Presenting at PIURN

Presenting at PIURN: tips for new players

Your first presentation is special! It is to be celebrated as a right of passage for all researchers and academics. It’s your chance to interact personally with academic peers from all over the Pacific, to share in exploring ‘this sea of islands’ that is our home. It’s also an opportunity to share your knowledge with others. You don’t know who in the audience may be looking for new staff or colleagues, so it’s worth putting in the time and effort.

There are more than 200 delegates coming to the PIURN conference. Your presentation will be in a session with 4-5 other presenters. The sessions run parallel to each other and have been sorted thematically so that people in your session will be talking on similar topics. Chances are that up to 40 people will be at your session. Most likely you won’t know most of the audience and they won’t know you. This may sound scary but many experienced presenters will tell you it’s harder to present to people you know than to strangers. Once you start talking your passion for your topic will dispel any nervousness you may have been feeling.

You will present for only 12 minutes and have a minute or two for questions; then there will be a broader discussion at the end of the session. The Chair of the session will act as time-keeper, ensuring you stay within your time limit. They will hold up a sign that indicates you have 2 minutes left and when your time is up, a sign to stop. You will not be allowed to go over time. 

Working on your presentation

You sent your abstract in, and it was accepted, months ago. So, in theory you have had a long time to prepare but we all know it doesn’t always work like that. Life intervenes. 

BUT start now – you have 3 weeks before the conference to plan and prepare your talk. Us old-timers have been to numerous conferences where it is obvious that someone prepared their talk the night before and it was a jumbled mess.

Start preparing by writing down the key research message or finding that you want to communicate on a sheet of paper. It should be a finding that is easily understood. Keep this key finding in your sights the whole time you are writing your presentation.

Remember a 12-minute presentation should be no more than 2400 words (or on average 200 words that you will speak to, for each slide you show).

There is no ‘right way’ to write a presentation. Some people write an essay and then condense that into a set of slides. Others start with their slides and write the text that they use to speak to; the notes section in PowerPoint is useful for this way of doing things.

Your presentation must have the following:

1. State your aim/purpose. Talk about the goals of your research or the purpose of the presentation
2. Contextualise your research – this could be background, theory, methodology, your motivation and the like.
3. The methods you used to collect your data – this could be anything from surveys, to interviews, to literature to archives.
4. Your findings to date clearly and attractively presented.
5. End your talk with a powerful conclusion or 'take-home' message.