ comes in sequel of something
already said. Make it a conscious habit not to start a talk with
‘So’.

3. Especially in international conferences, everyone in the audi-

ence may not be familiar with your style of English pronunci-
ation. So speak clearly, slowly, and loud enough so that those
seated at the back of the room can hear it.

4. Do not try to tell them everything that you have done. This is
not possible within the time allowed. Try to arouse interest
in your work so that the members of the audience read your
papers. So focus on the key issues, convey the “big picture”,
and spell out the take-home message.

5. Utilize the question-and-answer time as an opportunity for

further engagement with the audience. While answering a
question, do not deviate from the topic into things that were
not asked. If you do not have an answer, admit it.

6. If you are challenged or attacked, respond courteously. Do

not lose your composure. Thank the questioner for having
raised the point, and answer the question as best you can. If
you realize that you have really done a mistake, do not try to
defend it.

Every PhD student should try to make at least one confer-

ence presentation within the period of doctoral research. This
experience is valuable.

11.3 Poster presentation

Most scientific conferences and workshops offer scope of poster

presentation. This medium of exposition of one’s research work
has its own advantages.
6 Chapter 11. Presentation in Seminars and Conferences

In an oral presentation one gets a fixed amount of time to

discuss one’s work and this window of interaction is the same
for all members of the audience. One cannot personalize the
interaction depending on the interest of individual listeners. But
in a poster session one can go to great lengths of interaction if
someone is really interested in details of the work, while confining
the interaction to brief expositions for those only interested in
knowing ‘what it is all about’.

11.3.1 Preparing the poster

In order for the poster presentation to be effective, the poster

should be well designed. The material to be put in the poster
should be carefully considered. Remember, nobody is going to
read the whole poster. You will stand in front of it to explain. So
put in only those issues, mostly as bullet points, that you would
need to refer to while explaining.
The overall look of the poster should have aesthetic appeal.
If a poster catches the eye from a distance, it is more likely to be
spotted by those who might be interested in your work. One can
easily look up good examples of scientific poster design by google
search.
One can make a poster as one Powerpoint slide if one is work-
ing under Windows environment. LATEX offers many packages
specifically designed for this purpose.
Every conference and workshop specifies the allowed size of
the poster. Start by setting these dimensions right. Then copy
and paste your own material into the template.
Make sure all text in the poster is readable from at least 1.5
metres. The suggested font sizes are, title: 60 points, section
headings: 30 points, text: no smaller than 20 points. Select a
sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica, Arial) for titles and headings. If
there are equations, choose a font for the running text that does
not look too different from the font used in the equations (i.e.,
they should be from the same font family).
While talking to the audience, you will mainly need to refer
11.3. Poster presentation 7

to graphs, charts, and similar pictures. The poster should be

dominated by these, not by text.

11.3.2 Presenting a poster

Remember, most people in a conference will only be cursorily

interested in what you are doing, and there will be only a handful
people really interested in it. The whole art of presenting a poster
is to attract those people to your poster and to have fruitful
interaction with them.
The usual mistake that many presenters do, is to grab some-
body who drifted to the poster and lecture him/her for half an
hour. This person may not be really interested in the work, but
cannot move away because of courtesy. Worse, another person
who might be really interested may see that you are in the middle
of an elaborate explanation and may not like to join in at that
stage.
So, prepare a brief outline that can be presented in 3-4 min-
utes, meant for most people who come to your poster. It should
tell the listener what it is all about, what scientific questions you
are addressing, what is your methodology of investigation, and
what are the prime conclusions out of the work. Go into further
details only if the listener shows interest and asks questions.
There will be a few people who may be working in areas
directly related to yours, or may be interested in your work due to
other reasons. You should aim to have more elaborate discussion
with them, explaining the details of the methodology, the graphs,
the equations, etc. It is a good idea to keep a laptop computer
with you, so that if a question comes up that will require you to
refer to something not in the poster (for example, the detailed
arrangement of an experiment or a video), you might be able to
show it.