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How to give great research talks to any audience

Nature Human Behaviour volume 8, pages 616–621 (2024)Cite this article

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Being able to deliver a persuasive and informative talk is an essential skill for academics, whether speaking to students, experts, grant funders or the public. Yet formal training on how to structure and deliver an effective talk is rare. In this Comment, we give practical tips to help academics to give great talks to a range of different audiences.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Early Career Committee for supporting the preparation of the SPSP 2022 professional development session that led to the development of this Comment. We thank all of the attendees who joined us for this session and not only generated a lively discussion but also signalled the need for more support in giving great academic talks for all audiences.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Eli J. Finkel, Eranda Jayawickreme, Aneeta Rattan, Thalia Wheatley.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Veronica M. Lamarche

  2. Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Franki Y. H. Kung

  3. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Eli J. Finkel

  4. Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Evanston, IL, USA

    Eli J. Finkel

  5. Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Eli J. Finkel

  6. Department of Psychology & Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Eranda Jayawickreme

  7. Department of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School, London, UK

    Aneeta Rattan

  8. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA

    Thalia Wheatley

  9. Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA

    Thalia Wheatley

Authors
  1. Veronica M. Lamarche
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  2. Franki Y. H. Kung
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  3. Eli J. Finkel
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  4. Eranda Jayawickreme
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  5. Aneeta Rattan
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  6. Thalia Wheatley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Veronica M. Lamarche.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Lamarche, V.M., Kung, F.Y.H., Finkel, E.J. et al. How to give great research talks to any audience. Nat Hum Behav 8, 616–621 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01839-2

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