Career & Tools
Writing, designing, and delivering an effective oral presentation, especially one focused on academic research, requires careful planning and a lot of practice. Join Jeff Hanson and Madeleine Sorapure for a two-part workshop on how to captivate an audience with your research story.
Is it possible to explain your research in a way that even a general audience can understand and appreciate - and in just a few minutes if necessary? You may already realize how challenging it is to captivate an audience if you have watched others make the attempt or done so yourself. Writing, designing, and delivering an effective oral presentation, especially one focused on academic research, requires careful planning and a lot of practice. Join Jeff Hanson and Madeleine Sorapure for a two-part workshop on how to captivate an audience with your research story.
CAPTIVATE AN AUDIENCE WITH YOUR RESEARCH STORY:
FUNDAMENTALS OF EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION DESIGN
Wednesday, March 8
2-4 p.m.
Student Resource Building, Multipurpose Room
RSVP here
PART 1 - SCRIPT PLANNING: This portion of the workshop will focus on a story-based approach to presenting that works with virtually any research topic or discipline. While this approach is adaptable for nearly any audience, purpose, and time frame, we will focus most of our attention on shorter presentations for general, non-specialist audiences (such as UCSB's upcoming Grad Slam competition). We will provide a step-by-step perspective, including hands-on experience, for crafting your next presentation.
PART 2 - VISUAL DESIGN: This portion of the workshop will explain the elements of well-designed presentation slides that help convey content, engage the audience, and support the speaker. Poorly designed slides - for instance, with too much text, inelegant graphics, or inconsistent style - are primary contributors to "Death by PowerPoint" and can ruin an otherwise compelling presentation. We will cover the basic principles of graphic design; guidelines and resources for the use of text, images, and color; and tips for using PowerPoint templates and other features.
Jeffrey Hanson, co-leader of the workshops, has been teaching various forms of written and oral communication, including presentation design, to grads and undergrads at UCSB and universities abroad for the past 26 years. He recommends a relatively simple approach that draws upon key elements of effective communication going back thousands of years. His mentors include contemporary pathfinders like Nancy Duarte (Resonate), Garr Reynolds (Presentation Zen), and Jean-luc Doumont (Trees, Maps, and Theorems).
Madeleine Sorapure, co-leader of the workshops, is the Director of UCSB's Writing Program and teaches courses in new media and digital composing. She is also co-director of the Multimedia Communication track of the Professional Writing Minor.
NOTE: If you can't make this workshop, it will be offered again on March 13. Stay tuned to the GradPost for more information.
Questions? Contact Shawn Warner-Garcia.