Presentation finished!!!

This time, I was able to make a presentation well in advance, make necessary edits, practice a lot of times, and presented it with peace of mind.  It was a rare (? but hopefully will be a usual) case of me preparing and giving a presentatioin, so I will write it down for record. 

My goal was to finish making my slides before the fellowship program starts, which was May 28.  With the fellowship going through 2 weeks, I was origianlly scheduled to present on June 8. But there was a rescheduling, and my presentation date was moved two days earlier. I knew that kind of things will happen!  So it's critical to be ready well in advance, in order to avoid overtime and presenting with less confidence. 

THE IDEAL SCHEDULE

1. [> 1 month before] Set a target date that you will finish and be ready for the presentation.  2-7 days earlier than the actual D-day.
2. [> 1 month before] IF you haven't made almost all figures (materials) ready, do so by 1 month before the target date. 
3. [Week 4 - 2] Organize all your materials on slides. 
4. [Week 3] Schedule a practice session halfway of step 3, so that you will have at least 2 weeks to make edits before the target date.
5. [Week 2] Receive feedback in a practice session. 
6. [Week 2 - 1] Make edits, do some extra research as necessary and put them on slides. 
7. [Week 1] Slides done!  Rehearse at least 3 times. 
8. [Target date] You are ready well in advance!  

Case study: the market trends. This was a light topic, not so much about research, so if it were reseaerch, it would have taken more time!  

May 1 ... Started thinking about making a presentation. IF I didn't have organized and visualized data, even earlier!  This time I alrady had a report in place, and I just needed to put my figures in the report to my slides, but still, there was some formatting done, and took me 2-3 weeks.  Plus, I had something extra to add, just for the presentation.  Expect something more to do. 

May 24 ... Practice presentation with labmates. This needs to be done before the fellowship program starts and everyone gets busy!  Initially, my practice talk lasted for 30 min, but later with some additions, it became 40 min just as scheduled.  And I got feedback, ideas to edit and add, so the next week was doing some extra research and putting things together in a good flow. Needed to practice too. 

June 2 ... Presentation done. Printed out, and rehearsed 3 times.  By the third time, I was confident and remembered everything I needed to say.  Some small extra edits were made, too. 

June 6 ... Presentation done and well-received!