This was the topic of Wednesday's workshop "Presenting research to a non-specialist audience in an exciting and confident manner".

While presentations at specialist conferences are all about content, content and more content, it's a completely different story with non-specialist audiences. As a scientist, I cannot assume that politicians or business representatives understand basic technical terms such as "audit" or "sector coupling". Even less that they are interested in derivations, calculations or diagrams. And it is precisely this audience that is often interested in the possibility of attracting funding, arousing interest in their own research topics and drawing attention to their importance. This is where we want to start with Saxony5^{as a} project for knowledge transfer and support scientists.

Last Wednesday, the participants learned how to stop the audience from slowly dozing off after the third sentence or turning their attention to their smartphones.

Over the course of six hours, trainer Anna Strittmatter taught them how to use small and big tricks to make their presentations stand out and be remembered. In two rounds, all participants were recorded on camera and then analyzed. It's not easy to watch yourself giving a presentation. But immensely helpful.

Incidentally, Ms. Strittmatter is a living example of how to present well. She makes it look easy and captivates the listener. It is no coincidence that she is a long-standing lecturer and visiting professor for speech training at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, a freelance media trainer for the Protestant Media Academy and a lecturer for speech training at the Babelsberg Film University.

We had the feeling that both the inexperienced presentation novice and the experienced speaker received individual and helpful tips from her and were able to improve quickly.

As the feedback from the participants was consistently positive, the Saxony5 project team is planning to offer^this event again this year for interested young academics, curious presentation professionals and total newcomers. All are very welcome.

Text: Martin Kunack