Learning How to Present 04/28/12

        The 2012 Spring Symposium of the Korean Institute Of Chemical Engineers was held in Jeju Island from April 25th to 27th. Even though the topic of the symposium was not as much related to my research project, I went to the meeting as the only high school student and the youngest person ever to be part of the  Korean Institute Of Chemical Engineers' symposium. The main objective of my travel to Jeju Island was to learn better ways on presenting one's research and findings.
        During many meetings, I have mainly focused on how the speakers presented their research. For example, I have compared and contrasted with other speakers on their PowerPoint, style of speaking, and interactions with the audience. One commonality I have seen with every speakers was the back ground of the PowerPoint templates. Even though good templates were mostly presented with big pictures and short bullet point words, every single PowerPoint had the white back ground -- different from what I was making for my presentation. It was clear that the white background made the audience focus more on the topic and not go sideways. In addition, I have learned from good speakers and presentations that I should never read my PowerPoint, not even glance at it, and just interact with my audience. I know it is a very hard way to present, but I believe if I master it with lots of practice I know I can give my audience the full knowledge of what I have learned during my research.