Good practice for presenting your work

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Good practice for presenting your work

Presentations are one of the most powerful ways to share your work – to build understanding, inform decisions, and inspire others. 

Presenting well is not about simplifying your work, but about making its value clear by focusing on the audience, storytelling, clarity, accessibility, and purpose.

This guidance brings together good practice to help you design and deliver presentations that are clear, engaging, and centred on who you are presenting to. 

These tips may also be useful for meetings, interviews, or funding pitches.

Contact the NCAS Communications Team for advice

Be clear on your aim

Before you start designing slides, decide:

  • What is the purpose of this presentation?
  • What is the one key takeaway you want the audience to remember?

Put the audience first

Good presentations are centred around the audience, not the speaker.

  • Ask yourself: What does this audience need to hear?
  • Don’t assume prior knowledge, even in internal settings.
  • If possible, research the audience in advance or ask the organiser what the typical audience is like.
  • Pitch your content so someone outside your field can follow it on first hearing.

Remember: clarity is a strength, not a compromise.

Tell a story

People understand and remember information through stories.

Think of your presentation as a journey:

  • The destination is your main message.
  • Everything you include should help the audience reach it.

A useful way to stay focused on your “story” is to structure around key questions:

  • What were you researching?
  • Why does it matter?
  • How did you do it?
  • What did you find?
  • So what? What does it mean or change?

Avoid trying to say everything. Too many messages can dilute impact.

Strong scientific storytelling includes:

  • Clear context (why this work matters)
  • A question, challenge, or problem
  • Main findings (selective, not exhaustive)
  • Implications or next steps

Make your presentation relatable:

  • Use real‑world examples or case studies
  • Explain why the work matters to people, places, or decisions
  • Where appropriate, share a challenge, uncertainty, learning moment, or something you are proud of / surprised by / enjoying.

Introduce yourself

At the start:

  • Say who you are and what you do
  • Clearly state your affiliation(s)

If you need a consistent description of NCAS, you can adapt our “About” NCAS text.

Use slides to support you, not replace you

Visual aids are not the presentation – you are.

Slide design good practice:

  • One main idea per slide
  • Minimal text and no long paragraphs
  • Clear, logical structure (introduction, main points, conclusion)
  • Use repetition and emphasis for key messages
  • Start with an outline and end with a short summary

Visuals:

  • Use relevant, high‑quality images (find NCAS photos on Flickr) and diagrams
  • Simplify complex figures and explain them verbally
  • Describe visuals out loud (especially graphs and charts)
  • Allow white space and avoid clutter

NCAS presentation template:

  • Ensures a consistent, professional identity
  • Supports accessibility
  • Saves time on design decisions

Guidance for using the NCAS-branded Google slides.

Make presentations accessible by default

Accessible presentations improve understanding for everyone.

Good practice includes:

  • High‑contrast text and backgrounds
  • Clear, readable font sizes
  • Don’t rely on colour alone to convey meaning
  • Caption all video content
  • Use auto‑captions for online talks
  • Speak clearly, at a steady pace, facing the audience

Accessibility should be built in from the start, not added later. Follow accessibility tips for writing, presentations, and posters.

Deliver confidently and manage timing

Planning and preparation is important.

  • Aim for fewer slides and more explanation
  • No more than one slide per minute
  • Practice out loud
  • Decide in advance what you can cut if time is tight

Delivery matters:

  • Use eye contact, an open upright posture, and natural hand gestures and facial expressions
  • Move with purpose (move to a new position on stage between sections of your presentation, or move forward to connect with the audience and emphasise a point or anecdote)
  • Repeat and emphasise main points verbally

If you feel nervous:

  • Allow extra preparation time and familiarise yourself with your content
  • Build in pauses (to breathe or ground your body) between each main point or slide
  • Take nerves as a sign that you care about communicating well

Encourage interaction and feedback

Where appropriate:

  • Build in time for questions
  • Use simple interactive elements (polls, short questions)
  • Repeat audience questions before answering
  • Seek feedback and use it to improve next time