Feeling stuck with your presentation?
Working together with a public speaking & presentation design specialist can make all the difference.
I offer 1:1 collaborative zoom sessions for professionals in STEM, academia & similar professionals to help with their talks.
1,000+ individuals in STEM, academia, and evaluation have taken my professional development training online course, training workshop, or worked with me 1:1. My clients get standing ovations, academic job offers, book sales, rave reviews, and new speaking invitations.
Additional reviews and testimonials can be found in my LinkedIn profile.
Here are the presentations I can help with:
Dissertation defenses | Conference talks | Academic job talks | High stakes (Keynotes/Plenaries/Book Tours)
We’ll workshop your presentation together during a collaborative zoom
This is my signature “done with me” service.
During our session, I’m going to actively (re)design your presentation slides and/or edit/reorganize your script. I do the heavy lifting in terms of creativity and design, while you provide feedback in real time.
Want to see me redesign a few educational presentation slides?
This 10 minute makeover video shows some before/after redesigns. Every client is different, but we should have no problem doing something of this scope (and likely even more) during just one session together.
Dissertation Defenses
Congratulations on your upcoming dissertation defense (viva voce)!
You have worked so hard to get here, and I would love to help you with this significant milestone.
How I approach dissertation defenses:
We typically use a standard structure with an optional moment for acknowledgements and personal notes to the committee (unless you have specific instructions that say otherwise):
Introduction/literature review,
research questions/hypotheses,
method,
results,
discussion/implications/limitations
acknowledgements/personal notes to the committee
For many, the defense is a time for celebration as the final (ish) step in their program. Ideally, your chair would only approve of the defense if they feel strongly that you will pass. We don’t take risks with this one, as we want to make sure we check all the “boxes” so you can pass.
Still, it’s a nerve wracking experience and no one wants to deliver a dissertation that looks messy, unprofessional, or too boring (especially if people outside the committee are coming)! We want this to be an exciting, joyful, and memorable experience that you will look back upon warmly.
That’s why I recommend either a 90-minute session on Zoom, or a half day intensive for those who are extra burned out and feel like they can’t even think anymore 😅. Usually one of these two options is plenty to cover a standard dissertation defense.
Options for working with me on your dissertation defense:
90-min session
90-minutes of my review/design time before our session (I will review/edit your draft slide deck)
90-minutes together on Zoom
$600 for 3 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Already have a completed draft and just need a few tips to improve their slide designs or data visualizations
A half day intensive
60-minute prep session together on Zoom
4 hour intensive session together on Zoom
1 hour of my independent review or design time to be used before or after our session
$1,200 for 6 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Have a draft script (word for word what you want to say), but want me to quickly turn those into nice slides; or
Have a complete draft of the slide deck, but want an overhaul on the designs and data visualizations
Dr. Selameab was burned out and had a lot on her plate, but she needed to get her dissertation done, fast.
See what we accomplished in just one day.
Conference Talks
Let’s make a good impression with your upcoming conference talk.
Whether it’s your first conference or you’re a seasoned academic, conferences can be overwhelming and stressful.
How I approach conference talks:
We typically use a standard structure, which helps simplify things quite a bit for us:
Introduction/literature review,
research questions/hypotheses,
method,
results,
discussion/implications/limitations
Still, it’s a nerve wracking experience and no one wants to deliver a conference talk that ends with crickets. We want this to be a networking opportunity that helps get your name and work out there in the field.
That’s why I recommend either a 90-minute session on Zoom, or a half day intensive for those who are extra burned out and feel like they can’t even think anymore 😅. Usually one of these two options is plenty to cover a standard conference talk.
Options for working with me on your conference talk:
90-min session
90-minutes of my review/design time before our session (I will review/edit your draft slide deck)
90-minutes together on Zoom
$600 for 3 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Already have a completed draft and just need a few tips to improve their slide designs or data visualizations
A half day intensive
60-minute prep session together on Zoom
4 hour intensive session together on Zoom
1 hour of my independent review or design time to be used before or after our session
$1,200 for 6 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Have a draft script (word for word what you want to say), but want me to quickly turn those into nice slides; or
Have a complete draft of the slide deck, but want an overhaul on the designs and data visualizations
Academic Job Talks
Academic job talks are such a unique talk, that I’ve put together a special package just for them.
Learn more about the job talk escalator here:
High stakes: Keynotes/Plenaries/Book Tours
Let’s make your high stakes talk powerful, memorable, and convincing.
You have worked so hard to get here, and I would love to help you with this significant milestone.
How I approach high stakes talks:
We want to make something easy to follow, memorable, and impactful. So, we’ll need to go beyond the slide design and make sure the script itself (i.e., what you say) is on point. For that, we’ll need a core argument with clear supporting takeaways. It’s smart to spend extra time figuring out or refining:
The best structure for the talk
Your one big key point (argument) and 3-5 supporting takeaways (arguments)
The visual framework, model, or metaphor/analogy you have waiting in the details
Most clients find themselves so close to the material that they lose sight of the forest for the trees. I can help mine your ideas to find the plain language framework, core story, big idea, or model hidden inside. One of the most common things I hear from clients is how much they appreciate that I’m able to take their messy ideas and organize into something engaging and digestible for their audience.
