Creating Effective Presentations Developed by Jason Bowman for AAE451 School of Aeronautics & Astronautics Purdue University Based on a CIS Short Course by Mike Jacob and “Technical Presentations” by Richard Gaughan

Overview Basic Communication Presentations Visual Aids

Basic Communication Communication is the transmission of information from a sender to a receiver Information is Knowledge communicated. Data is not information !!!

Basic Communication Know who the receiver is Be concise. Keeps the signal-to-noise ratio high KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid

Presentations

Presentations* Understand, Plan, Prepare The audience wants you to succeed Know what your message is 10% rule Handouts !!! Tell them ... give clues ... *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

Engaging the Audience* Effective speakers engage to occupy the attention of entertain to cause time to pass pleasantly impress arouse strong interest Conversely the speaker would bore the audience ensure a forgettably unpleasant experience *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

What You’re Up Against* The audience has many concerns where to have lunch who’s going to win tonight’s game relationship/family issues “The more of their attention you engage, the more their minds are working with you, and the easier it is for them to hear and remember your presentation” *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

Keeping Audience Interest* Ideas ® Concrete Images Imagery entertains Images are easier to remember Voice volume, tone, rate, diction Body Language face and hand gestures, stance *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

Visual Aids* Enhance your message & support your purpose Provide a framework for ideas Easy on the eyes, easy to understand, easy to remember *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

Memory* Short term ® working The rule of 7 Consequences 5 to 7 items on a screen no long text organization should be self-evident *As outlined in “Technical Presentations”, OE Reports by Richard Gaughan

Visual Aids

Layout Computer vs Transparencies Readability Templates Size Colors Fonts Background Figures, Graphs, & Illustrations

Computer vs Transparencies Color vs Black & White People are visually oriented Color can help communicate info Color Transparencies OK if presentation will be given multiple times

Templates Consistent look Sequence Pictures and illustrations preferably on left Sequence user knows where to look for info on every slide animation and builds: upper left to lower right

Orientation Portrait Landscape Landscape is better for communicating visual info

Size 1 1:6 Rule Floor Test 6

Colors Hot White, Yellow, Pink, Red Cool Gray, Green, Brown, Blue attract the eye use sparingly and for emphasis Cool Gray, Green, Brown, Blue use for support and reference 10% (?) of the male pop has a color blindness

Background Colors Cool colors Less distracting Lower intensity. Other items stand out. One solid color for all slides (template)

Foreground Colors Hot colors High Intensity Choose one primary color, but not brightest. One color for emphasis usually the brightest use sparingly

Fonts: Serif vs Sans Serif good with written text but not with projections Sans Serif more visually appealing but 1 is the number one and l is lowercase “ell”

Font Sizes Main Title Fonts vary in physical size Key Points Sub points and other text reference info or text to read later

Readability About 6 words (?) is enough. No more than 7 lines per slide In builds, previous lines use darker colors About 2 minutes / slide ALL UPPERCASE IS DIFFICULT TO READ

Graphs Good for showing % like weight and cost breakdowns Discrete Trends or Comparisons Trends

Tricking the Receiver Is the change large or small?

Legends vs Direct Labeling

AAE 451 Know the Audience, Know your Purpose Don’t just prepare lists of data ! Practice Keep to your allotted time

Longuski's Timing Rule Allow 2 minutes per page for a highly interactive presentation (e.g. thesis defense). Allow 1.5 minutes per page for a noninteractive presentation (e.g. a presentation where there will be no questions or questions only at the end) Note: count all viewgraphs including title and repeated ones.