Let’s face it, science research conference presentations are rarely interesting.
Science researchers have strengths and weaknesses: they are strong in thinking and research, but they are often very weak in communicating their thinking and research. This applies to writing of manuscripts but especially to the delivering of conference presentations. This article will describe why the latter is a career-limiting problem and will suggest a communication strategy to help scientists overcome this problem and how to open more doors for research collaboration and professional recognition.
Problem
Why do academics — whether they be grad students, post-docs or professors (usually assistant and associate) — consistently deliver poor, unfocused and extremely boring presentations?
The audience and culture of professional research is squarely to blame – for 3 reasons.
- Presenters feel they only need to present their findings and contributions in an understated matter-of-fact way; it is assumed that entertaining or selling is anathema to “serious research”, which should speak for itself. Of course this is not true and it is often a struggle for the audience to make sense of research. But that’s what we intellectuals are expected to do: we have been trained to focus our laser attention on difficult matters of concept, theory, methodology, argument and conclusions. And when we do not follow a presentation, we suffer in silence.
- Oral presentations are an afterthought – the writing manuscript and its publication is the primary goal – even for high-ranking conferences, where a publication in its proceedings can be even more valuable than in top-tier journals.
- Most of us have also never received training to optimize our presentation skills to best convey our research and its significance, the results of the first two above-mentioned quirks of academic culture.
Becoming a professional reader …
As professional researchers, we have been trained to be professional readers of others’ research in grad school, and through a process of osmosis, most of us learn to anticipate reader expectations during our graduate seminar classes, dissertation writing and post-doc research. We learn to look for and appreciate 4 tiers of well-communicated research:
- Clear prose
- Logically organized structure of information
- Persuasive argument
- Effective articulation of the value and contribution of the research.
We approach reading like a treasure hunt (where the treasure may be references in a literature review, research methods, novel findings, etc), and we are very strategic in our reading approach. Title first, then abstract and if it seems to match the type of treasure we’re looking for then perhaps to the Related Works, Methodology, Results and/or Discussion section.
Of course, when we prepare manuscripts for publication, we need to think about our whole manuscript, because the most important readers — the reviewers — will critically read the entire manuscript from start to finish.
However, when preparing for an oral presentation, scientists and engineers often only strive to accomplish the first two tiers: clear and logically organized information. Persuasive and effective articulation of research tends to be accomplished only by more experienced and savvy researchers after years — if not decades — of experience from delivering and observing presentations.
Why becoming an effective presenter matters
Clearly, publication record adds to a researcher’s intellectual capital and reputation, but so does the ability to deliver an outstanding presentation. “Outstanding” here means not only a clear and logical exposition of research but also a meaningful message that goes beyond superficial knowledge transaction; this will make the presentation literally standout from other academic presentations.
Why do these outstanding speakers get invited to deliver keynote speeches? In large part, it is due to their reputation and intellectual capital, but it is also due to their ability to deliver an engaging and meaningful presentation. And this often involves storytelling techniques.
So, is there a way we can speed up this process of learning how to craft a research-story presentation that is not only clear and logical, but also persuasive, engaging and meaningful?
Yes!
But first it is useful to take a detour into the realm of the problem in research, fiction and business.
The problem in research
To become a professional communicator, we need to first ask ourselves some key questions about what our reader really wants. More specifically, we need to strive to understand what our research community wants or needs. Typically, this means locating unsolved problems in the field and finding gaps in the literature that serve as obstacles towards solving a bigger problem. It also means understanding the scope of the problem and also its significance and implications if it remains unsolved.
A famous quote has been attributed to Einstein about problem solving: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I would be 55 minutes understanding the problem and 5 minutes on the solution.” I do not know whether or not Einstein did in fact say this, but it is still good advice to researchers to spend a lot of time to really understand the problem before embarking on the most appropriate solution. Similarly, an articulate academic will accord an appropriate amount of time to describing the problem and its significance. At its most basic, the research story is a simple problem-solution narrative, but to craft an outstanding research story is more subtle and requires some knowledge of storytelling psychology.