That’s why I recommend we spend at least a few sessions together. High stakes presentations take time to get right
Options for working with me on your high stakes talk:
Find your framework x argument
90-minutes of my review/design time before our session (I will review/edit your draft slide deck)
90-minutes together on Zoom
$600 for 3 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Already have a completed draft and just need a few tips to improve their slide designs or data visualizations
A half day intensive
60-minute prep session together on Zoom
4 hour intensive session together on Zoom
1 hour of my independent review or design time to be used before or after our session
$1,200 for 6 hours of support
Perfect for those who:
Have a draft script (word for word what you want to say), but want me to quickly turn those into nice slides; or
Have a complete draft of the slide deck, but want an overhaul on the designs and data visualizations
Dr. Golash-Boza first completed Fail-Proof Slide Design and then reached out for 1-and-1 services to improve her keynote.
She already had a recording of her delivering the keynote, so we customized the service.
I spent the first “session” watching (independently) the recording and provided written feedback about the script/storyboard and delivery.
Then, we met 1-and-1 on Zoom to review the feedback and improve the visual slides of her keynote.
…Years later, Dr. Golash-Boza continues to receive compliments about her presentation design and organization!
Academic Job talks
My slide portfolio has more examples of of visually engaging presentation slides.
Client case study (Job Talk): Dr. Isabel García Valdivia
Dr. García Valdivia first completed my online professional development program and a 1-and-1 session as a graduate student.
She had been implementing her new presentation design skills for a while…
…Then, when it was time for her academic job talk, she reached out and we did four 1-and-1 sessions.
She did four campus visit interviews and received three offers!
“I had never received any guidance at all on how to make effective Powerpoint slides for presentations. Being on the job market, I had noticed how much of a difference it can make if your slides are clear and professional-looking, but I did not know where to start! My slides contained graphics that looked unprofessional, and too much text.
Echo made some radical changes to my material that made everything look much better. I used her improved slides to put together a job talk for an assistant professorship.
After my talk, one of the committee members told me my presentation looked very impressive, and several faculty members who were in the audience said the same. And it gets better: I was offered the job that Echo helped me create my presentation for!
Aside from this impact, and more importantly perhaps, Echo also gave me some guidelines as to what she counts as effective presentations, which gave me the confidence to improve other presentations as well. Thank you Echo! “
-Dr. Boukje Cnossen, Social Sciences
“I am an undergrad of the early-mid 90’s who stumbled into the world of Powerpoint without any formal instruction. I spent my clinical career inheriting mediocre slides from predecessors and colleagues, adding a few random pieces of clipart, and convincing myself that my slides were “good enough”. And then hoping that my decent oral presentation skills would just make up for my not-so-stellar visuals. Fast forward to my PhD program…I started giving research presentations and teaching…and this is where I really started to feel that my lack of effective and engaging visuals was affecting my confidence as a presenter and teacher. But, instead of taking action, I quickly brushed those feelings aside with all of the excuses…“too busy”, “too much work”, “too hard to learn”, etc. It took landing my first academic interview and job talk to really get honest with myself and admit that I needed help…and fast! Enter…Echo Rivera! I can’t begin to describe how relieved I was to find Echo and elicit her expertise, services, and patience to coach me through my job talk presentation. I am now a proud graduate of several of Echo’s programs as well as her 1:1 private coaching. Yes, I learned several critical skills to create effective presentations, but what means more to me than tangible skills is the confidence I gained as a presenter!”
Note: And she got the job offer!
-Amy Morel L’Horset, PhD RD CDCES Lecturer, Rutgers School of Health Professions
My goal is to do as much of the creative heavy lifting as possible…
…and to get you as far as I possibly can in our time together.
Every session is tailored to each individual client. Because no two people are the same, no 2 sessions look the same.
But here’s the process I follow with every client.
Needs assessment: Where your material is now vs where you want it to be.
We spend the first 5-10 minutes talking about your goals and the areas you struggle with the most.
I use this to assess our starting point, the end goal, and the steps needed to bridge the gap.
Progress map: Identify the 1-3 improvements we can make in our session.
I identify where I can do the most heavy lifting to help you get at least one step closer toward your goal during our session.
I check in with you about what I’m thinking, and we agree on how we will spend the rest of the session.
This is customized to each client based on their most urgent needs, current skill level, preferences, and interests.
Feedback looping: I edit, you give feedback, I adjust. Repeat.
As I make edits to your material, I explain why and what I’m doing while checking-in to get your immediate feedback.
Based on your feedback, I make additional edits or move onto the next item.
This creates an ongoing positive feedback loop.
You can also add 1 hour of my independent review & design time AFTER we meet.
This gives you even more support after our session is over. Most clients use this additional upgrade to get my feedback on their revisions.
Or, we could use that time for me to spend 1 additional hour on advanced designs that we brainstormed together during our session.
And that’s just what I do during the session.
Most sessions include additional prep time. That’s when I’ll spend extra time to review, edit, and redesign your material ahead of time.
Multi-session packages are available for those who need to work on their:
Keynote or plenary talk
Sales webinars (funnel webinar presentation) or videos
Academic job talk or teaching demo
(If you’re new to me and we haven’t worked together before, you are more than welcome to book a single session first.
I offer a 45-min kickstart/sample session, and if you upgrade to a full package within 30 days of that, you’ll get full credit for the kickstart session 🙌
Ready to work together?
Book your first session now!
…or…have a question first?
Send me a quick email using this form.