Tips for Making Successful Oral Presentations and Crafting Effective Slides
As scientists, part of our job description is to promote, explain, and illustrate our work through presentations. But what makes oral presentations successful? How do we make our slides effective? In this write-up, we’ll explain the six steps for building a good oral presentation using effective slides.
1. Know your Audience
Presentations are used in a variety of contexts; they can be used in conferences, lectures, seminars, workshops, outreach events, and more! However, the presentations will all take different forms based on the setting. To get started, there are a few key questions you should ask:
- Who am I presenting to? Your audience may be scientists who are specialists in your field, undergraduates new to this area of study, politicians writing agricultural and food legislation, or others. Your content and slides should be tailored to the appropriate level for their background knowledge and to engage their interests.
- What am I trying to achieve? Outreach presentations may be designed to inspire, to show off how cool plant science can be! Conference presentations might aim to inform about new knowledge and technologies, while lectures might need to provide foundational knowledge on a larger topic. Keeping your aims in mind can help you decide what the content of the presentation should be.
- How long do I have? Presentations almost always have set start and end times. The time allocated will dictate how much breadth and depth your content can have. You may have to choose between giving a broad overview without much detail or selecting one topic and being more comprehensive. The number one thing to avoid is overrunning, as it often leaves the audience with a bad impression.
2. Know your story
One characteristic of a good presentation is having a good story that will get your audience hooked. For us scientists, telling our audience ‘the why’ of our science matters and is usually a good place to anchor the story of our presentation. Making a story that has a logical flow is also important, as it is much easier for an audience to follow (and remember even after a few days have passed!). Lastly, when ending your presentation, do not forget to circle back to your starting point to close the loop of the story you are crafting for your presentation.
3. Select your tools
Choosing the software you will use to make your presentation is an important decision. It can affect how easy it is to include certain elements, can facilitate certain presentation styles, and can be expensive. In many cases, your university or company will have a subscription (commonly to Microsoft Office). But knowing which will suit your presentation and working style best is challenging without spending a lot of time testing each option out.
| Software | Pros | Cons |
| Powerpoint | Most commonly used and supported | Linear |
| Many freely available templates online | Videos difficult to integrate | |
| Works well within the Microsoft ecosystem | Requires a Microsoft Subscription | |
| GoogleSlides | Works well within the Google ecosystem | Multiple users mean edits can be undone |
| Easy to create files with multiple users | Requires an internet connection | |
| Mostly free (pay for AI features) | ||
| Prezi | Non-linear for a unique presentation style | Can make some people feel dizzy or experience motion sickness |
| Free | Requires an internet connection | |
| Canva | Many high-quality templates available | Requires internet connection |
| Modern aesthetic | Can’t easily add equations | |
| Most content available on a free plan | ||
| Mentimeter | Ideal for audience engagement (e.g. polls) | Paid plans necessary for frequent use or large groups |
| Can integrate with PowerPoint | Designed for audience interactions, not suitable for a whole presentation |
Another choice you will need to make is how you generate the visual content to fill your slides: from graphs to graphics! There are many ways to visualise data, and more in-depth content that is dedicated to this topic is collated here. However, there are other kinds of images, like icons and diagrams, that can add visual interest and help explain complex ideas and processes. Many scientists choose to make their own, using drawing tools in software like Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Paint, and PowerPoint.
There are also many places to find pre-made icons and imagery for science, including Mind the Graph, SciDraw, Simplified Science, FreePik, and Biorender. Like with the presentation software discussed above, these come at varying price points and are made to suit different needs. There are two critical factors to consider when using premade imagery: how this will affect your rights to published images (and at what cost that comes), and if AI has been used in the generation of these images. The use of AI is highly debated, and the context in which it is used is critical. Therefore, we recommend considering the ethical implications and checking your institutional/publisher guidelines before relying heavily on AI-generated content to illustrate your research.
4. Edit for clarity and accessibility
They say the most difficult thing to craft is the first draft, but once you have it, make sure your presentation conveys your message clearly. One good tip is to keep the text to a minimum, but don’t forget to make that text accessible to a broad audience. Using fonts that are large enough for everyone to see (this will vary with screen size, but a good place to start is 42 pt for title, and 24-28 pt for text). Make sure to select a font that is friendly to the eye (as explained in depth by Mind the Graph and Proactive Grad). About 5% of the population is colorblind, and therefore it is likely that someone in your audience will be affected. Make sure you use colorblind-friendly palettes (for example, these from David Math Logic and Missouri Assistive Technology). Like colorblindness, a large portion (about 10%) of the population is thought to be dyslexic, and so it is great to use dyslexia-friendly style guides when editing. If you are posting the slides online, include alternative text to images to make them accessible to people with limited vision. Also, don’t save your slides as figures! That way, the text readers on programs like PowerPoint and PDF readers can read text for people who have limited visibility.
5. Practice your presentation
Practicing what you are going to say can help with many aspects of a presentation. It gives you a chance to identify any tongue-twisting words so that you are ready for them, especially if English is not your first language. You can also time yourself to make sure that you won’t overrun. Some people find it helpful to make video recordings of themselves and watch them back, seeing what they would like to improve (you can use your phone camera for this, or use the recording feature in virtual meeting software like Zoom or Teams). Others prefer to practice in front of a small group of friends and colleagues who can give constructive feedback on your presentation. You can also ask your PI about scheduling a practice session during a lab meeting or internal session, too! But remember, if you over-rehearse, it can sound like you are reading from a script. Audiences value authenticity, and so you don’t have to learn every word by heart.
6. Have confidence, passion, and fun!
Usually, you are presenting about something important to you- your own research, a new project you’re proposing, or fundamental knowledge your field is built on. But when you have spent so much time making slides and thinking of what to say, it is easy to forget how amazing the content of your presentation is (especially with a big audience looking at you!). If you have a fear of public speaking (as many of us do) take a look at some of these resources from TED and Harvard University. And most importantly, take a moment to remind yourself of how important this work is, and get excited to share this amazing knowledge with the audience!
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About the Authors
Mae Antonette Mercado
Mae is a PhD Candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a 2025 Plantae Fellows. Her research is focused on key factors in photosynthesis evolution in wild grasses and heat stress tolerance in maize. Outside of work, she likes to do brush pen calligraphy, bake, play the ukulele, and sing. X: @mae_mercadow | Bluesky: @maemercado.bsky.social.
Ciara O’Brien
Ciara is a postdoctoral researcher in the John Innes Centre (UK) and a 2025 Plantae Fellows. SOriginally from Ireland, Ciara moved to the UK to study postharvest ripening at Cranfield University for their PhD, where they fell in love with science communication- from teaching to outreach! You can find her on X: @ciaraobrien333.
