How to give a good presentation

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How to give a good presentation

• Remy Luerssen
• Institute for Marine Remote Sensing
• College of Marine science
• University of South Florida

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Outline

• What was wrong with that presentation?
• Common mistakes
• Tips for talking in public
• Tips for creating an effective presentation
• Summary
• Sample outline

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The science of communicating recently completed
research to an engaged audience and how to be
thoroughly successfulin doing so

• Remy Luerssen
• Research Associate
• Institute for Marine Remote Sensing
• xollege of Marine science
• Univerosy of South Florida

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• Research Project
• Ms. VanDoren has requested that we use the
  Signals of Spring marine curriculum with the
  website for their research project. This way the
  research will be integrated into the class
  lessons and they will have more time in class to
  dedicate to the research projects.
• Using the Signals of Spring website
  (signalsofspring.net) students will track a
  marine species and look at the track overlaid on
  sea-surface temperature, phytoplankton and
  bathymetry data.
• For the project we would like to split the
  students up into four groups of about four
  students. The groups will be assigned to
  research either the species they are tracking and
  how it is tracked, SST satellites and how to
  interpret the data, ocean color satellites and
  how to interpret the data or bathymetry data and
  how it is collected and interpreted.
• Students will choose a species and one track to
  follow and observe with the spatial data on the
  website. Students will record the lat/lon
  coordinate of the location each day and then
  access the SST and ocean color data on the IMaRS
  website (imars.usf.edu). Here they can enter the
  lat/lon coordinate of the track and get the value
  of temperature and chlorophyll at that exact
  point. These values should be recorded and then
  input into Excel at the end to see any trends.
• I will work on getting a Stewart Research Team
  page on the IMaRS education website
  (education.imars.usf.edu) so that students can
  just come to the website and have direct access
  to all of the websites and resources they will
  need such as the ImaRS SST and ocean color data
  sites and the Signals of For the project we would
  like to split the students up into four groups of
  about four students. The groups will be assigned
  to research either the species they are tracking
  and how it is tracked, SST satellites and how to
  interpret the data, ocean color satellites and
  how to interpret the data or bathymetry data and
  how it is collected and interpreted.
• Students will choose a species and one track to
  follow and observe with the spatial data on the
  website. Students will record the lat/lon
  coordinate of the location each day and then
  access the SST and ocean color data on the IMaRS
  website (imars.usf.edu). Here they can enter the
  lat/lon coordinate of the track and get the value
  of temperature and chlorophyll at that exact
  point. These values should be recorded and then
  input into Excel at the end to see any trends.
• I will work on getting a Stewart Research Team
  page on the IMaRS education website
  (education.imars.usf.edu) so that students can
  just come to the website and have direct access
  to all of the websites and resources they will
  need such as the ImaRS SST and ocean color data
  sites and the Signals of Spring website as well
  as datasheets and power point presentations.
• For the project we would like to split the
  students up into four groups of about four
  students. The groups will be assigned to
  research either the species they are tracking and
  how it is tracked, SST satellites and how to
  interpret the data, ocean color satellites and
  how to interpret the data or bathymetry data and
  how it is collected and interpreted.
• Students will choose a species and one track to
  follow and observe with the spatial data on the
  website. Students will record the lat/lon
  coordinate of the location each day and then
  access the SST and ocean color data on the IMaRS
  website (imars.usf.edu). Here they can enter the
  lat/lon coordinate of the track and get the value
  of temperature and chlorophyll at that exact
  point. These values should be recorded and then
  input into Excel at the end to see any trends.
• such as the ImaRS SST and ocean color data sites
  and the Signals of Spring website as well as
  datasheets and power point presentations.

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What was wrong with that presentation?

• Distracting background
• Confusing title
• Small text
• Colors blend with background
• Too much text on one slide
• Misspellings

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Common mistakes

• Winging it
• Ummm, ahhh, like, you know
• Pacing and fidgeting
• Talking fast
• Writing what you want to say on slides and then
  reading it to the audience
• Not making eye contact with audience

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Tips for talking in public
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Tips for talking in public

• Memorize at least the first few lines of your talk

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Tips for talking in public

• Practice, practice, practice!

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Tips for talking in public

• Make eye-contact with audience

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Tips for talking in public

• Dress appropriately

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Tips for talking in public

• Keep your hands still and stay in one place
  (minimal pacing and fidgeting)

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Tips for talking in public

• Dont lock your knees

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Tips for talking in public

• Talk to the audience (not the screen behind you)

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Tips for talking in public

• Talk loudly and clearly and slowly

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Tips for talking in public

• Cell phones off!

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Tips for talking in public

• K.I.S.S.

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Tips for talking in public

• Explain graph completely (axes and what it shows)

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Tips for creating an effective presentation
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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Use font sizes of 24 point or more

48 point 60 point 80 point
12 point 14 point 18 point 24 point 36 point
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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Start with introducing your self and outline of
  talk

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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Use clear font (not cursive)

Can you read this easily? How about
this? Better?
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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Use light text on dark background

Which is easier to read?
Research Project
Research Project
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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Use minimal text on each slide

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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Bulleted text does not have to be (and should not
  be) a complete sentence

• Our Hypothesis is that the turtle will follow a
  certain temperature during its travel
• OR
• Hypothesis Turtle will follow certain
  temperature during travel

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Tips for creating an effective presentation

• Use high quality, sharp images (high resolution)

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Summary

• You will be nervous
• Be professional (dress and actions)
• Be excited and SMILE!!
• Give a clear and concise presentation
• Tell them what you will tell them, tell them,
  then tell them what you told them
• Your first impression (first few slides) is
  important
• A picture is worth a thousand words
• If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail
• Practice, practice, practice!

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Sample Outline

• Title/name (1 slide)
• Outline (1 slide)
• Background
• Justification why are you doing this research?
  (1-2 slides)
• Related Work what do you know about this topic?
  (0-1 slides)
• Objective/Hypothesis (1 slide)
• Methods (1 slide)
• Results (4-6 slides graphs and pictures little
  words)
• Conclusion or Summary (1 slide)
• Future Work (0-1 slides)
• Acknowledgements (1 slide)
• Backup Slides