GEOS: Geoscience

Giving a Scientific Lightning-Style Oral Presentation

Overview: What is a lightning talk?

• A short oral presentation honed to focus on a few key points
• A tool to highlight an issue, share knowledge, introduce a new idea
• In science and technology fields, this flips the approach from “this talk will tell you everything I know about an issue” to “what is the most important thing for you to know about the issue?” 

Phase 1 – Before Building

• Read the assignment requirements and learning outcomes carefully.
• Note the due date and required length of the lightning talk.

Phase 2 – Research

• Conduct your research to meet the assignment requirements.
• Recognize and locate reputable scientific sources of information.
  • Ask a librarian for help finding and evaluating sources.
• Locate effective visuals to illustrate your most relevant points.

Phase 3 – Plan and Organize

• Begin by writing out your topic or issue in a single sentence. This is your introduction that you will state with your Title Slide.
• Next, write out your conclusion. This is your destination. You need to know where you are going!
• Then, write out a succinct outline of what you will cover. This is your roadmap.
  • What do you want your audience to remember?
  • For a lightning talk, pick three main, most relevant points that link the introduction to your conclusion.
• Revisit your conclusion statement to ensure it summarizes what you have outlined.

Phase 4 – Build and Design

• Title slide: Tell your audience what you are going to say.
  • Include a brief title (approximately five words), your name, and the course name.
  • Include a relevant visual that supports your introduction.
• Outline slide (optional)
  • Tell the audience what your presentation will cover.
  • You can also do this verbally with your Introduction slide, which is just as effective for such a short talk.
• Content slides: Give the information.
  • Lead your audience to your destination (conclusion).
• Conclusion slide: Summarize what you have said.
• Visuals: Choose visuals that best support your ideas.
  • The general rule is one graphic or image per slide per minute.
  • Some images may only need a quick explanation; other concepts such as graphs or maps may need more time.
  • When/if you use your own photos, include a photo credit to yourself.
• Design and format:
  • Use a simple, consistent background design and colour.
  • Add text as bullet points to enhance your ideas; support them with in-text citations.
  • Avoid full sentences. Do not read to the audience, speak to your images.
  • Make your text large enough to read from a distance.
  • Use a sans serif font. 
  • Avoid ALL CAPITAL TEXT.
  • Use good colour contrast for text on background (avoid red text).
• Citations and references:
  • Cite all sources, including images.
  • Include a List of References as your final slide (you will not need to speak to this slide, but it is scholarly practice to include a complete list).

Phase 5 – Self-Editing

• Review placement of figures and check for formatting glitches.
• Proofread your text for spelling, grammar, punctuation, wasted words.
• Have a friend or colleague also edit the work.

Presentation Preparation Tips

• Practice your talk. Try using enthusiasm and posing some questions.
  • Can you avoid using speaker notes?
• Practice your timing.
  • You don’t want to overrun your time!
• Avoid upspeak, where the voice rises at the end of the sentence. This can make you sound uncertain.

Research and Written Assignment Checklist (GEOS)

Phase 1 – Before Writing

• Read the assignment requirements and learning outcomes carefully.
• Note the due date and allow plenty of time.

Phase 2 – Research

•   Conduct your research to meet the assignment requirements.
•   Recognize and locate reputable scientific sources of information.
•   Ask a Librarian for help finding or evaluating sources.

Phase 3 – Writing

• Include a title page with succinct title, your name and course number/name.
• Your introduction should include a clear thesis statement of the main idea or message.  This is the final sentence of your introductory paragraph(s)
  • include specific, arguable reasons your paper addresses.
  • avoid general words such as “interesting” or “positive”
  • avoid announcement-type statements such as “This essay will….” or “I am writing…..”
• Define technical terms upon their first usage. Would an educated yet non-specialized person understand them?
• Present information in a logical, organized manner, including headings for each section.
• Include only key, relevant material in your discussion to keep within word count.
• Check paragraphs for their content and consistency related to your arguments.
• Consider the supporting visuals such as figures and illustrations you have chosen:
  • Are they relevant?
  • Are they cited sequentially within the text?
  • Do they have descriptive captions - with a citation if needed (in-text citation to a reference or photo credit)?
• Review your citations and references.
  • Does the research support or oppose your findings?
  • Is your reference list complete?
  • Does it match each in-text citation?

Phase 4 – Self-Editing

• Read statements for accuracy, clear meaning and context
• Review learning outcomes and assignment description to ensure your work is complete
• Check for consistent heading and figure caption styles.
• Review placement and formatting of figures.
• Proofread for spelling (do not trust spell-checkers for technical terms), grammar, punctuation, wasted words and clutter-words.
• Have a friend or colleague edit the work.
• Make an appointment with the Writing Centre if necessary.