Hi folks,

I am absolutely hopeless at orally presenting and just cant seem to articulate my points coherently, even in meetings with my supervisors. I end up just blabbing alot of rubbish and come across as if I don't have a clue. I am from a working class background and have a broad accent which I feel I personally grapple with when in academic circles. My cultural background is very different from everyone else in my dept and I'm very aware of this and its adding to my insecurities about oral presentation which seems to be deteriorating rather than improving. The whole transition has been tough, i'm 6 months in and this is something I really need to address. If anyone has advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Regarding meetings with your supervisor, have you considered making a plan of what you want to say beforehand? A bullet pointed list somewhere in eyesight may keep you focused.

Many unis run key skills courses for postgrads, including oral communication skills. Take advantage of whatever training options are available to you.

Don't think that people who are good at presenting just have some natural talent. A lot comes from practice. So take as many opportunities as you can. Start with friendly ones (e.g. informal postgrad journal clubs) and work up. Find a fellow student you can trust to give you constructive criticism who can highlight specific things you can work on.

Your accent is probably nowhere near as big a deal as you think it is, so don't get hung up on that.

Be gentle with yourself. The first few months of a PhD can be intense with regard to new ideas and experiences, so acknowledge that if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed!

Hi Hazy,

Thanks for the reply. I have been practising and using signallying techniques but I tend to just freeze up and everything goes out my head. I know if i dont get over this i wont be able to present at a conference. The best of it it is I took undergrad seminars throughout my masters and didn't have any issues, in fact I rather enjoyed it.

There is also a colleague in the dept who seems to have taken a dislike to me . The result is she tries to bring me down at any opportunity given. I've been told just to grin and bear it but it doesnt make attending seminars or meetings any easier. (an established academic not another student)' I suppose i'm looking for advice on how to thicken my skin and boost my confidence to deal with these situations.

Dear Athena (and Hello HazyJane),

I was not very good at oral presentations when I started my PhD (2009). I was nervous and thought that everyone could see straight through me and knew how out of my depth I was. I also felt tongue-tied when talking to my supervisors and could not clearly express what I wanted to say, so that they might be able to offer some helpful direction/advice. However, I have found over the years that as I have slowly mastered my subject I can now command an audiences' attention in oral presentations and converse easily with my supervisors. I don't feel as though I am wasting everyone's time, but rather, I feel I have something to say that is worth hearing. I am in my final year and now that the foundations for my argument are clear in my mind, my methodology is organised, and my thesis chapters framework is structured to support my central argument things are starting to flow.

My advice to you is:

1) Believe in yourself. You are at this point because you have proven you can do this.

2) Accept that this other woman doesn't like you. Not everyone is going to like you, or go out of their way to help you. But there are many that will. Find these people and build up your support base.

3) Embrace your working-class background. I do. For me it is a source of pride, strength and identity. Besides who would want to be a cookie-cutter academic/person. Your cultural heritage is what makes you unique. You say you have a broad accent, travel the world and you will realise just how much it doesn't matter. We all get judged, and we all judge others for whatever reasons, but please don't let what you think others think of you make you feel insecure. Claim your heritage/culture/accent and be all that you can be.

You are in the first six months or your candidature. I woud be amazed if you weren't feeling all of the things that you are.

As HazyJane said "Be gentle with yourself." And most of all know that you are not alone.

All The Best!

Hey,

Thank you so much for to your reply it was quite inspirational that there's a good chance I will improve. I have accepted that she just may not like me but it still gets under my skin when she tries to show me up. I'm just going to learnt to deal with it though. I've stayed off campus for a week and just been focusing on narrowing down my topic. I have a meeting with a researcher tomorrow who is looking a t a similar area within my field so i''m hoping I will be clearer tomorrow! I hope one day I can write about this experience in a positive manner for someone else:)

Yep, I agree that this is definitely something you can work on and improve :) and please don't worry about your accent - in academia, you will come across people from all over the world, and I can guarantee that most of them won't even notice you have an accent! Non-native English speakers generally can't distinguish between English regional accents (unless they find you very hard to understand!). I have been to conferences where every single speaker has an accent, whether that be non-English or a regional UK accent, so you won't stand out in the slightest.

Like anything, the more you practise, the better you will become, so stick at it and it will get easier. Even if you just present out loud to yourself at home, this will help you become more confident. Use flashcards to remind you of what you want to say about each slide if that helps, as it may stop your mind from going blank. I get very nervous about presenting, but I get told that this doesn't come across, as I work really hard at putting on a confident front even if I don't feel it. Smile, breathe, and take your time, and the rest should come naturally!

Hi Athena30,

I completely identify with your situation but I hope you take the excellent advice given above. Like yourself, I was (and still am) not confident with public speaking. And I was also from a working class background. What made things worse was my university was one of the 'old elites'- everyone doing a phd or the staff had studied either at Oxford or Cambridge.

I felt hopelessly out of my depth so I ended up working in isolation and got my phd without having that oral presentation practice. Now looking back, a lot of it was probably in my own head. I mean my supervisor was one of the best- and if a student is not good enough he will be brutally honest. But he never said anything because anything I lacked verbally I made up for it via my research and written work. And that is also important, remember.

The saddest thing is, my viva- which I had been dreading for years- went very well. My examiners were very impressed with my performance. So I regret not going to conferences and speaking and facing an irrational fear. You have the time and opportunity to tackle it! And besides, even though you feel as if you are poor at oral presentation, chances are that other academics won't even notice what you consider to be your flaws.