CS110 Personal Computing CREATING AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION Why do we do a presentation? To persuade or the communicate Steps Planning Clarify your subject Identify your audience Preparing Gathering materials Laying out the sequence Create the presentation CS110 Personal Computing 1
Planning Type of talk Audience composition Time allotted for talk Expectations for information content Type of talk The type of talk you will be expected to give Informal chat Seminar discussion Formal presentation Different talks have different purposes What is the intent of the talk? Argumentative or analytical? Audience composition General audience or specialists? How many people are expected to attend? Will they be friendly? Hostile? Will they be interactive? Is there a specific purpose for having you give a talk? Clarify the expectations beforehand Plan to address them during the presentation. What are you delivering? Novel concepts? Building upon their prior knowledge? Make sure you cover the basics clearly and early in the talk CS110 Personal Computing 2
Time allotted for the talk Match your time to the talk Too little, everyone thinks you were unprepared Too long, everyone thinks you can t plan The longer the talk, the more freedom you will have to explore the topic Short talks need to be very clear and to address the topic directly Is question time included? Content expectations What is your purpose for the talk? What are you delivering? will you be presenting novel concepts to this audience, or building upon their prior knowledge? make sure you cover the basics clearly, and early in the talk, to avoid loosing the audience. Define your intent early it s the key to the rest of the presentation Preparation Identify the materials you are going to need Create a thesis statement Sequencing Prepare for questions Identify your visual aids CS110 Personal Computing 3
Identify the materials Start far in advance Think through what needs to be said Don t be limited to normal material Collect material which may relate to the topic from unusual sources, and sleep on these ideas. The final product will be more fully-developed and interesting. Create a thesis statement Identify a clear statement of the problem Why is it important? What is your intent? Develop this theme into one jargon-free sentence Catch the attention of the audience Keep it clear and concise Sequencing Identify the issues you plan to address Brainstorm, then trim Lay the issues out in a logical sequence Important issues first, audience retention fades Identify transitions How are you going to get from one topic to the next? Run through the sequence in your head Does it flow? Is the sequence correct? Repeat, rinse CS110 Personal Computing 4
Preparing for questions Attempt to identify problems or questions the audience may have Insert answers in the talk Have answers prepared Identify your shortcomings Be prepared to discuss why they exist Time, resources, etc. What are people going to remember if you screw up the question? Visual Aids Charts, graphs, pictures, videos Size the materials appropriately Tiny little pictures add nothing Keep them simple and clear Slide times are short Make sure they are consistent with your message What s the message? CS110 Personal Computing 5
Bad charting.. What was wrong? A completely irrelevant map of the world. Two entirely different kinds of 3-D charts displayed at two different perspectives. Country names are repeated three times. To display 24 numeric data points, 28 numbers are used to define the scales. The countries are sorted in no apparent order (not even alphabetically). Note the use of the letter " I " to separate the countries on the bottom chart. Avoid complex tables CS110 Personal Computing 6
Graphs may work better Create the presentation Tell them what you are going to tell them Tell them Tell them what you told them Opening, Body, Summary, Closing Opening Sets the stage for what is to follow. Participants are introduced Purpose of the presentation is stated. Present a VERY BRIEF summary or outline of the points to be covered. Sets the stage Keeps your audience oriented properly Helps them understand what is coming CS110 Personal Computing 7
Body This is the part of the script in which the bulk of the subject matter is presented. The body of a long presentation should be separated into smaller, easily assimilated modules. Each module or sub-section should make a single point or convey one idea. These sub-sections should each have their own simple opening, body and summary. Summary This portion should be very brief and simple. Chance to reinforce the central theme Ties it back to the thesis Briefly emphasize the key points You ve already explained them Just driving the points into their memory Closing Points raised during the question and answer session (if any) are summarized Handout material that was not required during the presentation is distributed. Handout material which emphasizes each key point or idea permits your audience to review the subject and assures that your words will remain fresh in their minds. Handout material should not be distributed before a presentation unless it is critical to the theme since it invariably leads to audience distraction. CS110 Personal Computing 8
What should the slides look like? Lots of white space Adhere to the 666 rule No more than 6 words per bullet No more than 6 bullets per slide No more than 6 word slides in a row Follow a few basic rules Be careful of color Don t be afraid of pictures. Gender Equality in Japan According to the labor reports from the Japanese Ministry of Labor, 72% of the part time workers in Japan are women. The number of part time workers has been steadily increasing over the last several years. For many women, full-time employment is not available or their family obligations make it impossible for them to keep full time hours. 72% of the part time workers in Japan are women. CS110 Personal Computing 9
72% Keep it simple Use animations and slide transitions judiciously. Bullet points should not be animated on every slide. Stick to the most subtle and professional Listeners will get bored very quickly if they are asked to endure slide after slide of animation. For transitions Use no more than two-three different types of transition effects Do not place transition effects between all slides. A couple of simple rules Slides should have short titles. A long title shows something is wrong. Use uniform capitalization rules. All the text on one slide should have the same structure (e.g. complete phrases, idea only, etc.). Put very little text on a slide; avoid text completely if you can. Put no more than one idea per slide (i.e. all bullets should refer to the same thing). If you have lots of text, people will read it faster than you talk, and will not pay attention to what you say. CS110 Personal Computing 10
A couple of simple rules Don't use small fonts Use very few formulas one per presentation if possible The same goes for program code at most one code fragment per presentation Spell-check. A spelling mistake is an attetin mgnet. Do not put useless graphics on each slide Logos, grids, affiliations, etc. A couple of simple rules Avoid overuse of pronouns An iterator and a summation is necessary for the formula. It runs from 1 to N Make sure your terminology is consistent If you use subscripts, keep them unique If you use abbreviations, keep them constant Minimize switching between programs Colors Each color should identify a concept Do not change colors without a reason Be careful of using colors as a differentiator 5 percent to 8 percent of men have some form of color blindness, red-green being the most common. Similar colors may interact differently a slight variation can change the tone or feel of the information. CS110 Personal Computing 11
Sound and video Be sure it reinforces your main theme Local files only Disaster when the link goes down Use sparingly Test, test, test References 1. http://www.kumc.edu/sah/oted/jradel/preparing_talks/103.html 2. http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/pos138/datadisplay/badchart.htm 3. http://www.wefeelfine.org/movements.html 4. http://www.theegglestongroup.com/writing/keystep1.php 5. http://www.garrreynolds.com/presentation/slides.html 6. http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/powerpoint-help/choose-the-rightcolors-for-your-powerpoint-presentation-ha001012072.aspx 7. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mihaib/presentation-rules.html CS110 Personal Computing 12