While it is widely acknowledged that delivering a compelling seminar presentation can go a long way in finance and economics academia, concrete suggestions for improvement are surprisingly rare. In this post, I seek to fill this gap by exploring the key elements of an effective academic presentation in finance, drawing insights from some of the field's best presenters.
At the heart of academic culture lies the seminar, and the fields of economics and finance are no exception to this tradition. Most seminars in our field run for 1 to 1.5 hours, featuring real-time Q&A sessions that are as integral to the presentation as the talk itself. These questions also come in various forms and colors. Some seek clarification on specific points, while others ignite battles over the minutiae of empirical design or spark discussions about alternative approaches to the research question.
The ability to navigate these waters becomes increasingly crucial for success on the job market and for the academic’s reputation. Yet, most doctoral students (including myself from barely a year ago) find themselves in a challenging position, having little to no experience presenting in a formal seminar setting. While it's widely acknowledged that delivering a compelling presentation is crucial for success in academia, concrete suggestions for improvement are surprisingly scarce.
This post aims to fill this gap in the resources available to early-career researchers. It may be particularly beneficial for non-native English speakers who, like myself, often face additional challenges in academic communication.
Let’s first talk about what makes a great finance seminar. Imagine that you're sitting in a room and for an hour and a half, you're not checking your phone, not daydreaming about your next meal, but actually engaged. The presenter is delivering economic insights one slide after another, the Q&A session feels like a stimulating debate rather than an academic cage match, and by the end, you actually remember the key takeaways.
A great presenter then is someone who can consistently deliver this unicorn of academic experiences. There are at least four researchers in financial economics, in my biased and non-peer-reviewed opinion, that i think serve as a good role model when it comes to delivering good seminars. Let me briefly describe who they are and what we can take away from their presentations.
Component #1: Cognitive Empathy
First is Bryan Kelly at Yale, who works with cutting-edge tools to study asset pricing topics. I think the presentation below at the 2024 Utah Winter Finance Conference is a good example (watch the first introduction of his slide deck):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXmXmt1Kd_k
What I think Bryan does exceptionally well is what I’d like to call “cognitive empathy,” (for lack of a better term that doesn't sound like it came from a self-help book.) He has a great sense of what his audience knows, what they don't know, and how to bridge that gap without making anyone feel like they should have paid more attention in their PhD courses. And his first slides are making sure that we are ready to understand the contributions of his paper.