With increasing emphasis on converting funding into high-‘impact’ research, dissemination of cutting-edge scientific results to a general audience is becoming ever more important. Yet, public engagement is not something one can easily do ‘on the side;’ effective communication with a general audience requires careful planning and an awareness of audience perception. Here we focus on techniques that are useful in the context of giving oral presentations. We provide a concise set of 10 practical recommendations and specifically address techniques to get your message across to a lay audience.