Presentation Skills

GraduateCenter^LMU Workshop for Doctoral Candidates

A scientific presentation is successful when it convinces the audience that the research makes a relevant contribution to the field. To do this, researchers need to present messages that are compelling and easy to understand. To convince the audience, you need to find the balance between three key areas: presenting a logical argument, showing your credibility as a speaker and conveying emotions such as interest and enthusiasm.

This workshop will strengthen presentation techniques that focus on making the listener’s job easy – a key duty of the presenter. Participants will also be provided with a framework for developing their slides and applying rhetorical techniques to create clearer messages.

In the workshop you will have the opportunity to prepare and deliver short presentations as well as to gain practice in dealing with questions. Talks are followed by constructive feedback from a native-speaker trainer as well as from other participants.

Workshop topics:

• Ensuring a clear structure to help convey messages
• Creating a strong opening and conclusion
• Developing rapport through gestures and voice
• Emphasizing key information
• Creating professional slide decks that support the message
• Strategies for dealing with questions

Requirements:

• You should have at least a strong intermediate level of English (B2) with the ability to actively take part in discussions. For a quick self-assessment see Cambridge Assessment English. 
• Please prepare a talk on your research. Your talk may be no longer than 8 minutes. Do keep in mind that most of your audience will be non-experts. To ensure that your talk is as authentic as possible, please give your talk in the format which is typical for your field (e.g. PowerPoint, flipchart, etc.).

Language of workshop: English

Target group: Doctoral candidates of LMU Munich from the Natural and Life Sciences (the number of participants is limited)

Certificate of attendance: Participants will receive a certificate of attendance from the GraduateCenter^LMU.