Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations

Rule 10: Provide Appropriate Acknowledgments

People love to be acknowledged for their contributions. Having many gratuitous acknowledgments degrades the people who actually contributed. If you defy Rule 7, then you will not be able to recognize people and organizations appropriately, as you will run out of time. It is often appropriate to acknowledge people at the beginning or the point of their contribution so that their contributions are very clear. As a final word of caution, we have found that even in following the Ten Simple Rules (or perhaps thinking we are following them), the outcome of a presentation is not always guaranteed. Audience–presenter dynamics are hard to predict even though the metric of depth and intensity of questions and offline follow-up provide excellent indicators. Sometimes, you are sure a presentation will go well, and afterward, you feel it did not go well. Other times, you dread what the audience will think, and you come away pleased as punch. Such is life. As always, we welcome your comments on these Ten Simple Rules by Reader Response.