LIGHTNING TALKS
SAGA 2024 Lightning Talks
Tips for a Successful Lightning Talk
Lightning talks are short-form talks, which are unlike traditional conference presentations, poster presentations or panels. Each speaker gets 3-5 minutes and can use a maximum number of 3-5 PowerPoint slides. The most successful lightning talks match the number of slides with the length of the presentation (with a rate of 1 slide/minute).
The main goal is to spark new conversations and collaborations across disciplines with fast-paced presentations. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the work of a large number of colleagues with similar interests in a relatively short period of time. So the key to a successful lightning talk is to provide an overview of a topic, not a thorough examination. The audience will lose focus if presented with too many details, but if they are interested in the topic they can always follow up for more information.
As you prepare your own lightning talk, here are some helpful tips:
- Don’t be intimated by the format. Instead, use it to get to the point quickly and tell your story.
- Don’t sweat the five minutes. You do NOT want to compress a 20-minute conference presentation into a 5-minute lightning talk. In fact, instead of starting with a prior talk and cutting it back, you might just start from scratch.
- You only have time to say four (maybe five) things, so choose them wisely.
- Leave out the details.
- Do not talk fast in order to get everything in! Instead, cut down the “everything.” Speak clearly and concisely, rather than rushing through your points.
- Practice.
- Figure out your key points before you build your slides.
- Tell your story with words and with pictures.
- Beware of clutter – visually and verbally. Your audience will not have time to digest much information on any given slide.
- Simple is often better.
- Use a sparse number of words on your slides. You audience can’t both read your slide and listen to you at the same time.
- Practice. Rehearse aloud and with the slides. Practice is everything in a 5-minute talk.
