Presenting Research Online

If we want our research to make a difference in the field and an impact in the bigger world, writing and publishing are not enough. We need to get out and talk about our work, what it means, and how it can be used. Conferences and professional or academic gatherings are places where researchers present their ideas and findings. In our connected world, these events increasingly occur online.

Do you plan to present research online? Will you offer a webinar or Internet conference presentation? If you simply upload a set of slides and talk, you might be disappointed to discover that your audience will disappear. While you were rambling on and reading detailed bullet points from your slides, they have drifted away to social media or are checking their email. Online attendees don't have to worry about incurring awkward stares when they stand up and walk out in the middle of a presentation-- they simply click the x at the corner of the screen and vanish.

What can we do to engage online audiences? This guide offers suggestions to help you consider five inter-related areas of an online presentation: purpose, content, attendees, process, and technology.

Find more resources on SAGE Research Methods

Discover books, chapters, articles, cases, and videos about presenting your research in this curated SAGE Research Methods Reading List viewable below.

If you do not have access through your library, explore SAGE Research Methods with a free trial.  (See A Primer on Getting the Most out of SAGE Research Methods to learn mode about how to navigate SRM and use Reading Lists.)

Also see:15 Tips for engaging conference presentations on the Textbook and Academic Authors Association blog, Abstract.