I produced several talks over the past decades and followed many more as an audience member. Sure I'm not the best presenter in the world, but it's impressive how many talks fail to follow basic prep rules. I've built my experiences in the scientific field, so if you find any of my suggestions strange or inappropriate, talk to coworkers or your supervisor about it. Rules may change and different communities may have other ways of presenting their results.
The ultimate goal of every presentation should be to excite the audience. You won't be able to reach this goal with every presentation, but you should try. The following lines are intended as a primer. You should read it and decide consciously whether you want to follow my suggestions or not. An excellent presentation will not follow all of the points suggested here, but the presenter will know why he or she decided against them.
Structure of a presentation
Title slide
The first slide should contain the title and full name of the presentation. This will be displayed until the presentation begins and the audience is allowed to prepare themselves for your speech.
Introduction
The introduction should be about 10-15% of the entire presentation time. In the beginning the audience is busy preparing for your speech, finding a comfortable position and checking on their neighbors - they don't really pay attention to what you're saying. Introduction allows them to hear with one ear and still get most of it. Also this part has an important function. It should widen the gap of common sense to expert knowledge of the matter. Your task is to provide enough knowledge in a very concise manner so that the audience can follow particular parts of speech. The more a person knows, the later the introduction becomes of interest to them.
Main part
The body should be 70-80% of the entire presentation time. Now is the time to talk the topic and show your results. You can rephrase each subsection into an introduction, main results, and summary if it makes sense for your topic. Each subsection can be united by using the same background for the slide. A presenter should show his preferences for what he talks about. Furthermore the people in the audience should always be aware if they are presented with facts and experimental results (undeniable, eternal truths) or if they are presented with the speaker's opinions and interpretations (which may be completely wrong). Usually audience is used to discriminate between the two, so the speaker can be subtle for example changing the way he is talking.
In the body you can go into detail or talk about special cases. But it is important to get back the people you lost during these parts or who started dreaming. ,That's why you should make a short pause after these particular parts and use your voice change to signal the start of a new section that may be of interest to the entire audience.
Summary
The summary should be 10-15% of the entire presentation time. Here the key points are again mentioned and presented as the "take-home-message". The speaker should revisit everything he wants the audience to remember forever - even if they forget everything else. This is also the last time to win over the audience for your views on this topic.
Last slide
On this slide you should mention everyone involved in the task or presentation and indicate that you are now ready to take questions. You can say: "Thanks for your attention, have any questions?" It's important for the audience to know when the presentation has ended and the audience shouldn't be guessing.
Presentation structure
Slides
This is a topic in itself and different communities will have different views on the subject. A cohesive design with harmonious colors contrasting against the background should be a reasonable starting point. It pays to support your message with pictures. If you are talking about glacial lakes then you should show the picture of such lake. This will help the viewers to visualize what such a lake would look like and it will give quick answers to many of their questions. But be careful: each element in the presentation must have a function. Avoid unnecessary elements like short cartoons that don't contribute to the message of your point.
Any text on slides should be small. The text should not be framed in complete sentences. Rule of thumb: The audience should be able to capture the text by watching the slide, if they have to start reading you put in too much text.
Your supervisor will help you find the right amount of text and pictures.
Table of Contents
A controversial point. Some think it structures the speech and allows the audience to prepare for further topics. The problem is that time is limited and you can use this time to talk about more interesting things. Apart from this, the audience will not be able to leave anyway and it removes the suspense. In a movie you don't first shape the story, people should just enjoy the ride. There may be a price to pay for providing a table of contents in some negotiations. Sometimes the audience eagerly waits for a topic. It's better to tell them when you're going to talk about their favorite topic than if you'll ever mention it. This is a controversial issue that you should discuss with your supervisor and follow his advice.
Marks for re-admission
In any conversation you will lose some people along the way. Sometimes because they keep thinking while talking, sometimes because they get distracted. It is important for them to create some re-entry points to give them a chance to follow the presentation from this point forward. Re-entry points can be more general slides, brief summaries or recapitulations. Anything that helps them refocus and the rest follow.