This is where the art of storytelling comes in.
The problem story in fiction
All stories contain 5 main components: setting, character, conflict (problem), climax, and resolution (see figure below). However, the problem is pivotal to fiction and film. If you think about all the novels you’ve read or movies you’ve seen, the story is a sequence of events propelled by a conflict or problem. The problem in the Lord of the Rings story is to keep a magic ring away from a powerful villain who will destroy the world if he gets it.
Another essential feature of a story is character. After all, there is no problem, and therefore no story, if there is no main character or hero. In Lord of the Rings, a young and powerless hobbit, Frodo, is given a ring, which a wizard named Gandalf realizes is a powerful ring belonging to an evil force who wants it back to destroy the world. Frodo is entrusted with the mission of destroying the ring to save the world. Gandalf helps Frodo assemble a team to do this and the story begins.
The job of the storyteller is simple: keep the audience’s attention.
A skilled story-teller captivates the audience and makes them want to know more. The storyline and story structure is key here. The story starts with a setting or context, in which the hero encounters a problem which pushes him through a series of connected events that are leading to something. Along the perilous journey to destroying the ring in a far away land, Frodo and his team constantly meet many dangers and obstacles. The audience feels the suspense in this plotline and starts cheering for the hero whose suffering and struggle intensifies — which is matched by our empathy for him — as the story progresses.
If the story is told well, we do not know what will happen next. In Lord of the Rings, the writer makes us worry whether Frodo will be able to destroy the ring, and as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the ring is taking control over him … and the real problem or conflict of the story becomes clear: can Frodo resist his own desires for power and still destroy the ring?
The events lead to a high point in the story called a climax, near the end of the story. Frodo finally arrives at the only destination with fires capable of destroying the ring, and after an epic struggle with himself, the ring is finally destroyed. After this climactic scene, the ring’s destruction resolves the story’s problem, and all the loose ends of the other characters’ issues and lives are tied up. The story finishes and the audience is satisfied with the story journey.
Stories like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings are a retelling of the classic Hero’s Journey, a storyline that Joseph Campbell (1949) demonstrated to be the basis for myths, legends and stories from all around the world and for millennia (see figure below). The hero is thrown into an adventure that involves magical objects or powerful beings, finds a helper who helps guide him on a dangerous journey full of challenges and temptations. The hero falls or makes a mistake, and sees the error of his ways. He transforms and atones for mistakes and learns a valuable lesson.
The problem story in business
Stories resonate with all of us, and business marketers and entrepreneurs are very aware of this. Steve Jobs, for example, was not only a visionary but also a master storyteller in Apple keynote presentations. Jobs once famously said that product creation should start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. This is not only the key to good product design, but the basis for the problem story in business. This is a variation of the Hero’s Journey, where the customer is cast as the hero, and the brand as the guide or helper. Naturally, the “customer experience” implies a problem or obstacle to an optimal user experience; in terms of plotlines, the problem is the conflict that needs to be resolved … with the help of the caring guide.
Back to Steve Jobs and Apple.
The iPhone launched the smartphone revolution in 2007 with its touchscreen and integrated operating system that made it easy for the iPhone user to surf the web, send and receive emails and take great photos — all on one device. It effectively solved these customer problems and inconveniences. In the sales industry, this ability to make the customer the hero of the product story is a persuasive strategy, because as every successful entrepreneur or sales representative knows, you need to “sell the problem, not the solution”.
If customers are made to understand the problem and how it negatively affects them, they are not only ready to hear about the solution but want to hear it. If done well, the problem formulation and description can elevate the value of the solution. In story telling language, it helps build suspense and anticipation. It also positions the brand as the guide and helper to solve the customer’s problem.
In an effort to help businesses develop their brand and sell their products, Donald Miller (2017) highlighted 3 key questions an effective marketing strategy must answer:
- What does the hero want?
- Who or what is in the way?
- What is the outcome if not successful?
