Chalk Talks are a key component of faculty interviews and other informal presentations. But what does a Chalk Talk look like? We’ve curated some examples for you.
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You’re a scientist and you want to get better at designing presentations and delivering them clearly, confidently, and authentically.
We’d love to help!
We offer presentation skills workshops and training as well as one-to-one coaching to help scientists learn how to prepare, design, and deliver scientific presentations that are clear, engaging and relevant for expert and non-expert audiences alike.
Our presentation skills workshops, training and one-to-one coaching can help you:
Plan & Prepare
Lay the ground to make sure that you know your purpose, your audience, and how to craft and structure clear messages that hit the mark - whether you're presenting to experts or non-experts.
Design & Develop
Plan your content, design your slides, use language effectively, harness the power of narrative structures, and tell better "stories" about your data so that people understand why your data matters to them and others.
Deliver & Engage
Present clearly, confidently and authentically. Be aware of non-verbal communication. Engage the audience and make sure that they can follow you. Keep nerves in check. Moderate Q&As like a pro. Answer questions brilliantly.
Learn more
No time for reading? Tell us what you need or want, and we'll reply with some thoughts and ideas
Our approach:
Our workshops help scientists use presentations - with or without slides - to communicate better with fellow scientists and peers, non-expert colleagues, senior managers, students, policy makers, the lay public, funding agencies, employers and other stakeholders who need to know about your work.
We focus on developing skills and demonstrating concepts rather than just talking about them. Our aim is to leave you with practical strategies and techniques that you can start using immediately, and tips to help you continue to improve with every presentation that you deliver.
Presentation skills workshops, training & coaching for scientists
All of our workshops and training offerings can be tailored based on your needs and the needs of your group.
We are based in Europe and offer in-person, on-site workshops anywhere where we can hop on some form of public transport. When that's not possible, or needed, we offer engaging online/virtual learning instead.
The two-day workshop
Our two-day, small group workshop can be delivered in-person to groups of 6-12 people. (Prefer online? We offer this workshop as an online programme delivered over multiple sessions.)
This is our standard offering for scientists, researchers, research groups, and teams who want to learn or refresh all aspects of presenting. The two-day workshop builds skills in planning and preparation, design and development, and delivery and engagement.
Interactive and hands-on, participants have meaningful time to work alone and in small groups, learn from short chunks of theory and each other, participate in large group discussions, give and receive feedback, and, of course, ask questions.
We tailor this workshop to the needs of the group in advance of the session, as well as during the session itself to ensure that participants get exactly what they need from the workshop.
Short, focused workshops (2-4 hours )
If you want to focus on building one skill or refining a particular aspect of presenting, we offer short, focused workshops in person and online. Group numbers vary depending on the skill and focus.
We offer deep dive sessions into all aspects of presenting and speaking, catering to the needs of scientists, researchers, and science communicators. From audience analysis to voice training, presentation design to moderating a panel, let us create a learning experience that's all about you.
For more information, visit our brand new presentation and presence offering, Share Your Science →
Small group and one-to-one coaching
Hands-on, full of feedback and exercises to help you build on your strengths as a presenter, and space to work on areas where you need some improvement.
Working in a small group or one-to-one, online or in person, we'll help you build your presentation skills through a process of presenting, feedback, improvisation, and practice. Unlike a one-off workshop or training programme, coaching involves multiple highly-flexible sessions over weeks or months that help you overcome challenges to communicate and present at your best.
We provide coaching in all aspects of scientific and research presentations, including those related to career-related presentations PhD defense presentations, and faculty interview presentations, Chalk Talks, and teaching presentations.
If this sounds right for you, get in touch for a discovery call to see if we're a good fit.
The BIG one: coaching you to deliver ONE impactful presentation
If you have a big presentation coming up and you want it to be a success, we offer coaching, feedback, and practical support to help you refine your presentation and deliver it confidently.
Our small group and one-to-one coaching is all about developing your presentation skills over time, so that you can become better at presenting scientific and other presentations as needed.
Our single presentation coaching is about one presentation: making sure that it has a clear message and purpose, visual aids that are relevant and engaging, and that you able to deliver that presentation like a professional.
