Editorial

Ten Simple Rules for Making Good OralPresentationsPhilip E. Bourne

Continuing our ‘‘Ten SimpleRules’’ series [1–5], we considerhere what it takes to make a

good oral presentation. While the rulesapply broadly across disciplines, theyare certainly important from theperspective of this readership. Clearand logical delivery of your ideas andscientific results is an importantcomponent of a successful scientificcareer. Presentations encouragebroader dissemination of your workand highlight work that may notreceive attention in written form.

Rule 1: Talk to the AudienceWe do not mean face the audience,

although gaining eye contact with asmany people as possible when youpresent is important since it adds alevel of intimacy and comfort to thepresentation. We mean preparepresentations that address the targetaudience. Be sure you know who youraudience is—what are theirbackgrounds and knowledge level ofthe material you are presenting andwhat they are hoping to get out of thepresentation? Off-topic presentationsare usually boring and will not endearyou to the audience. Deliver what theaudience wants to hear.

Rule 2: Less is MoreA common mistake of

inexperienced presenters is to try tosay too much. They feel the need toprove themselves by proving to theaudience that they know a lot. As aresult, the main message is often lost,and valuable question time is usuallycurtailed. Your knowledge of thesubject is best expressed through aclear and concise presentation that isprovocative and leads to a dialogduring the question-and-answersession when the audience becomesactive participants. At that point, yourknowledge of the material will likelybecome clear. If you do not get anyquestions, then you have not beenfollowing the other rules. Most likely,

your presentation was eitherincomprehensible or trite. A sideeffect of too much material is that youtalk too quickly, another ingredient ofa lost message.

Rule 3: Only Talk When You HaveSomething to Say

Do not be overzealous about whatyou think you will have available topresent when the time comes. Researchnever goes as fast as you would like.Remember the audience’s time isprecious and should not be abused bypresentation of uninterestingpreliminary material.

Rule 4: Make the Take-HomeMessage Persistent

A good rule of thumb would seem tobe that if you ask a member of theaudience a week later about yourpresentation, they should be able toremember three points. If these are thekey points you were trying to getacross, you have done a good job. Ifthey can remember any three points,but not the key points, then youremphasis was wrong. It is obvious whatit means if they cannot recall threepoints!

Rule 5: Be LogicalThink of the presentation as a story.

There is a logical flow—a clearbeginning, middle, and an end. You setthe stage (beginning), you tell the story(middle), and you have a big finish (theend) where the take-home message isclearly understood.

Rule 6: Treat the Floor as a StagePresentations should be

entertaining, but do not overdo it anddo know your limits. If you are nothumorous by nature, do not try and behumorous. If you are not good attelling anecdotes, do not try and tellanecdotes, and so on. A goodentertainer will captivate the audienceand increase the likelihood of obeyingRule 4.

Rule 7: Practice and Time YourPresentation

This is particularly important forinexperienced presenters. Even moreimportant, when you give thepresentation, stick to what youpractice. It is common to deviate, andeven worse to start presenting materialthat you know less about than theaudience does. The more you practice,the less likely you will be to go off ontangents. Visual cues help here. Themore presentations you give, the betteryou are going to get. In a scientificenvironment, take every opportunity todo journal club and become a teachingassistant if it allows you to present. Animportant talk should not be given forthe first time to an audience of peers.You should have delivered it to yourresearch collaborators who will bekinder and gentler but still point outobvious discrepancies. Laboratorygroup meetings are a fine forum forthis.

Rule 8: Use Visuals Sparingly butEffectively

Presenters have different styles ofpresenting. Some can captivate theaudience with no visuals (rare); othersrequire visual cues and in addition,depending on the material, may not beable to present a particular topic wellwithout the appropriate visuals such asgraphs and charts. Preparing goodvisual materials will be the subject of afurther Ten Simple Rules. Rule 7 will

Citation: Bourne PE (2007) Ten simple rules formaking good oral presentations. PLoS Comput Biol3(4): e77. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077

Copyright: � 2007 Philip E. Bourne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution License, whichpermits unrestricted use, distribution, andreproduction in any medium, provided the originalauthor and source are credited.

Dr. Philip E. Bourne is a Professor in the Departmentof Pharmacology, University of California San Diego,La Jolla, California, United States of America. E-mail:bourne@sdsc.edu

PLoS Computational Biology | www.ploscompbiol.org April 2007 | Volume 3 | Issue 4 | e770593

help you to define the right number ofvisuals for a particular presentation. Auseful rule of thumb for us is if youhave more than one visual for eachminute you are talking, you have toomany and you will run over time.Obviously some visuals are quick,others take time to get the messageacross; again Rule 7 will help. Avoidreading the visual unless you wish toemphasize the point explicitly, theaudience can read, too! The visualshould support what you are sayingeither for emphasis or with data toprove the verbal point. Finally, do notoverload the visual. Make the pointsfew and clear.

Rule 9: Review Audio and/or Video ofYour Presentations

There is nothing more effective thanlistening to, or listening to andviewing, a presentation you havemade. Violations of the other rules willbecome obvious. Seeing what is wrongis easy, correcting it the next timearound is not. You will likely need tobreak bad habits that lead to the

violation of the other rules. Work hardon breaking bad habits; it isimportant.

Rule 10: Provide AppropriateAcknowledgments

People love to be acknowledged fortheir contributions. Having manygratuitous acknowledgements degradesthe people who actually contributed. Ifyou defy Rule 7, then you will not beable to acknowledge people andorganizations appropriately, as you willrun out of time. It is often appropriateto acknowledge people at thebeginning or at the point of theircontribution so that theircontributions are very clear.

As a final word of caution, we havefound that even in following the TenSimple Rules (or perhaps thinking weare following them), the outcome of apresentation is not always guaranteed.Audience–presenter dynamics are hardto predict even though the metric ofdepth and intensity of questions andoff-line followup provide excellentindicators. Sometimes you are sure a

presentation will go well, andafterward you feel it did not go well.Other times you dread what theaudience will think, and you comeaway pleased as punch. Such is life. Asalways, we welcome your comments onthese Ten Simple Rules by ReaderResponse. &

Acknowledgments

The idea for this particular Ten SimpleRules was inspired by a conversation withFiona Addison.

Funding. The author received no specificfunding for this article.

Competing interests. The author has declaredthat no competing interests exist.

References1. Bourne PE (2005) Ten simple rules for getting

published. PLoS Comp Biol 1: e57.2. Bourne PE, Chalupa LM (2006) Ten simple

rules for getting grants. PLoS Comp Biol 2:e12.

3. Bourne PE, Korngreen A (2006) Ten simplerules for reviewers. PLoS Comp Biol 2: e110.

4. Bourne PE, Friedberg I (2006) Ten simple rulesfor selecting a postdoctoral fellowship. PLoSComp Biol 2: e121.

5. Vicens Q, Bourne PE (2007) Ten simple rulesfor a successful collaboration. PLoS Comp Biol3: e44.

PLoS Computational Biology | www.ploscompbiol.org April 2007 | Volume 3 | Issue 4 | e770594