How to Make Good Talks Great


Beyond good graphs, big fonts, and a loud voice, what makes a merely good talk truly excellent? In this talk, Dr. Todd Thompson discusses some key elements of great seminars, lectures, and colloquia taken from his experience in astrophysics research and teaching. He presents strategies for improving technical seminars, job talks, and public outreach talks, including the art of responding to questions and the trick of knowing what not to say. This talk is applicable to many STEM fields and beyond.

You can download the Handout – How to Make Good Talks Great.

For more presentation resources, click here.

We have two recorded versions of this talk:

  • 2018 (voice recording from a live version)
  • 2020 (recorded Zoom meeting with Dr. Thompson and handout visible)

This event is part of the Postdoctoral Professional Development Certification. If you attend an in-person session, be sure to request the event on BuckeyeLearn. If you choose to listen to the recorded version of this talk, you request “How to Make Good Talks Great (online)” on BuckeyeLearn and email osupostdocs@osu.edu with confirmation of completion to receive credit.


About the Speaker:

Todd Thompson, Ph.D. (website)

Professor of Astronomy

College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University

Dr. Thompson received his Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Arizona in 2002. He was awarded a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship, which he took to the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He then spent two years as a Lyman Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University before joining the Department of Astronomy at The Ohio State University.