Added value: what you'll also get with us
Language insights from a native English speaker
The world of science and research is diverse. Many of the people who attend our workshops use English as a second, third or other language. Although we don't teach English, we offer practical insights and guidance about language, voice, accent, pronunciation and more to help participants present at their best when English is needed.
Build transferrable skills
Being able to present effectively is all about knowing your audience and your message and connecting the two successfully. That's precisely what communication is all about. Our presentation workshops will leave you with transferable skills that you can use in conversations, meetings, when designing visual communication like posters and data visualisations, and even in your papers and publications.
Reusable templates & frameworks
We've spent many years refining the templates that we introduce in our workshops. They're simple and designed to be easy for you to use, and helpful in speeding up your planning, preparation and design. You'll receive copies to work on during the workshop, as well as digital versions to use in the future.
Cheat sheets & resources
We have cheat sheets and loads of tried-and-tested resources that we share with you during and after our workshops. What you receive will depend on the workshop and your focus, but we've been told that our cheat sheets, resources and notes are very helpful indeed.
Flexibility
We have never run a workshop where all the participants were the same: everyone has different research interests, goals, strengths, weaknesses, communication styles, and ways of learning. We adapt how we work, and the examples and activities that we use based on the group on the day. We think that this leads to better learning.
A bit of fun!
Building your skills as a presenter or a communicator isn't a punishment. We keep the conversations light and useful, and create space for interaction and engagement, so that participants learn AND enjoy the workshop - even if we can't persuade them to enjoy preparing and delivering presentations!
We've worked with organisations, institutes, universities & research groups all over the world
Collaborating with Suzanne to organize for Boston University researchers was a pleasure and a resounding success. From the initial planning stages to the workshop's execution, Suzanne’s expertise and passion for science communication were evident at every step. Her attention to detail and consideration of the diverse audience at BU ensured that the content was not only intellectually stimulating but also accessible to researchers with varying backgrounds. Suzanne’s enthusiasm proved contagious, creating an atmosphere of active participation and shared learning. I look forward to future collaborations!
This has been an incredibly useful workshop. Suzanne struck the perfect balance between giving us a structure to learn from each other, and using activities and theory to help us learn and apply more abstract ideas. I appreciated how interactive and low-stress the two days were, and I can already see ways that I can improve both my presentation planning and delivery. This was also a useful networking and team-building opportunity. We'll be inviting Suzanne back again soon.
I wanted to send you a personal note to thank you for all your support and efforts in helping us these presentation and communication workshops. It's not often that we have the opportunity to train so many of our teams to think more strategically about their oral presenting, and the feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from our early-career scientists, many of whom haven't attended a workshop like this in the past. We're looking forward to involving you in future workshops. Thank you!
Who is SciComm Success and what do we know about helping scientists and researchers present at their best?
Good question! SciComm Success started life without a name in Boulder, Colorado in 2012 when communication specialist and sustainability communicator, Suzanne Whitby, was asked to deliver communication workshops for scientists at NOAA and NCAR.
In 2014, on moving in Innsbruck, Suzanne founded SciComm Success and since then, she has been designing and delivering presentation skills, public speaking, and other communication skills training programmes to help scientists and researchers share their work with expert and non-expert audiences alike.
Suzanne has 20+ years of international communication experience, and she has worked with communication of all sorts. She is just as comfortable running a presentation skills workshop as she is teaching poster design, podcasting and storytelling skills.
Suzanne’s experience as a communication specialist is very much “hands-on”, and she is constantly developing her skills so that she can share them. She is an active science and climate communicator who works with lay audiences, a facilitator who runs participatory futures workshops, and as a researcher at VU Amsterdam, she "practices what she preaches" in order to share her work.
Curious? Connect with her on LinkedIn →
Build your own presentation skills workshop or training from our modules:
Planning & preparation
Structure & content storyboarding
Slide design & visual communication
Content development & language
Storytelling & narrative
Confidence and dealing with nerves
Presence, non-verbal communication & delivery
Managing questions & moderating the Q&A session
Giving & receiving feedback
Ongoing improvement
Curious? Want more information?
Use our contact form to send us a message or: