Presenting in Dr. Eckert’s Classes Make sure your presentation gives an opinion or argument on some idea: for example, evaluate the book, or solve a problem in understanding it A short introduction is fine; but a presentation which only describes the characters is boring Remember: the audience has already read the book

Requirements Everyone needs to participate, but not everyone needs to talk an equal amount About 10-15 minutes (allow some time for questions) I may stop you after 20 minutes (it’s more common for presentations to be too long) See me about your topic first

Better Presenting: The Main Principles My experience: Students focus too much on what they will say and too little on how they will say it The audience must hear and see you Good presentations are two-way; they involve and interact with the audience

Evaluation Content: Have you made an interesting argument supported by evidence? Communication: Did the audience hear and understand you?

Worst-Case Scenario Result Students hide behind the podium and read off scripts they downloaded (yes, I can tell) Result Audience becomes bored and their attention wanders; suddenly students “need” bathroom breaks

Better Non-Verbal Communication Control the ‘video channel’ of your presentation Make eye contact; smile Use notes rather than scripts Control fidgeting and movement

Better Non-Verbal Communication Do not display hostility to questions with your body language, or by rushing away!

Better Presenting: Stage Fright Prepare your speech Use positive visualization Take advantage of adrenaline! Learn your body; do you need exercise, rest, food? Coffee/no coffee, alcohol? Avoid dairy products

PowerPoint Tutorial Most of you know how to use PowerPoint The skill we need to discuss is making good PowerPoints PowerPoints are optional

Problem Students divide tasks and e-mail their slides to one editor Result Slide sections discuss the same topic Slide sections have no logical connection Slide graphics have no consistency

Better Group Work Meet repeatedly, before and after assembling the PowerPoint Be clear on how tasks will be divided Be able to explain the reason why tasks are divided as they are, and how they connect to each other

Suggestion 1: Less is More One thing you will notice with Al Gore’s or Steve Jobs’ presentations is that most of the slides have no text on them; they are visuals. There is a mix of photographs, graphs, and added video clips. When they do use a slide with text, there is very little text.

Suggestion 2: Tell People the Structure If your material is complex and covers various sub-subjects, have a table of contents at the beginning of your presentation so that the audience knows what the sequence of topics is, and remind your audience periodically of where you are in the sequence.

Suggestion 3: High Contrast If you want your audience to be able to see what you have on the slide, there needs to be a lot of contrast between the text color and the background color. Most projectors make colors duller than they appear on a screen.

Suggestion 4: Use Big Fonts The most important thing in choosing fonts is readability Avoid strange fonts which are hard to read Avoid tiny fonts

Suggestion 5: Do Not Put References on the Last Slide! Don’t show a useless “List of references” slide at the end for one second just to show that you have one. This is bad practice for two reasons: 1) Your audience has no time to read them, and 2) The print will be too small. If you must include references, put them on the same slide as the information they refer to. Example

References Aragay, Mireia. “Inf(l)ecting Pride and Prejudice: Dialogism, Intertextuality, and Adaptation.” Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship, edited by Aragay, Rodopi, 2005, pp. 201-219. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Oxford University Press, 1984. Bach, Susanne. “May I Laugh about Women’s Lib? or: The Difficult Relationship of Humour and Feminism in Margaret Atwood, Caryl Churchill, and Helen Fielding.” Gender and Laughter: Comic Affirmation and Subversion in Traditional and Modern Media, edited by Gaby Pailer, Andreas Böhn, Stefan Horlacher, and Ulrich Schreck, Rodopi, 2009, pp. 315-328. Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Helene Iswolsky, Indiana University Press, 1984. Bayless, Martha. Parody in the Middle Ages: The Latin Tradition. University of Michigan Press, 1996. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Directed by Sharon Maguire, Miramax / Universal Pictures, 2001. Brown, Alistair. “Communication Technology and Narrative: Letters, Instant Messaging, and Mobile Phones in Three Romantic Novels.” Poetics Today, vol. 26, no. 1-2, 2015, pp. 33-58. Case, Alison. “Authenticity, Convention, and Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Bridget Jones Online Archive, http://bridgetarchive.altervista.org/authenticity.htm. Davis-Kahl, Stephanie. “The Case For Chick Lit in Academic Libraries.” Collection Building, vol. 27, no. 1, 2008, pp. 18-21. Ferriss, Suzanne. “Narrative and Cinematic Doubleness: Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction, edited by Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young, Routledge, 2006, pp. 71-86. Ferriss, Suzanne. “Working Girls: The Precariat of Chick Lit.” Cupcakes, Pinterest, and Ladyporn: Feminized Popular Culture in the Early Twenty-First Century, edited by Elana Levine, University of Illinois Press, 2015, pp. 177-195. Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Picador, 1997. Francus, Marilyn. “Austen Therapy: Pride and Prejudice and Popular Culture.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal Online, vol. 30, no. 2, 2010, http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol30no2/francus.html.

Movie Versions of Shakespeare Source: “Shakespeare in Film,” Wikipedia

Bad slide making 1

Bad slide making 2

Visuals rule One thing you will notice with Al Gore’s or Steve Jobs’ presentations is that most of the slides have little or no text; they are visuals.

Visuals rule One thing you will notice with Al Gore’s or Steve Jobs’ presentations is that most of the slides have little or no text; they are visuals.

Visuals rule One thing you will notice as you watch Al Gore’s or Steve Jobs’ presentations is that most of the slides have no text on them, they are visuals.

Good slide making 1

Good slide making 2

Good slide making 3

Good slide making 4

Good slide making 5

Good slide making 6

Good slide making 7

Last tip: Don’t stand in front of the screen The price of our product is $10000

Video Presentations Reading off a script is even more boring in a video than it is in a live presentation. The second most common problem with video presentations: Filler video segments. Dude, we know you’re just filling space. The first most common problem: bad sound quality.

Sample Schedule