Every time I attend the MPSA / APSA conferences I am surprised by the level of scholarship discussed here. On other hand, the variance in the quality of the presentations themselves is equally surprising. Here are some random tips on both substance and format:

1. Do not  spend more than 2 slides or 3 minutes with your introductory / motivation / lit review slides. Your audience is specialized and they do not need you to repeat what “they already know”–they want to hear your empirical or theoretical contribution.  With only 15 minutes to deliver, why not cut to the chase? If a slide titled “My argument” or “my hypotheses” comes until minute 6 or so, it’s already too late: you probably lost my attention by making me think on everybody else’s findings.
2. For empirical papers, it’s better to start asap with your main hypotheses, perhaps discussing the extant literature around your specific research question. You can also mix the explanation of your data with some lit review (Y, X and Z variables matter because AA and BB say so, or X was relevant for sample period M but not for N).
3. For reasons that escape me, empirical papers avoid talking about summary statistics or data sources. How am I supposed to interpret your point estimates or marginal effects over  a baseline I am not aware of? Again, discussing summary stats is a great way of combining lit review with that great dataset of yours.  Continue reading →