Verbal presentation like a written document must contain motivation of the work and outcome of it. However, the presentation should be more localized in time and space, unlike written paper. The verbal presentation has a rhythm for the audience and an opportunity for the audience to interact with the presenter which are not present in the case of written paper. 
Moreover, The presentation should be self-contained so that the audience doesn’t need to look for other resources to understand it. The presentation should have a specific purpose and the content of the presentation should be selected based on that purpose. Only those topics which are enough to convince the audience should be included. The presentation should include the context of the study which is an attention-getter. It should contain the objective or need of the study along with the tasks done, the main message and a preview.

Creating a presentation slide

Planning presentation, structuring and delivering it are more important than creating a slide. So, enough time should be allocated for the preparation of the presentation. Slides should be for the audience, not the presenter. If something is needed to be remembered than it should be written down as notes. There should be only short messages on each slide: containing a maximum of two lines of 10-15 words. Slides are for visual aids mostly, not for reading text. Language mistakes in slides must be avoided as it can be distracting for the audiences.

Delivering an oral presentation

To deliver an effective oral presentation what to say, how to say and what the audience can see should be taken into consideration. What helps should be told boldly and what hurts can be filtered out. The full text should not be memorized or read. The outline, main points and sub-points should be mentioned while delivering a presentation. Filler words are undesirable. The tone, rate and volume should be changed based on the meaning, complexity and importance of the topic. A stable and confident body language is preferable. The audience should be addressed to make the presentation more engaging.

Delivering as a non-native speaker

Practicing is the key for non-native speaker. Practicing in front of a few colleagues is very helpful. Taking time while speaking is a good practice for non-native speakers. Supporting slides make the presentation easier for non-native speakers as the audience can understand the speaker’s point from the slides if they don’t understand the pronunciation of the presenter.

 Answering questions

Questions after the presentation are much helpful as they provide an opportunity to add supplementary content and clear misunderstanding. Preparing for the questions and anticipating question is important. After the rehearsal, colleagues can be asked to ask questions as it may help anticipating the questions. Questions after the presentation should not be answered in a rush. The entire question should be listened and understood first while taking time to develop a concise answer. Questions are asked by the audience so that they can know. If the answer is not known the presenter can offer to look it up. The questioner can be referred to someone who might know the answer. Sometimes guessing the answer is also a good practice if it is mentioned that the answer is a guess.

GitHub and Google Colab

Google Colab link:
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/13cwxMaMzGvEQpcLUJWFmCS6cGZ-8k0Pr
GitHub link: https://github.com/kaushik67/ceri8211globalgeophysics/blob/master/firstnotebook.ipynb
Email: ksarker@memphis.edu