Academic Rank/Career Stage
Junior Researcher
Senior Researcher
Senior Researcher
Objective/Scholarship Type/ Stage of the Work?
Who do I Want to Hear My Scholarly Work?
To share preliminary findings or data/sources that may lead to a new direction in the field
Peers working in the same discipline; experts in the field
To present newly published findings that builds on previous work and makes significant contribution to the literature To put forth initial ideas for a new theory, concept, policy, or approach to a problem
My peers, leaders in my field, decision-makers
Junior researchers with fresh perspectives; peers; experts in tangential disciplines
Desired Outcome? New ideas to further examine/refute the findings; information or research-inprogress that affects findings Improved scholarly and university reputation; to advance the state of knowledge in my field Receive feedback on soundness of this new approach, omissions
Venue and Audience
To achieve your presentation goals, the information you transmit has to be received. Some barriers to effective communication are beyond your control, but being an effective speaker lowers the barriers significantly. Thus, the parallel consideration when preparing your presentation is to find out who the audience is likely to be, and identify the person or group you would like to specifically target.
Sometimes, your interest in giving the talk and the audience’s interest may not match. In these cases, prepare your presentation to match the audience’s interests and expectations; otherwise, you won’t be able to hold their attention.
Table II presents the most likely scenarios for venue and audience, and their likely interest in hearing about your scholarly work.