Tips to Prepare PhD viva-voce Presentation Slides

Preparation of neat PhD viva-voce presentation slides and perfectly presenting them in the given time is very important for a PhD viva-voce examination as it going to give a good impression on both the research scholar and supervisor or mentor by the examiners or moderators.

Before designing the presentation slides, the scholar has to decide what to include and what not to include in the slides. It is always a big deal for a scholar to include all the research findings and data in the presentation that was obtained during the research program (4 to 5 years).

The scholar has to remember that the presentation should include only the major research findings and key contributions as time management is important. Therefore, iLovePhD framed simple and useful tips to prepare PhD viva-voce presentation slides in this article.

General Structure of the PhD Viva-Voce Presentation Slides

1. A title slide which includes Title, Supervisor name & affiliation, Scholar name, Date, and Venue
2. Presentation outline – Here you need to list your agenda
3. Introduction – Give a brief introduction about the background of your study. It may be of 2 to 3 slides.
4. Need for the Study – This is an important slide to convince the examiners and the audience to understand the importance of your study.
5. Problem Statement –This is also an important slide that should not be missed out. Problem statement should be of 4 to 5 lines indicating the purpose and intent of the research.
6. Objectives of the Study – List the key research objectives in a single slide and number them.
7. Methodology – Present the Methodology of your study with a neat flowchart. This may be of 1 to 2 slides.
8. Results and Discussion – This is the most important section in the PhD defense presentation.
9. Conclusion – Summarize the results and conclude the research outcomes with societal benefits.
10. Publication details – Present your publication details
11. References – List the relevant references.
12. Acknowledgment -Register your gratitude in the acknowledgment slide.
13. A Thank You slide

Sample PhD Viva-Voce Presentation Slides

The format of the presentation slides is presented below. This would give you an idea to prepare the slides.

Tips to prepare Ph.D. viva-voce presentation slides

1. Give a brief introduction about the background of your study. Always present the information in a bulleted manner rather than lengthy paragraphs. Don’t mess up the slide with too much information. Instead, you can give 4 to 5 key points in a slide.
2. Highlight the research gap or the existing limitations and then arrive at the need for the study. You can present the need for the study in the form of concept schematics, which makes the examiner and the audience understand it easily.
3. Present your problem statement clearly to establish the focus of your research.
4. List the key research objectives in a numbered manner ie., Objective 1, objective 2 like that. You know, it will be easy to follow.
5. Present the detailed methodology of your study with neat schematics or flowcharts to visually represent your research approach.
6. Discuss the important research findings and data presented in your thesis in a simple and bulleted manner. Don’t keep it as a paragraph in the slide rather you can present the findings with the help of graphs like bar charts, pie charts, etc. Always present your findings with scientific evidence.
7. Connect your findings with past relevant literature and emphasize the novelty of your research clearly. Also, highlight the key contributions of your study.
8. Use visual aids like schematics, graphs, and tables wherever necessary. Use real images to show your experimental set-up. Ensure the quality of the images are clear and readable.
9. Specify the experimental conditions at appropriate places.
10. Summarize the results of your research objectives and then conclude the research outcomes with societal benefits. It is very important to connect your research results with the societal benefits.
11. Use hyperlinks at appropriate places for presenting huge and important data like Datasets, experimental procedures, and important literature.
12. Check the flow and logical connectivity between each slide.
13. The last tip is to ensure that the flow of your presentation is in line with your thesis.

Bonus Tips to Prepare PhD viva-voce Presentation Slides

• Maintain uniformity in designing the slide, preferably, use a white background with any dark-colored font.
• Use legible font size and you can use Times New Roman or Arial font style.
• Don’t forget to put the slide number. At the end of your presentation, examiners raise questions by pointing to the slide number. So, including the slide number at the bottom of your slide is very important.
• Limit your presentation slides to 50 to 55 slides. It is expected to finish the presentation in 20 to 30 minutes. So, plan accordingly. Otherwise, you may have to speed up the presentation to finish it.
• Finally, double or triple-check your slides and practice several times before presenting them on your final day.

By following the above-said tips, you can prepare well-organized presentation slides for your PhD defense.

If any of you want the sample format of the presentation slides, you can write us to this email ID [email protected]. We will share the PPT for your reference.

Happy researching!

Also Read: Top 38 Possible PhD Viva Questions