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WRITING CHEMICAL WRITING CHEMICAL PRESENTATIONSPRESENTATIONS

INTRODUCTION

DELIVERING THE

PRESENTATION

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Preparing for Delivery of Preparing for Delivery of PresentationPresentation

• Rehearse your presentation to a group of friends or colleagues

• Make adjustments according to outcome or advice from this audience

• Attend other talks (seminars, conferences) regularly and note especially good deliveries

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Delivery TechniqueDelivery Technique

• Wait for indication from chair to begin (possibly after detailed introduction)

• Make any thanks (e.g. for invitation to speak at seminar)

• Better to talk, rather than to read from notes

• May be useful to have card with headings and subheadings as reminders (hidden from audience)

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Delivery TechniqueDelivery Technique

• Always have a lot more to say than what is written on slide

• Speak at your own (comfortable) speed

• Spend sufficient time on each slide (hence match number of slides with duration of presentation)

• Give time for audience to think (unnoticeably)

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Delivery TechniqueDelivery Technique

• Keep eye contact with audience as much as possible (don’t talk to the slide screen all the time)

• Use laser pointer (or similar) to highlight key points

• For seminar and conference presentations, best not to give accompanying handouts before talk

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Delivery TechniqueDelivery Technique

• Keep an eye on the clock and and time your presentation accordingly (see Preparation)

• Always act on instructions from chair (e.g. warning to finish talk in 2 minutes)

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Answering QuestionsAnswering Questions

• Seminar and conference talks are

usually designed to have a

questions/discussion session;

duration of this should be known

beforehand

• Be prepared to receive

questions from the audience and/or

chair

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Answering QuestionsAnswering Questions

• Listen carefully to a question and understand its meaning before replying

• Think before giving a reply (if needed, ask for repeat question)

• Repeat and answer the question for the whole audience. Be prepared to discuss and maybe refer to particular slides

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Tell Jokes Only if ConfidentTell Jokes Only if Confidentof Acceptanceof Acceptance