How to Present your Work Master seminar, May 2007

Contents Introduction Preparing slides Preparing oral presentation Conclusion

Introduction We give basic guidelines for making your slides and presenting them effectively. Following these guidelines will help the audience follow your presentation. Also, following these guidelines may be useful not only for presenting your master thesis, but also scientific papers you may write in the future or any general report.

Preparation of slides Make an outline Prepare a concise summary of the major points and supporting facts of your talk. This will help you organize the flow of the talk as well as point out where slides are necessary.

Preparation of slides Plan your slides Use your outline to decide how many and what kind of slides you need. Cover all your major points and include supporting information. But do not overuse slides – they will confuse the audience.

Preparation of slides One idea per slide Trying to present more than one idea at a time is confusing. Use several slides to introduce complex ideas.

Preparation of slides Keep it simple Remove all extra details. Use close-ups rather than panoramic views. If necessary, include a known size object to show scale.

Preparation of slides Keep it concise Use charts and graphs Limit text-only slides to about 7 lines. Use charts and graphs Use charts rather than tables of data. Visual comparisons are much easier than reading data. Tables are confusing.

Preparation of slides Keep it legible Edit the presentation Make sure all slides will be legible even to the person in the back row. Edit the presentation Make sure you covered all the points from the outline. Do your slides fit the content of the narration? Is there continuity between slides? Are they legible?

Preparation of slides Rehearse Be completely familiar with your presentation. Especially pay attention to time limits – you must leave several minutes for questions. Not respecting the time limits is a serious offence.

Preparing oral presentation Do not try to cover the entire subject Select one specific part for your central idea Your contribution is a natural choice for this. Make your presentation interesting enough so that the people in the audience will be motivated to read your complete work (thesis, paper, etc.)

Preparing oral presentation Phrase your central idea into a purpose-sentence Thus you will know where you are going. Avoid swinging too far in the opposite direction and making your oral presentation seem like an aimless conversation.

Preparing oral presentation Make a list of 2-4 main points of your central idea Many presenters make the mistake of reducing each part of their work by the same amount in order to boil it down for an oral presentation. Pick only 2-4 main points, develop them thoroughly and tie them together so that your audience understands the relationship of these points to your central idea.

Preparing oral presentation Obtain specific and interesting supporting material for each of the main points Support your ideas by a succession of details, examples, comparisons, illustrations, etc. Thus your listeners will remember and believe what you say.

Preparing oral presentation Organize the speech into an outline Prepare extremely detailed outlines containing up to about 60% of the number of words, which would be included in the full speech. A good plan to follow: An introduction A discussion A summary.

Preparing oral presentation Practice delivering the speech until you have it well in mind Try reading your outline silently An alternative is to record your speech and reproduce it later in order to find the mistakes.

Preparing oral presentation Practice delivering the speech until you have it well in mind (cont.) What tells an amateur from a professional is how they start to speak: Before you speak, pause and get ready. Address yourself to the chairman (evt. other members of the panel, distinguished guests, etc.) and finally your audience.

Preparing oral presentation Practice delivering the speech until you have it well in mind (cont.) Try to speak as naturally and as conversationally as you can. Don’t speak in a monotone – learn to modulate your voice (a recorder may be very useful for this). Speak slowly and avoid running words together – beginners usually speak too fast.

Preparing oral presentation Practice delivering the speech until you have it well in mind (cont.) Be sure to talk to your audience, not to your slides. Avoid standing between the audience and the slides.

Conclusion By following the guidelines presented here, you will make a quality and interesting presentation of your work. A good presentation is necessary in many situations, not only in academic ones – so practice and benefit from the experience gained while making your master thesis presentation.