In this way, the brand needs to make clear what is the value of what it offers, how it makes the customer’s life better and why they need to buy it. When crafting the marketing message, it is useful to remember that people want help to survive and thrive, and they also want clarity and simplicity in a message.
Miller put forward a 7-part storyline template for businesses to tell their brand story (see figure below).
- The first and most important part is the character or hero of the story, which is the customer.
- The next part of the story identifies the problem of the hero, which usually has an external aspect (some villain that initiates the problem) and the internal feeling it causes in the hero; the problem needs to be made clear why it matters.
- The guide, or brand/company, is introduced as an empathetic authority who can help the hero solve their problem.
- The guide offers a simple plan that provides hope; the guide is able to address the hero’s concerns, alleviate fears and suggest steps to alleviate confusion.
- The brand guide then makes a call to action, which is either direct (clear and simple), or transitional (establish authority, guide and give freely). At this point, the hero needs to make a decision whether or not to follow the guide; the implications are described in terms of:
- risking loss and negative consequences or
- success and reaching potential.
Here is an example from the internet (Crawford, 2020) relating to the cybersecurity industry.
| 7 Storybrand components | Brandscript sample for cybersecurity |
| 1. Character | Are you an online business with no cybersecurity strategy? |
| 2. Problem External Internal Philosophical | – The problem your customer is actually facing: they don’t have a cybersecurity solution that protects their business- The way the external problem is making them feel: insecure about how safe their organization is- It’s wrong to suffer this problem: every business deserves a cybersecurity solution that protects their assets |
| 3. Meet Guide Empathy Authority | – We understand that most companies don’t have a cybersecurity solution that will protect their assets in the event of breach – Our team of certified professionals helps over 100 companies protect their businesses |
| 4. Plan Process | Schedule a callGet a security planGet cyber confident |
| 5. Call to action Direct Transitional | – Schedule a call with us to learn more. – A free informational pdf: 5 signs your company isn’t ready for a security breach |
| 6. Success | Gain cyber confidence, protect your data 24/7, protect your clients, protect your reputation, meet compliance, get more time and money back to focus on new initiatives, enjoy business growth free from cyber risk |
| 7. Help avoid failure | Data breach, loss of client trust, compliance violations and financial penalties, loss of revenue/time/assets |
| Character transformation From → To … | From: insecure about organization’s security To: confident they are protected |
The problem story in research
There are several differences about how the research story differs from the brand story. Unlike the customer hero in the business story, the hero of the research story are the researchers in the relevant field. The science consumer is a member of a community of practice, and so the target audience is the relevant field of researchers.
Also, there is no customer problem, but rather the unresolved problem that is facing the research community. The objective of the research story is not to sell a product but to locate the research within the community literature network and build upon it – this will create credibility.
More than this, community members need to be persuaded about something new and worth paying attention to. Instead of product differentiation and unique selling points, the research story should clearly define research contribution and focus on the value of the research. In the research story, this means how the research solves the problem of the research community or as is more typically the case, how it is an important part of the solution.
The conference presenter needs to ask herself some key questions to clarify the “problem story”. These echo the questions facing the marketers in brand marketing:
- What does the community need?
- What is in the way (i.e., the problem)?
- If the problem remains unsolved, what is at stake?
It is useful when crafting the conference presentation to step back and think of the big research picture of the motivations of both the presenter and researcher-audience. Researchers need other researchers’ studies to do their own research, publish and advance their academic careers and reputations; they are thus tied to each other in a web of symbiosis. To clarify and strengthen these symbiotic connections, research consumers need to know the motivation of the research: a clearly defined problem and its significance. They also need to know the other side of the research coin: the value of the solution.
For communication purposes, the conference presentation message needs a sharp focus to spotlight research relevance, and importantly, to minimize the message’s diffusion. In information science, the latter is known as information entropy, or too much information, which makes the audience understand less, thereby perceiving less relevance and feeling less likely to engage with the presenter during or after the conference.
The 7 components of the brandstory script can also be applied to a research story to give it more of a narrative structure.
- Like the brand story, the hero of the story is not the presenter, but rather the audience or research community.
