Presentation Guidelines

Last four class days devoted to student presentations Approx. 20 minutes (15+5) each Grade: comments from me, comments from peers This class: Some basic guidelines on presentation technique

Know Your Audience

First and most important rule: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Different audiences need different types of talks

Fellow experts Technical jargon OK, Details good Briefing for Colleagues Some jargon OK, less detailed General Audience Minimal jargon, Big Picture only

Know what style is appropriate for your intended audience

Know Your Point

Make sure you know what you want the audience to take away 1-2 main ideas per talk Everything must come back to main points

Tell A Story
Organization is key

Beginning, Middle, End

Clear and Logical Flow Keep audience informed

Try to streamline presentation so each step is obvious For very complicated material, outline/ summary breaks

Limit Your Material

Rule of thumb: 1 slide per minute MAXIMUM

Lecture notes: Typically ~20 slides for 65 minute class

50-minute Research Talk: 26 slides 50-minute Social Media Talk: 32 slides 50-minute Public Lecture: 39 slides

(Very image-heavy)
In-class presentations: No more than 20 slides

Slide Design
1) Text Is Death The deplorable practice of putting huge blocks of text on a slide and then reading every single word to the audience probably accounts for half of the problems people have with PowerPoint. Most people in the audience will be able to read the text faster than you can say it out loud. Those who cant will be so busy reading it that theyll tend to miss what youre saying.

Keep words on slides to a minimum

This goes double for math/equations

Slide Design
1) Text Is Death

2) Use high-contrast fonts and colors

Certain colors of text are nearly invisible on some backgrounds Be aware of/ sensitive to visual impairments, like colorblindness

Dont use

complicated fonts or

tiny little text

8.5x11 printout should be readable from ~10 feet

Slide Design
1) Text Is Death

2) Use high-contrast fonts and colors

3) Keep Background Images Simple

Complicated background images make text disappear

Use solid colors, or simple patterns

Slide Design
1) Text Is Death

2) Use high-contrast fonts and colors

3) Keep Background Images Simple 4) Use animation sparingly Sure you can use a different transition every time but its incredibly irritating

Know What to Say, When

Reading pre-written text is deadly dull Too much text on slides is bad Need to seem improvised while being prepared 0) PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE 1) Provide clear (but subtle) prompts on slides 2) Use Presenter Mode when available

If It Works, Its Good

These are suggestions, not absolute rules Its possible to give a talk that breaks some or all of these

The only solid rule of publishing is: If it works, its good. -- Teresa Nielsen Hayden