AAE 440 Oral Presentation Guidelines (& some written report guidelines) Eric Loth

Oral Presentation Style: HCR Happy – If you are not interested your subject matter, no one will, so be enthusiastic and audible Confident – Know your material well but willing to admit incomplete knowledge Relaxed – No need to rush. Pause for Emphasis. QUALITY not QUANTITY!

PPT Slide Style: Make it Look Easy Organize and Reinforce your slides: Introduction: tell what you are going to say Body: tell what you have to say Conclusion: summarize important points/rationale Use titles, sub-titles and bullets Use reasonable lengths – concise and powerful Use overview slide to organize your material Be consistent In style, in figures, tables, Upper vs. lower-case, etc. In format and fonts Links between slides/points help carry a presentation. A story is more interesting than a collection of facts.

Making/Showing a Graph Making a plot: a) All numbers & symbols readable from afar! b) Include units c) Not too busy d) Use symbols on axes e) Slide title or text box for meaning Talking/writing about a plot: a) Note figure intent & conditions b) Point out trends or important values c) Explain significance/conclusions of results L/D spot limit AR

Sample Figure (Good) Watch sig figs

Sample Figure (Bad) Avoid grey background and grid lines ? ?

Sample Figure (Bad) Don’t use yellow! Make font large & clear! Avoid lines

Sample Table (Good) but use consistent accuracy and significant figures White space – add “driver” column

Written Report Details Avoid useless words and excessive subjective statements “… actually would need to be typically light in most circumstances” should be “… should be light” Avoid word contractions (“It is” instead of “it’s”) Avoid informality: “the loads got way out of control”. Always define acronyms and minimize to a few per section If possible, avoid repeating same word, e.g. call it engine, then jet, then propulsion system, then F-35 engine, then….