How to make a presentation Hy D. Tran, ME260, Spring 2004

Outline Tell the audience what you’re going to say Tell the audience your story Tell your audience what you told them

What you’re saying All presentations should have an outline Follow the outline! Slides should serve as a mnemonic only! Animations are cute, but almost always overdone

Contents Text is ok, graphics are better Don’t write too much! Don’t write too small! About 1-2 minute per viewgraph for timing

Dealing with nervousness Practice (Practice also helps with your timing)

Presentation skills Project your voice Eye contact with audience Don’t stand in front of the projector Don’t fidget

Powerpoint tricks Default sizes are just a bit big Animations can help, but too many animations will drive your audience batty Some powerpoint styles are impossible to read (e.g. light gray on dark gray)

Common mistakes Text too small to read Color contrast bad (e.g. yellow text on white background) Too much text, not enough graphics (e.g. this presentation) Too many slides Excessive use of special effects/animations

Conclusions If you stick with Powerpoint defaults, your slides won’t be unreadable Watch your graphics! Practice your talk!