Citation
Reference should be given in detail. There are no references to "Internet", "Wikipedia" or "Library". You must provide information about the article or book you are citing. It is beneficial to gather references beforehand when you are preparing your speech. The sources of the pictures may be given in small letters at the bottom of each picture or in the form of a slide at the end. Different scientific groups have different habits, so try to figure out what is expected of you.
Tools to present
In the best conversation the speaker talks freely without any sheets or scripts in his hands. The audience doesn't realize that he uses any tools or aids to guide him through the presentation. Because very few speakers will be able to memorize an entire speech (except for professional speakers who show the same thing several dozen times) we should take a look at invisible assistants.
Most speakers have a script that they place in an appropriate place before the speech begins. It is important that the script is composed of headwords and very little text. Written language differs from the way you speak in front of people. One of the biggest mistakes is reading the talk from the script. The audience will then start thinking why don't you just hand them the script and let them go home. Even if you don't plan on reading things from the script, you may be tempted to use a well-crafted script to support you if you lose track. . This idea is limited by the fact that you can't find the right place in your script once you need it. Especially if you're stressed, you'll spend a lot more time reading and searching if the audience is bored.
The script should be written in a concise form, have a proper font size and should be structured in such a way that you can go to the current state at first sight. Knowledge is usually enough to be able to defend yourself with this script and you will never need it. It's like a rescue boat on a cruise ship. It is usually recommended to prepare the first two sentences well as opposed to the things mentioned above. So if you freeze at the beginning you can read them and that should get you started doing the rest without the script.
Some speakers use small cards with notes to guide them through the speech. I wouldn't recommend this, because first the cards block your hands and second most speakers hold them as if they would be the only rope preventing them from falling into the lion's cave. If you don't manage without cards, use them (they are a well accepted tool) - but without cards things get better!
If you're wondering how you can handle the talk without looking at the card or in the script—here's the trick: You structure your slides in such a way that they remind you of what you want to say. Or you just try to remember what you want to say when you look at a certain slide. You have to be careful not to end your presentation in front of an audience. This should be avoided at any cost, because in this case you are probably standing with your back to the audience, you put too much text on the slides and the audience will feel as if you are watching your presentation for the first time. For this reason many guidelines say that you should never look at your slides.
The way this might work is to check the slide with a view (below a second) while the slide is changing. People should not get the impression that the speaker is reading the slide, but confirming that the supporting material displayed the correct slide (what to check anyway because sometimes a slide is missed). Then you'll remember what to say and if not, still have the script.
Preparation
Many people recommend preparing the whole thing at once. I object and will just create the condensed script. You can say things in exactly the same way if you start to form complete sentences. You can stumble if you don't find the right phrase, while any other sentence will be just as good as the one that doesn't come to mind. If you have your own short script, present your talk 2-3 times at home for practice. You should say the thing out loud (to practice with the same brain parts you'll use later) and check if the time required matches the desired time frame. You'll use 10-20% less time during the conversation because you can forget things and speak faster than originally planned.
Body language
You should stand up straight and look at the audience during 95% of your conversation. Body language and accent should give the impression that you enjoy talking to them and that you are happy to talk about this interesting topic. Only if you are enthusiastic can you light a fire in the audience. That's why you need to make eye contact with the audience. If you're threatened by hundreds of spectators, pick five people evenly spread out in the audience and watch them. The rest you can ignore, they won't realize. Ignore people who make you laugh or distract you with your behavior, just never look at them.
You should use your hands to support your spoken words. How to do this is a topic in itself, most people have an intuitive way of using their hands. Typical examples are politicians who train to use them skillfully – or Italians who naturally use their hands when speaking.
You should move a little while presenting, for example by walking from side to side. This makes the talk more dynamic but at the same time it should not leave the impression of sports practice or distract the audience.
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