Presenting your research effectively might be one of the most important skills you can add to your toolbox as a grad student. Whether it is at a research conference, job talk, grant application, research pitch competition, or moving beyond academia in your professional career, presenting as effectively as possible will increase the impact of the research itself and enhance your future successes as a professional.
There are seven workshops designed to help you achieve your goals:
Presentations 101: Rethinking Research Presentations
Get started with this intro to SKILLSETS’ Presentation Skills series. This workshop teaches participants how to create clear, accessible and engaging research presentations that are fit for a variety of academic and non-academic audiences. An overview of key presentation components, this workshop touches on content, visuals, and stage presence to give participants a solid foundation in presentation.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand why less is more in presentations
- Learn the importance of narrative structures and storytelling
- Rethink when and how to use visuals
- Decrease anxiety and increase engagement by channeling authenticity
Building Your Next Presentation
This workshop focuses on the steps participants need to develop content for their next research presentation. From STEM based quantitative research, to social science exploration, this workshop will explore worksheets designed to help participants develop better content.
Learning outcomes:
- Articulate the core message clearly and accessibly to maximize audience understanding
- Brainstorm ways to start presentations that increase engagement
- Learn patterns to structure presentations that create curiosity to learn more
- Develop specific strategies to maximize credibility without getting bogged down
Effective Presentation Visuals
In this workshop, participants learn how to avoid the pitfalls of building slides that have too much information, take too long to process, and compete for audience attention. By understanding the limits of human visual and auditory language processing, participants learn how to work within them. This workshop teaches: 1) strategic PowerPoint skills that make slides easier to process and more cohesive, 2) how to control audience attention, and 3) how to best test key visuals before presenting.
Learning outcomes:
- Create complementary visuals that aid rather than compete with comprehension
- Use PowerPoint functionality to create more cohesive slides
- Use PowerPoint functionality to better control audience focus
- Establish strategies to properly test the effectiveness and impact of core visuals
Professional and Engaging Presentation Presence
This workshop teaches participants how to balance confidence and professionalism with dynamic physical and vocal presence. Specifically, participants will learn the importance of gestures and vocal variety; as well as how to use physical space, naming and props. As bonus, this workshop will share a practice routine that will help participants decrease anxiety and improve performance.
Learning outcomes:
- Cultivate a confident physical presence that commands a room
- Develop a clear, natural delivery to connect with any audience
- Establish a dynamic physical and vocal presence while still being professional
- Learn how to practice better to present better
Presenting You: Networking and Elevator Pitches
Networking: when research becomes about you. This workshop breaks down how to talk about your research in ways that highlight the skills and personal attributes needed to establish your professional competencies. Learn how to tell your research story where the outcomes are less about your research achievements and more about the professional skills you have developed and personal attributes that have helped you succeed. This workshop is part of SKILLSETS’ Presentation Skills series.
Learning outcomes:
- Identify and understand personal strengths
- Reframe research into a personal trajectory of growth
- Demonstrate personal strengths in a research story
Presentation Practice: Prepare Effectively and Reduce Anxiety
This workshop dives deeply into how to practice more effectively and how to get better feedback for your presentation while you prepare. We’ll review why watching a video of yourself is so painful for most people and how to work around the feeling to make the most of this tool for self-review. We’ll also cover feedback strategies for content, delivery and visuals when looking for feedback from others. We’ll also discuss strategies for keeping anxiety and imposter syndrome in check. This workshop is part of SKILLSETS’ Presentation Skills series.
Learning outcomes:
- Prepare effectively through self-video review
- Solicit feedback for content, delivery and visuals that is helpful
- Manage presentation-induced anxiety and imposter syndrome
Presenting a Pitch: From Content to Visuals to Delivery
How do you craft a research presentation to influence policy or request funding? This special 3-hour workshop focuses specifically on research presentations with more explicit goals, such as policy implications, grant requests or investment pitches. Offering a holistic approach to presentations, from content to visuals to delivery, you’ll learn how to present confidently and persuasively while laying out key details and expectations. This workshop is part of SKILLSETS’ Presentation Skills series.
Learning outcomes:
- Develop a compelling presentation with a clear call to action
- Command confidence with clear and natural physical presence and delivery
- Develop engaging visuals that enhance a presentation without overwhelming it.
As a McGill student, your participation in full to activities such as training workshops and volunteering are tracked on your Co-Curricular Record (CCR)! Having your co-curricular activities listed in one document can help you revise your CV or cover letter, prepare for interviews, and explore career options.