Design and Deliver Grad Studio

Whether you are giving a conference presentation, a job talk, or defending your dissertation, as a graduate student you need to be able to speak with authority and knowledge about your research area, respond to questions, and engage in scholarly debate.

Design and Deliver Grad Studio is designed to help Master's and PhD students develop their voices as independent scholars and give effective academic presentations with confidence.

What is Design and Deliver Grad Studio?

Welcome to Design & Deliver Grad studio, a workshop series that takes you through the process of planning and designing a spoken academic presentation. If you’re working on a specific presentation, we encourage you to attend all three: start by organizing your ideas in “Planning for and preparing presentations,” learn how to create engaging slides in “Slide Design,” and practice strategies for confidently answering questions in “Defending and Answering Questions.”

Each workshop will take place over 2.5 hours (with breaks) to build on each other and cover different elements of an effective academic presentation: planning out your messages, supporting your messages with engaging visual support, and answering questions about your work clearly and concisely. You are welcome to attend any workshop you feel is most relevant to you, but we encourage you to attend all three workshops so that you can learn about and plan for all three elements.

In all three workshops, you’ll be expected to brainstorm, plan, and discuss your own presentation, so it’s best to come with a specific presentation you're working on. If you don’t have a presentation coming up, come prepared to work on an academic presentation (such as a conference presentation or thesis defence) you’re likely to deliver.

Thursday, April 24, 2025 - Planning for and preparing presentations

Thursday, May 8, 2025 - Slide design

Thursday, May 22, 2025 - Defending and Answering Questions

Register for one or all three on Portal. If you aren’t able to attend but would still like to learn some concrete strategies for academic presentations, check out our asynchronous workshops, Design & Deliver I and II. Self-register for WCC Workshops on LEARN by following these instructions [https://uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-communication-centre/writing-and-communication-centre-workshops].

Learn more about each workshop below:

Workshop Descriptions

Part 1: Plan your Presentation

In this workshop, we’ll discuss what makes an effective presentation, help you organize the ideas in your presentation, and give you concrete strategies for delivering that information with confidence. This workshop works best if you have a specific presentation you’re planning, whether that’s a conference presentation, an oral defence, or a lab talk/seminar! Throughout this workshop, we'll ask you to brainstorm, outline, and practice short portions of your presentation with your peers.

If you’re just starting to think about an upcoming presentation or need to revise a presentation that just isn’t doing what you need it to do, take this workshop!

Part 2: Designing Slides

In this workshop, we’ll cover the basics of designing slides for academic presentations, introduce you to the Assertion-Evidence model, and give you some concrete strategies to help you make your slides engaging and useful for your audience. This workshop works best if you have slides you want to make or revise for a specific presentation and if you attended the first workshop, Plan your Presentation. Throughout this workshop, we’ll ask you to assess different slide design choices, sketch out some drafts of your own slides, and revise an existing slide to make it more engaging.

Take this workshop if you’d like to improve your slide design skills, so that you can create a slide deck that supports your presentation & keeps your audience engaged.

Part 3: Defending and Answering Questions

In this workshop, we’ll discuss the purpose of Q&As and defences, teach you how to prepare for questions from your audience and share strategies to ask and answer questions clearly. This workshop works best if you’re preparing for a presentation with a significant Q&A portion (like a defence). Throughout this workshop, we’ll ask you to think about your department’s defence culture, anticipate questions about your research, and practice asking and answering questions with your peers.

If you dread the Q&A portion of a presentation or defence, this workshop will help you feel more confident about giving your answers.

2024 - 2025 Dates

Design and Deliver Grad Studio workshops will take place on the following dates:

Thursday, April 24, 2025 - Planning for and preparing presentations
Thursday, May 8, 2025 - Slide design
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - Defending and Answering Questions