Presentation Do’s & Don’ts

Presentations are everywhere

In your academic career Part of most curricula SE students, in particular, are expected to make

presentations in several courses

In your professional career Integral part of professional communication Important if you are an employee, absolutely critical

if you are self-employed

In your personal life Part of most organized activities

Presentation qualities

Targeted audience. Have you defined your audience? Background? Motivation?

Clarity. How clear is the presentation to an audience member?

Learnability. Can an audience member grasp the basics of your topic from the presentation?

Memorability. Will an audience member remember some key points of the presentation?

Knowledge transference. Can an audience member apply an aspect of your presentation?

What we’ll discuss

Planning your presentation What to do before you begin filling in PowerPoint

slides Designing your presentation

Style and good practice guidelines Logistics and preparation

Debugging your presentation and your knowledge Delivering your presentation

What to do before, while, and after you present Goal: To help you achieve your targeted

presentation qualities

What we won’t discuss

Structuring your presentation Determined by presentation forum conventions

and/or requirements

Comprehensive mechanics of building a PowerPoint presentation University provides classes in using MS Office tools

Specific language usage

Planning Your Presentation

Telling your story

A presentation is not a monologue, it is a conversation between you and the audience

Although you do most of the talking, your audience is constantly giving you feedback

Any topic whatsoever can be presented in an interesting, engaging manner Tip: Listen to Garrison Keillor (A Prairie Home

Companion)

Try starting out by describing your work to a (willing) relative, friend, or colleague

Type of presentation dictates its style

Lecture Length: 1.5 to 3 hours Detail level: Very high. Reference material for class Audience: Specified prerequisite knowledge;

motivated Conference presentation

Length: 15-30 minutes Detail level: High. Focused on a single topic Audience: Most will be knowledgeable in the field;

motivated SE Research Seminar: Very close to conference

presentation

Know your topic well!

Your topic is not limited to what is contained in your presentation

Audience is free to ask any question related to any aspect of your work Review every idea, concept, or statement critically

from every angle Be prepared to answer any related question

Friends or colleagues—technical or otherwise—can be a great help Feedback on presentation qualities Presentation timing

Presenter’s tools

Storyboards Date from the early filmmaking days Use Post-It® notes to sketch out your slide ideas Use a blank wall or whiteboard to work out

sequencing

PowerPoint tools Outliner. Excellent tool for capturing your stream-of-

conscience thoughts quickly Slide tray. Provides a birds-eye view of your

presentation and allows easy editing: insertion, deletion, and rearrangement

Designing Your Presentation

Basic formatting guidelines

Cardinal rule: Keep it simple Choose a simple background. Complicated

backgrounds compete with your material In a well-lit room, use dark type on a light

background In a darkened room, use light type on a dark

background Include:

Number continuation slides in the title; e.g. (1/3) Section footer to help maintain location Running page number to help pacing Use 8 pt. font to minimize intrusion

Getting your information across

Give each slide a short, meaningful title Limit bullet items to three lines of text Follow up rules and definitions with an example Spell out acronyms the first time they are used

Example: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), is located at…. The MCA houses…

If you can illustrate a concept with a figure, do so

Turn off the slide background to gain more slide real estate, if needed

Maurizio Cattelan (1/2)

Maurizio Cattelan was born in Padua, Italy, in 1960. He did not attend art school but taught himself. He has had numerous group and individual exhibitions, both in Europe and in the U.S., beginning with an exhibition entitled ‘Strategie’ in Genoa in 1990.

Felix is a twenty-six foot high and twenty-six foot long reproduction of domestic cat skeleton inspired by Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Field Museum in Chicago. Felix transforms an ordinary household pet into an ominous, threatening presence.

Information adapted from MCA and eyestorm™ sources.

Maurizio Cattelan (2/2)

Felix at the MCA Twenty-six feet high, twenty-six

feet long Inspired by Sue, the

Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Field Museum

Transforms a household pet into an ominous, threatening presence

The Artist Born in Padua, 1960 Self-taught First exhibition: ‘Strategie’,

Genoa, 1990

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Handling source code

Don’t display large amounts of source code! Use code snippets in a different font to illustrate important

ideas: ListIterator listIterator = listItems.listIterator(); while ( listIterator.hasNext() ) {

…Tasks performed on elements of listItems…

}

IMPORTANT! Always walk the audience through each step of the code

Use callouts like this to highlight important

items.

Technology for DL students

DL students need to provide some sort of narration with their presentations.

The simplest approach is to record a sound directly into the presentation like this:

Another option is to use Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint to record a synchronized audio/slide presentation Sample at my faculty Web site (requires IE 5.0+) Producer available free at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint/producer/prodinfo/default.mspx

Presentation length

Don’t overload the audience with information:

More slides more information How many slides?

Depends upon information density of slides and presentation style

Higher information density = fewer slides

My rules of thumb: About 10-15 content slides per hour for lectures About twice that for conference presentations

Determine your own rates through practice

Keys to Being Well-Prepared

Practice, practice, practice

Practice your presentation at least twice before your scheduled delivery date

A lunch bunch with fellow students or colleagues is an ideal practice setting

During practice: Take it seriously: do the presentation for real! Be open to criticism and suggestions Take notes and make revisions as soon as possible Have someone record time spent on each slide

Advance logistics

Create a time-based checklist: Arrangements for special facilities What you need and what needs to be done before

you arrive What needs to be done when you arrive Any post-presentation tasks that might be needed

If you need special facilities, notify the appropriate parties well in advance

If possible, check out the facilities beforehand to be sure they work properly

The Big Day

Before you arrive

Consult your checklist of what you need and what you need to do

Load your presentation on a Web-accessible site

Create a copy of your presentation and any related files on floppy, flash drive, and/or CD Not all PCs have accessible USB ports! Bring an extension USB cord for your flash drive!

If you’re using a laptop, don’t forget the power adaptor, network adaptor, floppy, and CD drive

If you’re using handouts, copy and collate them well in advance

Before you present

Load your presentation onto the presentation machine

Preview all the slides, if possible Technical risk areas include:

Fonts Diagrams and graphics Animation If using a laptop: compatibility with display device

Confirm that any special facilities still work

During your presentation

Manage your presentation, audience, and time Walk through your agenda and indicate when

questions will be appropriate Don’t hide behind the desk—interact with your

audience and your slides Scan the audience and make eye contact Walk your audience through each element of

each slide Try not to read from the slide—paraphrase

instead Monitor your time with clock and slide number

Questions

Answer questions to the best of your ability Repeat question if the speaker is soft-spoken Think before you answer If appropriate, identify an educated guess as such Don’t fabricate! “I don’t know” is an acceptable

answer

You may need to judge if a line of questioning is appropriate

To maintain momentum, defer extensive questioning until after the presentation

After your presentation

Let your audience know when you are finished Open the floor to questions Scan the room to be sure everyone has a

chance Avoid letting one or two persons dominate the

comments or questions Leave the presentation system in a ‘clean’

state for the next presenter Attend to any post-presentation tasks