First impressions last forever, with keeping this in mind you should look confident and free of stress or anxiety when you start your thesis defense. Being simple and precise is the key to a successful presentation of your work. When you present your work you will be like an actor who has a certain role with a precise script that he must follow and improvise only in very limited occasions. In order to gain confidence and create good impressions to the discussion committee, here are few advices:
1. Don’t read from a paper Even if you have to speak your colloquial language do it in a regulated manner, read from a paper only in few occasions, such as reading your research questions or hypothesis and other technical terms that must be read according to scientific regulations. Tell the committee about your research and its problem, as if you were telling a story with a gap or dilemma that needed your intervention, which you must convince them of its importance in changing an existing situation by treating the research problem or improving the aspects and variables of your study. So, Read few times, reduce the texts on the display screen, and use drawings and shapes in a well planned manner.
2. Ask questions frequently Asking questions is one of the best ways to look smarter. Asking questions always has a good effect on people from different backgrounds as long as your question comes in the right time and in a fruitful beneficial way to the discussion. Asking a question at a certain time indicates that you are interested and smart enough to think and rethink about what you are listening to. It gives the impression that you are confident, a good listener of what is said and you have the desire to present and learn new information. Even if you have a large audience in the discussion room, do not be afraid to use this technique. Remember that no one understand your research topic better than you so do not hesitate to ask questions even to the discussion committee to clarify or inquire about certain information.
3. Master the technical terms If you want to look smarter you need to develop and master your technical vocabulary. You must master the correct pronunciation and avoid spelling and grammatical errors even when speaking, not just writing. Before the discussion, you should prepare and practice the terms in your native language. Do not hesitate to ask the question “Sorry what do you mean?” But do not use that frequently, especially if the term is preliminary, intuitive, or basic in your field of specialization. Remember that using a single term incorrectly that will make the whole sentence wrong or not meaningful and will give the impression that you are careless or incompetent person or even who has made little effort to pick the right terms.
4. Master the standup but not comedy Certainly, you have once seen one of the artists performing the standup, the most needed skill is to be attentive and able to choose interesting life examples to clarify his ideas in an interactive way with the audience. Similarly, using your general knowledge will be useful in the discussion situation when you use artistic, cinematic, industrial examples related to your topic of specialization as it reveals your creativity as long as you use this technique properly. Remember, using these types of interactive examples creates an atmosphere of comfort for you and the listener and make your discussion more enjoyable and less boring.
5. Develop general knowledge As you noticed in the previous point, developing your general knowledge along with preparing your for master’s or doctorate studies will inevitably have an impact on your personality and the methods used in discussion. Therefore, read newspapers, science and fiction books, watch documentaries and follow daily news will enhance weigh your personality, language, and culture.
It will be completed soon!