oral presentations made easy

How to put an audience to sleep

Oral Presentations Made Easy

How to put an audience to sleep in five minutes

or

W. HallettDept. of Mechanical Engineering

University of Ottawa


1. Organization/Preparation

Outline:IntroductionMain body (divide into topics)ConclusionsAcknowledgements

- develop outline in terms of slides



Selection of material:- concentrate on important points (learningobjectives!), avoid minor details

- more content � more learning

- graphs or data - give representative samples- each graph must have a purpose

- equations - essential ones only- avoid derivations



Amount of material:- average 1 - 2 slides . 1 minute, longer for

slides requiring more discussion - to shorten presentation, prioritize topics

and slides, delete or combine lowerpriority ones

Plan slides so that they can also be yournotes for speaking.

You should be able to speak without hand-held notes


2. Graphics

Layout:- uncluttered- max. 12 lines or pieces of information per slide6 minimum font . 24 pt.

- put a title on each slide- number titles to indicate organization of talk

- leave some blank space between sections ormajor points, figures, etc.

40 pt. title

32 pt. text

heading

blank space


Font:- plain Roman or Gothic (e.g. Arial)- use lower case:

CAPITALS ARE HARDER TO READ

- letter size $ 6% of slide size, thickness $ 1/6 of letter height

- avoid bizarre fonts - you maythink they look cool, but youraudience won’t!

2. Graphics


2. Graphics

0.02

0.04

0.06

0 100 200 300 400 molecular mass

alcohol

acid

aldehyde

Graph imported directly from Quattro or Excel:

Can youdistinguishthese colours?

How fast canyou read legendand graph?

(do you liketwisting yourneck?)


2. Graphics

0.02

0.04

0.06

0 100 200 300 400 molecular mass

alcohols acids

aldehydes

thermalconductivity

W/mK

label curves directly -no legendall titles horizontal

smaller font - 24 pt.

(take out gridlines)

paraffins(linesthicker)


2. Graphics

Graph conventions:- measured data = points (Q, O, L, �, �, etc.)

- exception: trace produced by continuouslyrecording instrument (e.g. tensile test)

- theory or calculations = lines or curves, not points(unless they are really only single points)

- do not connect measured points by lines- if curves are drawn to show trends (use only ifnecessary) they should not join all the points


2. Graphics

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 10 20 30 40 50 radius (mm)

exp’t - takeout lines

Graph imported directly from Quattro or Excel:

theory - don’tshow points


2. GraphicsGraph cleaned up for presentation:

0

20

40

60

0 10 20 30 40 50 radius (mm)

theory

measurementstake out gridlines - but leave tickson axes

measurements -points only

line only

title horizontal

always give UNITS

velocity(m/s)


Experimental Apparatusexhaust

plenum and gratecan be lowered to

sample bed

secondary air jets (8)

gas sampling probe

fuelbed

flow straightener

thermocouples (TypeB, ceramic coated)

primary air

gaschromato-graph

grate

refractory


2. Graphics

Problem slide: the microscopic fuzzy JPEGdownloaded from the web - re-draw or omit.

- credit source of figures copied from othersas you would in a written report

Source: garbage JPEG from Hallett (2004) Source: Mechanical Engineering


2. Graphics

x 2x + 2 x^2 f(x)

A 1 4 1 1

B 2 6 4 3

C 3 8 9 7

D 4 10 16 13

E 5 12 25 21

Title of TableTables

- use tables only if you must - keep simple- can easily become too much information


2. Graphics

Equations- use the minimum number of equations

necessary to make your points

- use adequate font size- use proper equation editor and notation- no “spreadsheet” equations

(e.g. y = 2x^2 + a/b*x)

- define any variables that are not likely to befamiliar to your audience (this takes space -don’t use more equations than necessary!)


Pyrolysis Model

Solid-phase conservation equation for mass fractionYW of unpyrolyzed wood:

Gas-phase transport equation for tar:

Notation: YT = tar mass fraction, DT eff = tar diffusivityrT = tar reaction rate, g = void fraction

blank space


2. GraphicsColours: - avoid combinations with low contrast. - avoid red on green (colour-blindness)- avoid fluorescents

Bad choice - low contrast.

Good contrast - easily readable

Red on green - can you read this?

Fluorescents are hard on the eyes


2. Graphics

Animation -avoid unless essential tomake your point

otherwise it is just a silly gimmick

that wastes time and makesyour audience doubt your sanity

or want to stuff you intoyour CD drive


2. Graphics

Test for Slides:All slides should be readable from a

distance from the computer screen of 6times the screen diagonal (2 - 3 m)

Plan your slides so that they can also beyour notes for speaking


3. Delivery

- speak loudly, clearly, slowly- make eye contact with audience- don’t stand in front of the screen

- if possible, speak without notes, usingslides as outline/guide, but don'tmemorize your talk

- don’t read your slides

- introduce each graph and figure ( “thisgraph shows v plotted against time...”)


3. Delivery

- if possible, try out room and equipmentbeforehand

- show interest and enthusiasm!- acknowledge other contributors

Questions- be polite, brief, to the point- don’t get into arguments- be honest - if you don’t know something,

don’t stonewall

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