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Preparing and presenting a seminar or conference paper

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Preparing to Present

(© David Kahane 2006)

In the following advice, I'm imagining that you have a paper that you've written, and now are figuring how to convert it into an oral presentation. Much of the following will apply as well if you're writing an oral presentation from scratch....

Don't try to say too much!
You have a fixed amount of time in which to speak, and it's probably not a whole lot. So get a reliable indication of how long you'll have to speak (not including discussion time, of course), and then be brutal with yourself in curtailing how much you're going to try and get across. It'll be helpful to read a page of your paper aloud at a calm pace, to see how many pages you'll be able to get through. Keep in mind that it's much better to convey a simple argument clearly and calmly than to try and race through too much, too quickly.

Be realistic about how long it'll take you to say things
Practice your paper. Read it aloud (preferably to some kind friends). See how long it takes. Your listeners and co-panelists will like and admire you if you actually finish within the allotted time; they may get very grumpy if you go over.

Keep in mind that it's harder to follow a paper you're listening to than one you're reading
If you're reading a paper on a page, you can set the pace, go back to clarify things for yourself, number things in the margin, and so on. If you're listening to a paper, you're at the mercy of the paper reader's pace, signposting, etc. So when you prepare your paper for delivery, have your audience in mind: prefigure your argument, number your points, and offer other signposts so that people can follow you. And, as mentioned in above, err on the side of simplicity.

Motivate your paper
In most paper-giving contexts, it's a mistake to assume that everyone in the room knows a lot about your subfield, and/or has a prior interest in your topic. So before you launch into your painstaking dissection some bit of Quine or Aristotle or Arendt, take a minute to situate your paper, to say why this issue matters, and why you care about it. This'll do wonders in bringing your audience on side.

Format your paper so that you'll be engaged with your audience as you read
I'm flabbergasted when I see someone reading a paper from single-spaced, 11-point font: if your paper's in this form, you're condemned to squinting at the page to get through it. Your life will be much easier if you use 1.5 spacing and make the font big -- 14-16 point -- so that you can glance up and then find you place again.

I'd also encourage you to look at the language of your paper. Long, multi-clause sentences with big words may be OK for someone reading on a page, but they're hard to listen to and follow. So go through your paper and make sure the language is conversational and the sentences short.

Finally, experiment with moving from full sentences and paragraphs to something in point form. See if you can be comfortable conveying your paper in the allotted time without reading every word off the page. If you can manage this, it will free you up to look at your audience and speak more naturally.

Rehearse
I said this already, but it's worth saying again. Don't let your presentation to your conference/colloquium/job talk audience be the first time you're presenting your paper aloud. Do it a few times in advance. Get comfortable with it.

You'll find that as you read your paper out, you'll discover things that can be made simpler and clearer; phrasings that don't work so well aloud because they're too complicated; and so on. You may also realize that the paper's too long, and can then save yourself the nightmare of having to abbreviate it on the fly.

Best of all is reading the paper aloud to other people. They can help you to see how it can be made clearer and more user-friendly.

Delivering your paper

If you read your paper, try to look up, pause at key moments, stress important points, and otherwise create a verbal structure that will help the audience to follow.
If you speak from notes, remember that it’s easy to get distracted or go off on a tangent. Your time is short so you must speak concisely and in tacit point form.
Speak loudly!
Stick to time. If you realise you have far too much material, skip a section of your paper, and just say “my main point in the part I’ll skip is…”. Better to have a conclusion of some kind, however brief, than just tail off. Don’t feel flustered or embarrassed by having too much to say—it happens all the time!
If you get very nervous speaking in public, take several deep breaths. Put your paper down on a surface so that you aren’t freaked out by your hands shaking. Look around the room and see there are no monsters in the audience. Remind yourself that really very little is at stake, and by dinner time no one will remember what happened anyway!

Asking and answering questions, participating in discussion

When you ask a question, be clear and concise. Don’t ramble on for minutes, but also make clear what in the paper motivated your question. Don’t get mad at the presenter or accuse them of being stupid or ignorant (!) Don’t harangue a presenter. You can ask:

For clarification of a point you didn’t quite get
For elaboration of an under-developed part of the argument
A critical question

Unless time is very short, it’s probably OK to ask a follow-up question, but be aware of the chair’s expression and don’t hog the floor.

When you answer a question, a clear and concise response is ideal. But in real life you might need to:

Say you don’t know and you’ll have to think about it more
Say you haven’t read a text or author the questioner is referring to
Ask for clarification or elaboration if you don’t understand the question
Clear up a misunderstanding if you think the questioner has missed some part of your paper
Explain that you’re using a paradigm or approach that might be unfamiliar to the questioner
Offer to give a fuller response later in a private conversation

It can be neat to piggyback off another question or get something more like discussion going. But there probably won’t be much time for that.

Chairing a session

Introduce yourself to the speaker(s) and ask how they’d like to be introduced.
Start on time calling the session to order and introducing the speaker(s).
Your main job is to keep people to time. Write a note saying, “you have five minutes left” and another saying “your time is up”. If someone keeps talking after their time is up, say discreetly, “I’m afraid we’re out of time, perhaps you could wrap this up.”
At the end of a presentation, thank the speaker and initiate a round of applause.
Invite questions and comments. You may nominate questioners, or have the speaker take their own questions, depending on what the speaker prefers.
End on time by thanking the speaker(s) and the audience for their questions.

Remember:

A conference is a place to meet interesting and like-minded people, perhaps to check out a new city, to talk about ideas, and to eat, drink and dance. Enjoy!

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