How to prepare for a presentation/talk of your (desired) research?

Identify the Audience: Determine who will be attending your presentation and what's common ground and not — experts in your field, peers, potential advisors, or a general audience.
For example, in an international conference about neuroscience, which will be attended by the greatest names of neuroscience, maybe it's not important to define and extend what an EEG is and how it can be applied. Instead, it's important to consider whether or not you decided to use EEG besides MEG, if you have the opportunity to use both. Otherwise, you will not use your time wisely and lose a good moment of learning.

​

​Tailor Content: Customize your content and language to suit the knowledge level and interests of your audience.
Following the example before, in an open day event for high school students, it's very important to mention EEG as "electroencephalogram" or "machine for recording brain activity", since it's not basic information, even though a lot of students may know.

Establish Goals: Outline what you aim to achieve with your presentation.
For example, do you want to share the results of your research? If so,  keep in mind that the results section is the most important and you should be dedicating more time there. Do you want to convince your audience about a question not answered in the field? Then it's very important to have a well structured and referenced literature review.

​

Key Messages: Determine the main points you want your audience to remember.
For example, if my goal is to propose new findings in a certain topic, the sections for theoretical approach, methodology and analysis/results are the most important, since it'll allow my audience to remember the contributions by itself, how you arrived at those contributions and according to which theoretical position.

There isn't a correct order to do a presentation. It always depends on the story you want to create, how much time you have, your goals and your audience's knowledge of your topic. Furthermore, it's important to verify in which order you feel more comfortable and/or makes more sense for you.
But if you don't have an idea of how to organize your speak, I will put here the most used one:​

• Introduction:
  Hook: Start with an attention-grabbing opening (e.g., the question that motivated your research, a spoiler of your results).
  Context: Briefly introduce the topic and its importance (e.g., some data to exemplify, or what has been said in the literature).
  Objectives: Clearly state what your presentation will cover (e.g., the sections of your presentation, your goals)
   

• Main Content:
  Methodology (if applicable): Explain your research methods briefly (e.g., corpus data, experiment (which?), introspection, replicability (how?)).
  Results: Present your findings with clarity and relevance (e.g., graphs, images, schemas, whatever makes the audience understanding just by looking at it).
  Discussion/Analysis: Interpret your results and discuss their implications (e.g.; usually this part is made orally while you present the results, but you can also make  a check-list of your hypothesis or agreements with literature).
   

• Conclusion:
  Summarize (if the time allows): Recap the main points of your presentation.
  Takeaways: Highlight the significance of your research and potential future directions (e.g., what still needs to be answered, what can be improved and what your or your lab's next steps).

Here less is more. You don't want your audience so distracted by all the animation that in the end they can't even ask a question. Let's save your time and money.
Keep it Simple: Avoid clutter; use bullet points, visuals, and graphs for clarity. It's always better to keep your texts at the minimum (just some sentences are more than necessary).
Visual Appeal: Ensure readability with appropriate fonts, colors, and contrast. Remember that some people can struggle seeing your presentation because they can't understand it and it makes them lose interest in it.
Practice: Run through your presentation to ensure the flow of information is logical and clear.

Simulation is very useful to verify if you are comfortable and following your own plans. I suggest practicing previously by yourself so you can adjust your talk and then practice with someone else (e.g., your advisor, a lab colleague, a very sincere friend), so they can guarantee you that your presentation is understandable. There are a three fundamental criteria to control:
Timing: Practice within the time limit provided (usually 10-15 minutes for most presentations).
Voice and Pace: Speak clearly and vary your pace to maintain engagement.
Body Language: Maintain eye contact (it helps to verify if the audience is following you), use gestures naturally (they are useful for clarifying your speech), and stand/sit confidently (no one's trying to eat you alive, even in a thesis defense, the committee is there for scientific purposes).

No one better than you knows your research. Try to remember that even if someone asks or proposes something that changes all your research, it helps your analytical thinking and you can always answer "I've never thought about that. Thank you for your question/suggestion. I will think about it".
Anticipate: Think about potential questions your audience might ask and prepare concise answers. If nothing comes to your mind, ask for your simulation audience (topic 5) to try to formulate difficult questions.
Depth of Knowledge: Be ready to delve deeper into specific aspects of your research if asked. That's why you decided to study a hard topic, right? So chill and receive all those questions as feedback for your research, professional life and career.

It's ok to feel anxious or nervous about presenting. Even the greatest scientists feel like this when they talk in front of an unknown audience. You're not alone and everyone watching you will empathize with you. Some tips for dealing with those negative feelings are:
Breathing Exercises: Practice deep breathing to calm nerves before presenting.
Positive Visualization: Imagine a successful presentation to boost confidence.
Comfort faces: Focus on someone that you know or seems friendly in the audience. It will make it easier to explain difficult concepts for someone interested in.

Feel free to ask information about technical procedures to the organization committee. They are there to help.
Technology Check: Ensure your slides or presentation software works smoothly. Try to save your presentation in more than one kind of file (e.g., pdf, pptx, images).
Venue: Familiarize yourself with the presentation space and any equipment you'll be using.
Stay Flexible: Be prepared to adapt if your presentation format or time changes. Even if the organization committee guarantees you that there will be Internet connectivity, unexpected situations happen (all the time, actually).

Attire: Dress appropriately for the occasion (e.g., business casual for most academic presentations), but make it comfortable (e.g.; no high heels if you're not used to or do not want to).
Gratitude: Thank your audience, any funding you may have and any collaborators or sponsors who contributed to your research. This is often seen as a separate concluding slide or section of your presentation.

Stay Engaged: Maintain enthusiasm for your topic to engage your audience effectively. If it's a conference, engage with other scientists to break the ice and create a network.