Presentations: The good, the bad and the ugly

1
Presentations The good, the bad and the ugly

• Prepared by D. Fitch
• Presented by S.F. Stiemer

2
Outline of presentation

• Why is a good presentation important?
• Preparing for a presentation
• Tips for making a good presentation
• Example thesis presentation evaluation form
• Concluding comments
• Questions

3
Why does a good presentation really matter?

• Consequences of a bad presentation
• No one understands or cares what you just talked
  about
• Bad grade in a course
• Decreased standing among peers and superiors
• Passed over for promotions
• Dont get the funding/client/project/etc
• Miscommunication / misunderstanding leading to
  serious errors in technical fields

4
Preparing for a presentation

• Make sure you understand the content
• Know your audience
• Try to anticipate questions
• Only present interesting and essential
  information
• Practice giving the presentation on your own
• Arrive early, check equipment
• Start presentation on time

5
Presentation Tips to be Covered

• Outlines
• Slide Structure
• Fonts
• Colour
• Background
• Graphs
• Spelling and Grammar
• Conclusions
• Questions

6
Outline

• Make your 1st or 2nd slide an outline of your
  presentation
• Ex previous slide
• Follow the order of your outline for the rest of
  the presentation
• Only place main points on the outline slide
• Example Use the titles of each slide as main
  points

7
Slide Structure Good

• Use 1-2 slides per minute of your presentation
• Write in point form, not complete sentences
• Include 4-5 points per slide
• Avoid wordiness use key words and phrases only

8
Slide Structure - Bad

• This page contains too many words for a
  presentation slide. It is not written in point
  form, making it difficult both for your audience
  to read and for you to present each point.
  Although there are exactly the same number of
  points on this slide as the previous slide, it
  looks much more complicated. In short, your
  audience will spend too much time trying to read
  this paragraph instead of listening to you.

9
Slide Structure Good

• Show one point at a time
• Will help audience concentrate on what you are
  saying
• Will prevent audience from reading ahead
• Will help you keep your presentation focused
• List the slide number and total number of slides
  at the footer

10
Slide Structure - Ugly

• Do not use distracting animation
• Do not go overboard with the animation
• Be consistent with the animation that you use

11
Fonts - Good

• Use at least an 18-point font
• Use different size fonts for main points and
  secondary points
• this font is 24-point, the main point font is
  28-point, and the title font is 36-point
• Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial

12
Fonts - Bad

• If you use a small font, your audience wont be
  able to read what you have written
• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT
  TO READ
• Dont use a complicated font

13
Colour - Good

• Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with
  the background
• Example blue font on white background
• Use colour to reinforce the logic of your
  structure
• Example light blue title and dark blue text
• Use colour to emphasize a point
• But only use this occasionally

14
Colour - Bad

• Using a font colour that does not contrast with
  the background colour is hard to read
• Using colour for decoration is distracting and
  annoying.
• Using a different colour for each point is
  unnecessary
• Trying to be creative can also be bad

15
Background - Good

• Use backgrounds such as this one that are
  attractive but simple best NO BACKGROUND
• Try to use light backgrounds in dark rooms, and
  dark backgrounds in light rooms
• Use the same background consistently throughout
  your presentation

16
Background Bad

• Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
  difficult to read from
• Always be consistent with the background that you
  use

17
Graphs

• Use graphs rather than just charts and words
• Data in graphs is easier to comprehend retain
  than is raw data
• Trends are easier to visualize in graph form
• Always title your graphs

18
Graphs - Bad
19
Graphs - Good
20
Graphs - Ugly
21
Spelling and Grammar

• Proof your slides for
• speling mistakes
• the use of of repeated words words
• grammatical errors you might have make
• If English is not your first language, please
  have someone else check your presentation!

22
Conclusion

• Use an effective and strong closing
• Your audience is likely to remember your last
  words
• Use a conclusion slide to
• Summarize the main points of your presentation
• Suggest future avenues

23
Questions

• End your presentation with a simple question
  slide to
• Invite your audience to ask questions
• Provide a visual aid during question period
• Avoid ending a presentation abruptly

24
Example presentation evaluation form
Criterion Score (1-10)
Started with a good hook to get you interested, and clearly explained relevance of the problem
Clear statement of objectives of research
Evidence of careful research on the existing state-of-the-art
Used clear, simple, illustrative visual aids with adequate font size
High level of analytical or experimental work free from error
25
Example presentation evaluation form (cont.)
Criterion Score (1-10)
Spoken in relaxed and confident manner
Logical seminar structure and appropriate length
Answered questions well
Appears to be making excellent progress towards a high-quality thesis
I understood and enjoyed listening to this presentation
Total
26
Concluding comments

• Presenting is an important skill
• Adequate preparation is very important
• By following simple guidelines as presented
  previously, it is very easy to make a good
  presentation

27
Questions?????