996012 Professional Presentations at Conferences and in the Academic World (WS) (SoSe 2017)

This seminar focuses on how scholars can best convey the value and significance of their work through oral communication, emphasizing not only typical structures of thought and expressions in English, but also an audience's expectations.

The focus of the seminar is on the formal conference panel presentation and the question-and-answer session, and includes sections on the presentation structure, attention-getting openers, visual aids and linguistic cues for the audience (signposting language); we also discuss and practice networking, small talk, the elevator speech, and introduction speeches.

Participants will hold individual presentations, followed by a short question-and-answer session. Afterwards, each presenter will receive ample feedback from the entire group on all aspects of the presentation. We will focus especially on whether

• the opening grabbed the audience's attention and correctly oriented us to the topic at hand;
• the conclusion summed up the main points adequately, providing us with the desired "take-home messages";
• the body of the presentation contained a narrative thread and transitional elements to help the audience stay on-track;
• the data or evidence presented was clear, balanced, sufficient and essential;
• the visual aids supplemented the talk without overwhelming or distracting from it;
• the presenter's verbal and non-verbal communication conveyed professionalism, confidence, and expertise; and
• the presenter's answers to questions were concise, coherent, and composed.

The first eight participants will be able to hold formal presentations of ten minutes length. They need to prepare beforehand a presentation of 8-10 minutes in length. PowerPoint/ slides are not necessary. All participants will be allowed to engage in the following exercises:

• holding a two-minute presentation, to get feedback on one's verbal and non-verbal communication and to practice writing an abstract.
• crafting an attention-getting opening;
• developing a powerful conclusion;
• practicing answering questions about one's research;
• delivering a one-minute introduction to one's work for networking purposes (the "elevator pitch"); and ;
• small talk (if time permits)