It’s a hard life being a research academic. I know – I spent 24 years doing it. You’ve got to get everything right: with one little mistake, the kind that no notices or cares about in the real world, your entire career can come tumbling down around your hears… worse, if you’re an engineer the bridge you designed can come tumbling down! :)
The result is (well, okay, there are other reasons for it as well!) that conference presentations are boring – because every tiny little detail has to be covered – everything that was part of the research is important and if it’s important you’re damned well going to talk about it, right?
Well that’s part of the problem – that’s one of the reasons most academics are shocking bad at presenting.
Hopefully this short vid might help a little. :)