- The presenter needs to quickly focus on the problem of the research area and show empathy for his fellow researchers that share the same problem. This is done in some form of literature review, which can contribute to the presenter’s authority.
- Appropriate and empathic attention to not just the problem formulation but also its implications as a limiting condition of the research field further reinforces the presenter as an authority figure.
- However, the experiment design, methodology and results analyses of the results fully establish the credibility of the presenter. In other words, the quality of the research. This is why the “Plan” phase of the brand story has to be replaced by a brief exposition of the “research plan,” which includes an overview of Methods, Results and Discussion.
- Nonetheless, there should still be a call to action, which invites the audience to further read the paper, discuss the research in Q&A or after more informally after the presentation, or perhaps to be able to access supplementary research results and data in some form. This will help create an impression that the presenter cares about the audience and their research, which could in turn lead to future collaboration, job offers or other opportunities.
- The final stage of the story is the resolution, with a recap of the research’s measures of success and repeated warnings about pitfalls and how to avoid failure.
| 7 research Story components | Research script sample for information science (new database for image recognition) |
| 1. Character | Information science researcher looking for a new license plate image database to test image recognition algorithm |
| 2. Problem External Internal Philosophical | – Current databases have limited numbers of sample images, license plates are at similar size and lighting conditions, and each image has only one or two license plate images – The external problem makes me feel insecure about how well my algorithm can identify and and discriminate plate information – I need a larger database that better simulates real world road conditions where my algorithm will be applied |
| 3. Meet Guide Empathy Authority | – We recognize the problem of existing databases: their artificially clear images and photo conditions artificially inflate precision scores of algorithms for identifying plate information; this limits the advance in algorithm effectiveness – We have compiled a database of 20 000 license plate images, and we have compared state of the art databases and algorithms with our database; we showed that our database successfully demonstrates more of a challenge to algorithms by reducing their precision rates and increasing their error rates |
| 4. Research Plan Process | Method overview and justifications- details and rationale for image inclusions and taggings in the databaseKey results and findings – how the database more successfully challenges algorithms and results in lower precision scoresImplications of findings – can push algorithm designers to develop more robust algorithms to improve recognition precision scores in more real world situations |
| 5. Call to action Direct Transitional | – Contact us for a free version of the database – Ask questions and make comments in the Q&A; read the rest of our paper for more details |
| 6. Success | – Gain more confidence from using a database that better simulates real-world traffic conditions for testing image recognition algorithms; – this will give you a more accurate test in the precision and effectiveness of your algorithm; – this will give you more scope to further improve the effectiveness of your algorithm;- the database can also give you a benchmark for comparing your algorithms with other state-of-the-art algorithms. |
| 7. Help avoid failure | Without a better database of license plate images that can simulate real-world conditions, algorithm precision estimates will remain deceptively high — but we don’t know by how much; this lowers the ceiling for all algorithms which makes it more difficult to compare different algorithms, including our own |
| Character transformation From → To … | From: ignorant of how effective our — and others’ — algorithm really is To: confident knowing the precision of our algorithm and how much and where to improve its performance for real world conditions |
Conclusion
Having a narrative structure to follow and in which to place elements of the study will create a clearer and more persuasive message. This can help the presenter to put the key elements of the research into a structured story or focused message that prevents the audience from losing sight of the study’s importance and contribution. The story structure will therefore make the research easier to understand, follow and remember. But more important than that, the research story script will help the audience to fully understand the research problem as it relates to them and their concerns. It will prepare them to receive and fully appreciate the proposed solution. This will make the presenter’s research more valuable to the audience and perhaps lead to more research citations, collaborations and perhaps keynote speeches.
References
Campbell, Joseph (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1st ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Crawford, B. (June 29, 2020). A winning storybrand brandscript example from the cybersecurity industry. Accessed January 25, 2021. https://blog.greenstonemedia.com/storybrand-brandscript-example-cybersecurity
Miller, D. (2017). Building a StoryBrand: Clarify your message so customers will listen. HarperCollins Leadership.
