Developing your networking and presentation skills

Finding academic networking opportunities

This resource introduces approaches to disseminating your research by finding relevant conferences, crafting effective presentations, and networking with other scholars. It includes activities to help you apply tips and reflect on your own learning, and should take you 15-20 minutes to read and complete. Check out the further resources and references provided for more information on this topic.

Finding a suitable opportunity to present your research can be daunting. This section will focus on ways to identify conferences, events, and social opportunities to deepen your connection to your field.

Conferences are one of the most common ways to present your research to other academics in your discipline. They are also a great way to keep abreast of the latest developments in your field and make connections to others with similar research interests.

Great sources for finding a conference that is right for you include:

Word of mouth

Your peers, and especially your supervisors, should be in a strong position to recommend conferences that would suit your research. Make it clear as early as you can in your candidature that you would appreciate recommendations!

Scholarly organisations

If there are scholarly associations or societies that support research in your field, become a member, sign up for their newsletters, or follow them on social media. Many of these organisations run conferences all over the world that you can attend.

Listservs and call-for-papers (CFP) websites or wikis

These may be useful for finding conferences and publication opportunities, which you can often filter with specific preferences. However, treat these with caution, as they are often loosely moderated and could be home to suspect information or predatory ‘pay for publication’ journals.

Funding

To explore funding opportunities for attending a conference, check whether the organising institution or association has any grants or bursaries available. These will often require a separate application and may have a different closing date to the call for papers. Your own school or department here at the University of Melbourne may offer funding to support conference attendance, such as scholarships, fellowships, and travel allowances. Some examples are linked below:

Use the module menu to go the next section: Making your presentation memorable, where we look at tips for maximising the impact of your conference presentation.

Making your presentation memorable

Audiences engage significantly more and retain more information when presentations have a strong opening and closing. This section will provide strategies to take advantage of these critical moments to make a clear, memorable impression on your audience.

This video introduces strategies for increasing your audience’s engagement with your presentation by creating effective opening hooks and meaningful conclusions.

As you watch, think about the most memorable presentations you’ve seen and what made them so engaging.

Video 1: Make your presentation memorable

Activity: Finding the perfect hook

Step 1: Free write for 3 minutes on one of the following topics. Set a timer and do not stop writing, not even to fix your spelling!

I was most excited about my research when…
A moment in my research journey that was terrible at the time, but is funny to me now, was when…
Why am I really doing this research? (Besides all of the money and fame, of course)

Step 2: Choose a short section of your freewriting, preferably one featuring strong emotions. Practice telling an imaginary audience about this moment out loud, as though it were a story. What is the plot? The setting? Who are the main characters?

Step 3: Connect that story to your research (if the connection isn’t already obvious). Some connections might include:

Overcoming a personal challenge that is similar to the problem your research addresses
A theme like love, adversity, courage, failure, or humility

While it is often easier to free write about your research, you might be surprised by what emerges when you write or talk about how your life experience intersects with your research topic. Remember that your audience have lives outside of their research too, so opening or closing your talk with a brief anecdote or story can help them to connect with you and your research.

Use the module menu to go the next section: Translating complex research for an audience, where we focus ideas to distill your work down to fit into a presentation or poster format.

Translating complex research for an audience

You have done the difficult work of undertaking research and writing it up. How do you condense thousands of words into a 20-minute talk, or a 3-minute poster presentation?

This section will focus on distilling key elements of academic research and communicating it efficiently.

Key elements of research

There are three key elements to any academic project. If you break down your work into these elements, then you can condense and translate your research more effectively.

Flip each card for descriptions of each element and examples of language you can use in your writing.

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Activity: The reduction challenge

Step 1: Identify the key elements of your research using the What, How, and Why prompts listed above.

Step 2: Set a timer for 3 minutes, and explain your answers to each of those three prompts out loud before the time finishes. If you finish in time, move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Set a timer for 2 minutes and try again. If you finish in time, set a timer for 1 minute and try again. Then try 30 seconds. Then 10 seconds.

Did you make it to 10 seconds? What information survived until then? What information did you sacrifice along the way?

Now that you’ve done this, try Step 3 again, but this time record yourself and watch or listen to the recording afterward. The shortest version with the clearest explanation might be a great script to include right after the opening ‘hook’ you developed above! You might also like to use this script to answer the ‘What’s your PhD about’ question that you’re bound to be asked during informal chats in the breaks between sessions.

Consider presenting your research at the 3-Minute Thesis Competition!

Use the module menu to go the next section: Networking at academic events, where we give tips for making connections and using good professional etiquette.

Networking at academic events

Academic events, whether in-person or virtual, can be daunting experiences for everyone involved, even experienced professors. After your presentation you may ask "what do I do with myself for the rest of this event?"

This section will provide tips on making connections and using good professional etiquette in stressful situations.

Top tips for networking

The presentation below introduces examples and strategies you can use networking.

Click the arrow at the bottom of the slide to work through the activity.

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Etiquette in a Q-and-A session

This video looks at ways to connect with other scholars at conferences by making strategic use of question time. It encourages you to consider that factors that make up a good question and provides examples of effective and ineffective questions.

As you watch, think about how you could adapt the example questions to suit your discipline.

Video: Networking at academic events

Activity: Planning questions to ask a presenter

Step 1: Think back to a presentation you’ve attended recently or watch a presentation from TED Talks or the 3-Minute Thesis Video Archive. Imagine that you want to ask the presenter a question about their talk.

Step 2: Consider the following questions and brainstorm a few points for each

What surprised you about this presentation?
What does the presenter seem to want to say more about?
If you are not convinced by a speaker’s claims, what information would persuade you?

Step 3: Use your brainstormed ideas and the following sentence frames, formulate questions that you could ask the presenter of the talk that you watched.

‘Thank you for that compelling presentation! You mentioned _____, and I was hoping you could speak a little more about that...’
‘Thank you for sharing your research! Would you mind returning to the slide about _____ for a moment? I was hoping to ask about _____’
‘Your research reminds me of ________. Do you think there is a connection there?’

Responding to questions about your presentation

The presentation below introduces examples and strategies you can use to respond to questions.

Click the arrow at the bottom of the slide to work through the activity.

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Final tip

Managing a graduate research project involves not only disciplinary and technical knowledge about your topic but also a high level of planning, organising and relationship-building skills. To set you up for success, use planners and timetables to help you monitor your progress, maintain regular communication with your supervisor, and build a sustainable routine that centralises your wellbeing.

For more information and support in your writing,Explore: Academic Skills Graduate Research services

For more about the importance of the opening and closing moments of presentations, see
Hongwei, 2020
Lenz et al., 2015
Panagopoulos, 2011
Hongwei, Z. (2020). Analysis of the Persuasive Methods in Barack Obama’s Speeches from the Social Psychology’s Perspectives. The Frontiers of Society, Science and Technology, 2(10).
Lenz, P. H., McCallister, J. W., Luks, A. M., Le, T. T., & Fessler, H. E. (2015). Practical Strategies for Effective Lectures. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 12(4), 561–566. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201501-024AR
Panagopoulos, C. (2011). Timing Is Everything? Primacy and Recency Effects in Voter Mobilization Campaigns. Political Behavior, 33(1), 79–93.