To Present or Not to Present, That is the Question

As graduate students, it is perhaps an instinctive reaction to be afraid to present your work. We feel anxious, self-conscious, and never, ever ready. There is always more data that could be obtained, always a more complete story that could be shown. It becomes a vicious cycle that pushes you further and further into the scientific isolation as you struggle with your experiments day to day.

Shying away from presenting your work is both professionally and scientifically stifling. You never get a chance to develop communication skills, which are just as important as your research. You pass your qualifying examination, your committee meetings, and your defense by presenting your work and your ideas. Therefore, it merits some investment of time and effort. Presenting your work frequently allows you to hone both your presentation skills and your knowledge of the subject matter. Being clear rather than confounding is hard work, and requires practice.

It is scientists’ responsibility to take their audience through their work as clearly as possible. Unless your peers are already experts in your research, they rely on you to make them understand the importance and relevance of your work. When the background, rationale, and the experimental design of your research are easily comprehensible to your audience, they can truly appreciate how excruciatingly hard it was to get Figure 1, panel A. It also shows that you are honest and confident in your work because an audience that understands your research has an opportunity to evaluate it critically and ask questions. It shows that you are not afraid of those questions. The feedback you receive from an audience that comprehends the challenges and pitfalls, as well as the benefits, of your particular research approach is often practical and useful.

Instead of fearing questions, look at them as a learning opportunity. Whether or not you know the answer, write the questions down. Over time, this will also help you determine which aspects of your research people care about the most, and this in turn will help you put together a better manuscript when its finally time to publish your work. In the same vein, when interviewing for jobs, your prospective employer is not necessarily interested in how much you know. They want to see how thoughtful you have been with your experimental design, and how you field questions about things that are outside the realm of your knowledge. You will only be able consider the questions deeply and speculate on ideas if you don’t lose your nerve. Sometimes a good presentation makes all the difference.

Another important benefit of presenting your work is the scientific exchange. When you prepare a PowerPoint of your work, you have the rare opportunity to collate your experiments outside of the daily rush to finish them. When you spend that much needed time with your data and organize it, many times you end up finding unexpected, subtle patterns or fluctuations that lead your research down new and potentially rewarding avenues. In addition, when you present research outside your lab, you can benefit from different scientific perspectives, which also add depth and dimension to your project.

So how do you get started presenting? Begin with presenting your work in a low-stress environment. Graduate student seminars are a great place to start. At many institutions the department or a particular program organizes these, with mostly students, postdocs, and some faculty members. This is ideal as a first step because it is a formal but intimate setting. It is free from the intimidation of presenting at a conference, and your peers will actually show up for your talk either because they know you personally or work down the hall. Moreover, these people will be more inclined to give you feedback, or share reagents or protocols if they see you struggling with something. Therefore, it can be a forum for seeking help rather than showing a lot of data. If your institution does not have a series like this, you can take the lead in organizing it. At many schools, these seminars are run by student organizations, with some financial support from the administration (don’t forget the free food, after all). If none of these are viable options, get together with a few of your fellow graduate students once a month and share your work over drinks and food. With time, your confidence in presenting will increase and you will manage yourself much better when it is finally time to start presenting at conferences and job interviews.