How to create a narrative

I've recommended that a scientific presentation should be based on a concise written narrative (1/2 page or so, 1-3 minutes orally) that qualitatively describes the major points to be made in the presentation. I've suggested that scientists try to write out this narrative before making slides.

The problem is that it's not easy to write a narrative and many people don't feel confident about their writing. So if you have trouble creating a narrative, here's a few tips:

1) How many slides do you remember 24 hours after hearing a talk? Not many, if any. So when a member of your audience wakes up the next morning, what major points (2-4) do you hope they remember? Write these out and then try writing a narrative that leads to these insights.

2) Alternatively, if you have an abstract from a journal article, start with that. Try to make it more conversational, as if you were explaining it to talk about it with somebody. Will you be able to cover all the points in contained in the abstract when you present, or should your narrative short circuit a few?

3) Alternatively and less good is to start with specific aims from a proposal. The problem is that specific aims usually look forward and don't always provide the necessary background that lets the audience understand the importance of the aims. Again try to make it more conversational.

4) Try making an outline for your talk. Hopefully the talk can fit into three or four sections. Identify the major points you want to make in each section and then try to string together a written narrative. Or simply write a narrative for each section.

5) Always give an oral version (hopefully 1-3 minutes) of your narrative to colleagues (hopefully a colleague in your subspecialty as well as one who is a bit removed from your area). It is just as important to rehearse this narrative as it is to dry run your slides. Without a coherent narrative, you don't have a presentation, you only have a data dump.

Build a presentation up, don't cut it down!

One of the most common mistakes is to start with a mountain of data and ask, "What can I cut?" Everything seems indispensable. As a result, scientists typically include far too many slides and rush presentations.

A more effective strategy is to identify the core message and "build up" from that message; adding detail in a manner consistent with audience knowledge and available speaking time. Add only detail that supports the core message. Start with a one minute version for a relatively unspecialized audience and ask, "What would I include if I had five minutes?" Repeat the process until you can fill the time that you have available.

The above slide shows this as building the presentation "up" from a single slide rather than "cutting" down from many slides.

More guidance on how to develop that core message in future tips.

Write a summary slide for each section of your talk, even if you don't use it.

You should probably use an outline slide in your presentation and return to the outline after each section of your talk.

I recommend creating a summary slide at the end of each section and before you return to the outline slide. This slide should recap the points the audience should have learned from the slides in that section.

You may ultimately choose not to use the section summary slides in your oral presentation. They may make the presentation too repetitive and pedantic. Still the process of making the summary slide will force you to consider whether the audience has learned what you want them to learn. Perhaps more importantly, it will force you to think though what you want the audience to learn!