0

I have a PhD interview soon and I was asked to make a 10-15 minute presentation on my research work. As I am preparing the powerpoint presentation for the same, I am confused whether to put the results in detail, or to put them in a single slide. I am not sure whether my previous supervisor will like me including the results as they are not published yet. I need some advice on this.

Improve this question
2
  • 9
    The best and easiest thing to do here is to send your previous supervisor a quick email and ask their opinion.
    – jpmacmanus
    Commented Jul 1 at 11:55
  • "whether to put the results in detail, or to put them in a single slide" - I think you need to answer the question of what will be the best way to use the 10-15 minutes you have to impress them
    – Agnishom Chattopadhyay
    Commented Jul 1 at 21:51

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

The interviewers are probably more interested in the nature of your research and whether it has successfully reached conclusion than they are about the specific results obtained.

I suggest it is enough to say that you have papers in preparation or submitted with the results in any printed (i.e. powerpoint) materials.

They want to know about your abilities. They aren't reviewers of your work. But decide in advance whether you want to say something about the results if asked and how much detail you want to give.

I'd guess there is little risk in disclosing the results. These people aren't there to try to scoop you. Just be a bit cautious about what you commit to print.

And, as noted in a comment, have a chat with your supervisor.

Improve this answer
-1

  1. Ask your previous supervisor whether you can present all your results. Unless there are some confidential issues at play (like IP protection) most academics will be totally ok with you presenting work like this for interview purposes (i.e. to other academics). There's a sort of unwritten rule that that is what (and how) it's done. But do check with your previous supervisor because it's their science. Chances are they will say yes of course and good luck.

  2. If you have only 10-15 minutes, then focus on the question, approach, main results and implications. Do show some results, but don't swamp them in details. Polish polish polish. The shorter the talk the more time it takes to prepare it... Have some back up slides ready with details that you can use during the Q&A.

Improve this answer
-1

Number of slides is an utterly irrelevant metric. I have given 10 min presentations with a gazillion slides, and full hour with just two.

Decide on the content first, the order you want it and the introduction it needs second, refine it until you are confident it fits in the time you have. Then decide on the number of slides, which may even be zero.

But if you want some nudging, in my experience, people tend to cram too much on each slide. Nobody is going to charge per slide: if you want to show two plots, put them in separate slides; and then side-by-side on a third slide, if you want to compare them to each other.

And remember to practice it. You should have it completely memorised, without even using the slides.

I am not sure whether my previous supervisor will like me including the results as they are not published yet.

That is something nobody here can answer. Ask them, it is a very reasonable question.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .