General Guidelines

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Mark Isham Hanson CTC Writing Consultant
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Presentation Anxietytwo comments

• I die inside every time I give a presentation
  but nobody knows it. I think I need a
  therapist.-- anonymous
• "There are two types of speakers those that
  are nervous and those that are liars.-- Mark
  Twain

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Technical Presentations provide a framework for

• Organizing knowledge for the benefit of others.
• Provoking audiences to ask questions.
• Building credibility as a subject-matter expert.
• Torturing the unprepared speaker.

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Signs of ExcellenceDoes the Introduction

• Prompt interest in the project?
• Forecast your objectives? (what your listeners
  can expect to learn)
• Adopt a tone appropriate to the audience?

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Multiple Audiences

• Successful engineers adjust the technical
  emphasis of their talks
• When speaking expert to expert.
• When explaining their activities to individuals
  with little or no technical training.
• When addressing multiple audiences (peers,
  professors, professionals, general public).

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The Problem with Audiences

• Listening is hard work.
• Too much or disorganized information hinders
  comprehension.
• Listeners think faster than people can speak, so
  their minds wander while they listen (present
  company excepted).

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Shifting Gears

• Speaking to colleagues and experts gives you more
  freedom to use specialized terms without
  providing definitions or context.
• As your audience broadens, your ability to engage
  in geek-speak diminishes.
• Bottom-line the ability to shift gears for
  different audiences is the hallmark of a
  successful technical communicator.

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Signs of Excellence Does the Body of Talk

• Give your audience a map and help them understand
  the relationship of one topic with another?
• Define key terms and concepts?
• Visualize your subject from multiple
  perspectives?
• Employ analogies to help audiences grasp
  unfamiliar materials?
• (Watson and Crick described the structure of DNA
  as a zipper)

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Signs of Excellence Effective Transitions

• Handing off the baton
• Speaker A cues audience to Speaker Bs topic.
• Receiving the baton
• Before introducing new material, Speaker B
  refreshes the audiences memory of the teams
  overall objective.

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Signs of Excellence Does the Conclusion

• Restate objectives of report?
• Assert the significance of your findings?
• Provide recommendations?

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Signs of Excellence Graphics

• Use simple, clear, accurate, and relevant
  graphics.
• Use graphics to signal the organization of the
  presentation.
• Dont crowd your slides.
• Dont use more than you need.

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Signs of Excellence Delivery Essentials

• Dont rush maintain the pace of a typical
  conversation.
• Build in pauses..give your audience a chance to
  absorb what you are saying.
• Make as much eye contact as you can.
• Show enthusiasm for your project.
• Stop fidgeting. Use meaningful (but appropriate)
  gestures.
• Move your eyebrows!

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Still Nervous?

• Rehearse your presentation at the Hanson Center
  for Technical Communication
• Hours 230 430 p.m. on Thursdays
• Location 2224 SC (in the Student Commons area)
• Scheduling Appointment sign-up sheet posted on
  window outside door of 2224 SC

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Thank You