Han 464 Lecture 6

• Have you ever been to an oral presentation that dealt with interesting science but could not pay attention?
• Good chance it is the speaker
• How can we make presentations better?

  Must be aware of the audience
• Almost everyone listens in the beginning
• Present message

  Make it clear the audience can't afford to miss the rest
• To get the message through

  State it at the beginning and end
• Better approach

  1. Divide your presentation into several parts, each ending with an intermediate conclusion

  2. Distracted people can always easily catch up with you

  3. Important items said many times
• Why does an audience get distracted?

  • Out of your control: Not enough sleep, Poor sound system, People walking by, Other noises
  • Within your control: Speaker error, Presentation error
• Common errors

  • The speaker lives in his own little world
  • Presentation structure, reasoning, unclear
  • Visual aids are confusing or unreadable
  • Too small, too crowded, etc
  • Too many too fast (one per minute is a good rule of thumb)
  • Long, complicated sentences and jargon
  • Avoid too many passive sentences
  • Speaker reads speech from paper
  • Monotonous sentences, bad pronunciation
  • Too fast or too slow
  • Turning back to the audience and watching the screen instead of visual contact
• How Fast?

  • Not too fast, even though this may allow all material to be covered in the time limit, it is not in the interest of the audience
  • As a rule of thumb, speaking at 150 words per minute is all right
  • Key ideas, complicated points, or concluding remarks are best presented at a slower pace
• Audience Involvement

  • Invite participation
  • If possible, design the presentation to be interactive with exercises or games
  • Helps raise attention, memorability of exercise messages, and active instead of passive learning
• Background information

  • Audiences love background information
  • Good for attendees not especially there for your subject
  • Give them the impression they will learn something
  • Up to 30% of your talk but not much more (unless your whole talk is a background talk)
• Organizing your presentation

  1. Introduction

  2. Description of problem

  3. Description of system, experimental methods

  4. Results

  5. Discussion

  6. Conclusion

  7. References

  8. Better method: split presentation into a presentation of many smaller problems, group together each sub-problem, sub-method, sub results, overall conclusions at the end
• Spelling and grammar should be proofed for mistakes, repeated words, and grammatical errors, especially if English is not your first language
• Ten steps to a successful presentation

  Start on time

  2. Collect background, related material, relevant conclusions

  3. Imagine the experience and what to consider as background

  4. Try to capture the message of your presentation in a single sentence

  5. Select results and order them

  6. Make a catchy or provocative statement, ask a scientific question in the opening and introduction

  7. Present a concise conclusion in relation to questions raised, repeat the take-home message in the conclusion and ending

  8. Design figures for impact, keep equations to a minimum

  9. Use everyday language, avoid jargon and acronyms

  10. Rehearse the presentation several times
• An often-heard, but poor start to a presentation is a long introduction with lots of details
• Lots of people do this, but it is inefficient
• Minor gridlines are unnecessary, font is too small, colors are illogical, title is missing, shading is distracting in graphs
• Use landscape format, large lettering, black on white or bright yellow on black/dark blue, avoid structured backgrounds and logos, use pictures and figures with titles and captions, avoid data in tables or text, use 8-12 lines per slide in 4-5 bullets, avoid complete sentences, use "headlines"
• Use everyday language, avoid jargon and acronyms, absolutely necessary to time the presentation, best to skip less important items in the middle, never compromise on the intro and conclusion
• Nervousness is normal, not a sign of being incapable, by following these ten steps you will avoid typical mistakes and give a significantly better-than-average presentation
• Don't repeat information already provided in the introduction, meticulously prepare the first five minutes and rehearse several times
• Don't overcrowd slides with pictures or use too many transition animations and sounds, use at least 18-point font, different sizes for main and secondary points, standard fonts like Times New Roman or Arial
• Use 1-2 slides per minute, write in point form not complete sentences, include 4-5 points per slide, avoid wordiness, show one point at a time
• Use a color font that contrasts sharply with the background, use color to reinforce the logic of your structure, but only use color to emphasize a point occasionally
• Set the theme


  Deliver the theme several times throughout the presentation
• Demonstrate Enthusiasm


  Show your passion for the project, inject your own personality
• Provide an Outline


  Outline the presentation, open and close each section, make clear transitions
• Make Numbers meaningful


  Put numbers in perspective, connect the dots for your listeners
• Try for an unforgettable moment


  Create a memorable moment that everyone will be talking about
• Create visual slides


  Use more graphics and visuals, less text and data
• Give em a show


  Include video clips, demonstrations, and guests, have ebbs and flows, themes and transitions
• Don't sweat the small stuff


  Don't get flustered over minor glitches, have fun
• Sell the benefit


  Promote the benefits, not just the features, clearly state the benefit
• Steve Jobs rehearsed the entire presentation aloud for many hours, a Steve Jobs presentation looks effortless because it is well-rehearsed