What constitutes a good scientific talk?

The first question to ask yourself is “what is the audience?”

A good scientific talk is one that almost everyone in the audience can understand and appreciate. While members of the audience may not be specialists in the area of work being presented, they should still be able to get the gist of the argument and understand the importance of the results.

You are telling a story here. Don’t forget to give the title of your project. If your talk is only about a subsection of your project, you should say so. You need to explain why your project is important. You can’t assume that the audience will know why.

The content should be clearly presented in sequence, without repetition. Don’t show too many diagrams. A good rule of thumb is a maximum of 1 diagram per minute. Diagrams should be clear and unambiguous – and readable at the back of the room. If you are not sure whether they are or not, you should check beforehand.

Familiarise yourself with the audio-visual technology before the session in which your talk takes place.

Don’t read your talk. If you have to use notes, then do so, but rehearse your talk more than once so that it is coherent. Also, rehearsal is important to ensure that you stay within the time limits.

Try to end the talk with one or two major conclusions that the audience will remember.

A good scientific talk is one of the best ways to present your results to your colleagues, and you should think of it as a way to make your ideas and ability known to the wider scientific community.