Presenting Conference Papers

[glover7]

I apologize in advance to the mod who has to relocate this thread. I had no idea where to post it.

I'm looking into presenting papers to international conferences on literature. If anyone has any sort of advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. This is my first time trying to present, so I'm very nervous. Any help is welcome! Thank you.

[kittypaws]

Practice...practice...practice.

Stand in front of a mirror and review your posture. If there will be a podium, practice with one (a high back chair will do) place your hand on it and stand up straight. No podium then place your hands, clasped together behind your back...and stand up straight and do not shuffle your feet.

Have your material memorized.

Here is the hard part; you need to look at your audience. Look over their heads (just slightly) and move your eyes from left to right and the front to back of the room. Someone once told me to picture them all without clothes.....

Have confidence in your voice that you are knowledgeable of your subject. Inflict pitch into your voice, don't ramble, speak clearly and make your subject sound "alive."

Practice....practice....practice. I ended up loving public speaking once I got the knack of it! I even got to the point where I would take graphs and other visual tools.

Be relaxed....you are only talking to other humans.

Good luck!

kittypaws

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

You need to provide a bit more info on the context of the presentation you're giving here, as I'm making a lot of assumptions in my answers.

Actually, in my experience, when reading to academic audiences, it's perfectly fine to just read straight from your paper, and is actually preferred. When presenting a paper in a purely academic sense (as this sounds like what you'll be doing), your audience isn't worried about the usual public speaking tropes. They want the facts, your reasoning, and your research. They don't want a personable speaker (though, it never hurts to read with some variation of voice--monotone is never good). And, a quick glance up to your audience is always good, which can be done when you're taking a breath.

Now, you do want to follow Kittypaws's advice on knowing your material, as a lot of times there will be a Q&A session after presentations like these, so you will have to know your material enough to answer the questions that may be thrown at you. This is the hard part. My advice for this is don't be afraid to stop and think a bit before answering a questions. You're only human; the professors asking the questions realize this.

Now, if this is a true "presentation," as in a public speaking format, follow all of KittyPaws's advice.

And, if it is reading a paper to an academic audience, you don't have to read straight from a paper, but you don't want to be standing there telling jokes and personal anecdotes.

Also, if you are straight reading a paper, you still should practice, just so you can get your breathing down. I read a paper once and would read until I was out of breath, and then take in huge gulps of air, and repeat. I was extremely distracting.