A Presentation on Presentations

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A Presentation on Presentations CS 6 Summer
2006 Jill A. Brady Computer Science
Engineering DepartmentUniversity of California -
RiversideRiverside,CA 92521bradyj_at_cs.ucr.edu Mo
dified from the notes of Edward R. Tufte, Craig
S. Kaplan, Eamonn Keogh, Patrick Winston, and
others
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Outline

• Motivation for Presentations
• Planning the Presentation
• Creating the Presentation
• Giving the Presentation
• Conclusion

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Motivation for Presentations

• You will be giving presentations for the rest of
  your life.
• In college
• To get hired
• To get a promotion
• As a representative of your company

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Motivation for Presentations

• A poor presentation can cost you
• Your grade
• Your job
• Your salary
• An important client . . .

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Motivation for Presentations

• A good presentation requires organization and
  preparation more than anything else.
• Anyone can learn, and everyone should!
• Today is the day.

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Outline

• Motivation for Presentations
• Planning the Presentation
• Creating the Presentation
• Giving the Presentation
• Conclusion

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Planning the Presentation

• Presentation as a meal
• Hosts welcome
• Menu
• Hors doeuvres
• Entrée
• Dessert

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Planning the Presentation

• Hosts welcome
• Always have a title slide!
• Presentation title
• Your name
• Company or School Affiliation Address
• Date of the presentation

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Planning the Presentation

• Menu
• Outline the presentation
• Audiences want a roadmap.
• provides proof of destination, ability to get
  there.

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Planning the Presentation

• Hors doeuvres
• Dangle the Carrot
• Purpose / motivation of the speech
• What you will prove by the end
• Show enthusiasm for your work!

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Planning the Presentation

• Entrée
• The idea, in more detail
• Background knowledge, if needed.
• Your efforts
• What you created, even if it is a concept
  instead of a product
• Supporting experiments or research
• Proof you are sane and rational
• Results

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Planning the Presentation

• Dessert
• The conclusion
• Restate the main points
• Restate results/conclusion in one sentence.
• This is the sentence you want them to remember!
• Make it clean, short, and strong.

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Planning the Presentation

• The questions / thank you slide
• Any Questions? at the top
• Thank sources, funding parties, etc. at the
  bottom.
• Gives a clean finish.

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Outline

• Motivation for Presentations
• Planning the Presentation
• Creating the Presentation
• Giving the Presentation
• Conclusion

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Creating the Presentation

• Start with a clean slate
• Simple backgrounds (if any!)
• No patterns
• Strongest contrast color for text

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Creating the Presentation

• Use large fonts Small fonts are hard to read.
• Use highly contrasting colors.
• Avoid red and green, they can be hard to see.
• DONT USE ALL CAPS.
• Use color in any graphs, include a key

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Creating the Presentation

• Be balanced with graphics.
• Does this graphic add meaning, or just distract
  the audience?
• Never post a table of numbers, always use a graph
  or chart.

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Creating the Presentation

• Find new graphics.
• Do not use built-in clipart. Weve seen it.
• images.google.com
• A picture is worth a thousand words, but not if
  its blurry. Avoid bitmaps (bmp). Go large.
• Projected colors differ from monitor colors.

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Creating the Presentation

• No Media!
• Do not use music or video. It wont work.
• Use transition effects with great care.
• Nothing should blink, spin, bounce, or move.

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Creating the Presentation

• Be Terse
• The sales forecasts show an increase on the very
  near horizon.
• vs
• Sales heading up.
• Remove words everywhere. Outline only.
• 5 bullets or 1 main point per slide, max.

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Creating the Presentation

• Ordered Lists Use numbers.
• Outline of our method
• Design
• Implementation
• Testing
• Unordered Lists Use bullets.
• Goals
• Ease of use
• Reusability
• Reliability

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Outline

• Motivation for Presentations
• Planning the Presentation
• Creating the Presentation
• Giving the Presentation
• Conclusion

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Giving the Presentation

• Practice
• In front of a mirror
• In front of friends
• In front of a clock! Do NOT go over time.
• At the presentation site.
• Prepared confident.

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Giving the Presentation

• Show up early
• Get off the Internet
• If it is your laptop. No update now messages
  or incoming email to break the mood.
• Be careful of desktop images be professional.

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Giving the Presentation

• Use title page to gain attention, start lecture.
• Always introduce yourself.
• Be full of energy, its now or never!

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Giving the Presentation

• Do
• Speak loudly, clearly, slowly.
• Make eye contact.
• Move around the room.
• Point to important areas on the slides.
• Take deep breaths.
• Memorize key sentences.

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Giving the Presentation

• Dont
• Read off your slides!
• Apologize. Nobody notices your mistakes until
  you point them out.
• Rapid-tag-team a partnered presentation.
  Minimize disruptive switching.

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Giving the Presentation

• Dont
• Begin every sentence with the same word.
• Use pause words like um, and, so.
• Stand in one place.
• Keep hands in pockets.
• Talk to the floor.
• Talk to the screen.

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Giving the Presentation

• More annoying nervous habits
• Playing with jewelry
• Licking and/or biting your lips
• Constantly adjusting your glasses
• Popping the top of a pen
• Playing with facial hair (men)
• Playing with/twirling your hair (women)
• Jingling change in your pocket
• Leaning against anything for support

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Giving the Presentation

• On pointers
• Some like them, some dont.
• Required for pointing to graphs on large screens.
• If you use one
• Turn it off when not actively pointing at
  something.
• Point at target, then turn on.
• Dont circle things rapidly.
• Dont point at the obvious.

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Giving the Presentation

• Running behind?
• Be aware of time so this doesnt happen.
• Pick up the pace a little if early on.
• Skim or skip unimportant slides/sections.
• Leave time for a good solid conclusion.
• Leave time for questions.

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Giving the Presentation

• Giving the Conclusion
• End strongly. Get a little louder, change pitch.
  
• Ask for questions and be open to getting them.
• Difficult questions or difficult people
• Suggest finishing the discussion together after
  the presentation.
• Admit any mistakes or issues with grace.
• You can disagree, but dont protest.

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Outline

• Motivation for Presentations
• Planning the Presentation
• Creating the Presentation
• Giving the Presentation
• Conclusion

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Conclusion

• We have discussed presentation organization and
  creation, with emphasis on simplicity and
  clarity.
• We have also discussed giving the presentation,
  including common mistakes and quirks.

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Conclusion

• We have seen that its not charisma or charm, but
  careful planning and practice that make the
  difference.
• In conclusion, I must reemphasize the importance
  of presentation skills for both your immediate
  and long term success. Embrace any opportunity
  to practice.

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Conclusion

• Any questions?
• Thank you to Dr. Eamonn Keogh and Patrick Winston
  for resources used in this presentation.