I gave my last presentation for the semester today. It seems really odd to be saying that after only 3 weeks of sitting in classes, but hey, I’m not complaining.

I’ve been watching grad student presentations for the past year now, from students at CMU and elsewhere, and doing a fair number of them myself. Frankly, I think presentations should be fun, which probably explains why I turned my undergrad senior thesis presentation into a video game and gave Jack a pat on the back for his off the wall IID final presentation (click the presentation link on this page to scope it out).

After watching so many presentations, I’m echoing Braden’s thoughts quite fervently. I recommend scoping out the Presentation dos and don’ts that he links up to… I’ve sat through one too many conference paper readings – er – presentations to not applaud what that author has to say.

But it’s not the complete story, and today I realized what was missing: Any mention of what happens after the presentation; namely, the Q&A. I’ve seen a few good presentations in the past year that have fallen apart during Q&A because they had the wrong approach. I’ve also seen a friend present who was so nervous she was shaking (I’m not kidding…), but despite the anxiety she brought it home at the end because she had a good rapport with her audience.

Coming up with answers on the fly is hard, but if I had one piece of advice, it would be to treat the audience as your friend. Don’t take things personally. If people are asking questions, that means you did a good job getting your point across!! You’ve hooked them, and they want to know more!!

Even if you don’t think your audience is being friendly (I’ve been there, believe me), pretend that they are anyway. Nothing encourages a malevolent audience member than someone who starts fighting back (I’ve watched that presentation too… anyone remember Seminar last year?). If you keep your cool and welcome your questions, then your presentations will end on a high note.