In a few months, I’ll give my previous presentation tutorial at ICSE, but in this post I want to answer the question, why?

Why should I read all your stuff about giving a good conference talk, my paper is accepted anyway? I can just copy-paste the outline and graphs from my paper and prepare in 10 minutes, and you want me to spend at least a day on preparation?

Good question! A few reasons why you want to consider improving your presentation skills:

On a philosophical level:
You are a scientist, I presume, because you want your research to have an impact on the world. Presenting better results in more people listening to your talk -> more people knowing and understanding your work -> more impact.

On a practical level:
* People in the audience are the people that are going to make or break your career by: citing you, inviting you for organizing and program committees, having you over for guest lectures etc. Making sure they know you and what you are up to is just a smart career choice.

On a personal level:
* Do you often feel stressed before a presentation? Do you feel like you could have done better afterwards? Preparing better and giving better talks will result in more confidence about yourself and your presenting abilities, which in turn will make your more relaxed and even better the next time.

Okay, so I need to improve my presentation skills, but why do I need to hear it from _you_?

My slides were chosen SlideShare of the day twice (The Power of Symmetry and Social Media for the Busy Scientist), resulting in over 30.000 views on these presentations combined.

I was invited for a TEDx talk in 2011, and recently I was the keynote of the Strata Conference in London, see below.

Convinced? Sign up for my tutorial at ICSE ’14 here.