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Creating academic presentations is a peculiar art form, distinct from other types of public speaking. In this post, I share principles for crafting academic presentations that I've gathered from my short experience of giving seminars and — perhaps more importantly — sitting through countless others.

The Philosophy Behind Academic Slides

It's first useful to think about some features of an academic presentation setup, which differ markedly from corporate presentations.

• Complex content: Academic presentations often tackle material that resists simplification. A corporate presenter can conclude "this intervention increased sales by 10%" and move on. You, however, need to explain your identification strategy, show robustness checks, and address potential confounders. This fundamental difference in content complexity shapes everything about how we approach slide design.
• Competition for attention: In my experience, academic audiences tend to have shorter attention spans than their corporate counterparts. Perhaps it's because there's usually no immediate stake in the findings — unlike a quarterly strategy meeting where jobs and budgets hang in the balance.
• Interruptions are common: Academic talks operate on an entirely different rhythm than corporate presentations. Questions and interruptions aren't just common - they're central to the format. Your presentation needs to accommodate spontaneous deep dives into methodology or extended discussions about alternative interpretations.
• Limited room for embellishment: Academic presentations generally maintain a more serious tone than their corporate counterparts. For academic presentations, it is very uncommon (and counterproductive) to open with an inspirational quote or industry meme. This doesn't mean academic slides must be bland, but they just need to prioritize clarity and substance over style.

General Structure

Most academic presentations follow a basic format:

Opening (2-3 slides)

Main Results (bulk of presentation)

Conclusion (1 slide)

Backup Slides

Opening

Your opening slides need to accomplish three things: (i) establish why the audience should care, (ii) preview your key findings, and (iii) explain why these findings matter. Think of it as an elevator pitch with just enough detail to orient your audience.

A common pitfall here is the "kitchen sink" opening. Presenters, eager to demonstrate the depth of their work, often reveal too much details.