Progress ?

From To solution

You have made Technical Progress Now it is time to tell Your Story What are some of the guidelines?

Click to edit Title Key Assumption Some folks really want to know what you’ve done

Technical Progress Presentations Tom Kraft. PhD. MBA Director Technology Ventures Development Lecturer in Management Jones Graduate School of Business Rice University

Credits Prof Stephanie Pfirman Ba Barnard College, Columbia University “Giving Research Presentations” DocStoc.com

 Preparing for your Audience  Preparing your Story  Preparing Information  Preparing the Presentation  Preparing Slides  Preparing Yourself Outline

 Think who the audience is  Define the points (3) you want them to remember  You want them to be able to answer…  What?  So What?  Now What? Your Audience

 Think about these things when you do your editing  Then you should delete ….. What is unnecessary What is distracting What is confusing, or Off Point

In light of audience and the points to remember,  Prepare your material so that it tells a story logically Title, authors, acknowledgements Introduction/overview Method / approach Results / information / analysis Conclusion / summary  Use examples, anecdotes, details, images****  Create continuity so story flows  Last point on slide should anticipate next slide Preparing Your Story

Stories and Images – why?  Connects you to listeners  Easier to retain information  Everyone struggles with images  Pictures worth 1000 words –think in images Preparing Your Story

Preparing Information Methods, Instrumentation  For most talks, only present the minimum Data Tables  Tables are useful for a small amount of data  Include units (digits?)  Indicate data source if they are not your own  But tables are often used badly … use rarely Danger ! graphs, charts, tables, lists, vernacular, transitions and flow

Basic rule  Say what you are going to say 1-3 main points in the introduction  Say it Give the talk  Then say what you said Summarize main points in the conclusion  Don’t try to build suspense and then unveil a surprise ending Preparing Presentation

Average not more than 1 slide per minute MS PowerPoint standard  If you use something else, be careful to check it in advance No sounds Some logical animations good Spell check Preparing Presentation

5 minute Presentation Let’s explore a 5 minute presentation to tell your story

1.Introduction 2.Overview/need/problem/challenge 3.Solution/discovery/progress 4.Why it’s better / why it matters 5.Looking forward 6.Next steps 6 Parts in 5 minute pitch

5 Minute Timeline Part 1. Introduction 20 sec Part 2. Overview/need/problem/challenge 75 sec Part 3. Solution/discovery/progress 60 sec Part 4. Why it’s better/why it matters 65 sec Part 5. Looking forward 60 sec Part 6. Next steps 20 sec

5 Minute Presentation Part 1. Introduction ~ 20 seconds or 45 words  Presenter’s Name  Title or status  Affiliation Organization  Sponsor (if applicable)  Project Name  Date

5 Minute Presentation Part 2. Overview/Problem/Challenge ~ 75 seconds or 166 words  Problem/pain or need addressed  Use story or anecdote  An image is necessary  How large is need  Helps define relevance  Why is solution needed ?  What depends on solution ?

5 Minute Presentation Part 3. Solution / Discovery / Progress ~ 60 seconds or 130 words  What it is  How/why it works  IP status  Status of development  Status of validation  Collaborators

5 Minute Presentation Part 4. Why it’s better - Why it matters ~ 65 seconds or 140 words  How does it compare to alternative?  What opportunities does it open up?  What commercial benefits could there be?  How will the non-research community benefit?  Directly or indirectly  Why does it matter to science community?

5 Minute Presentation Part 5. Looking Forward ~ 60 seconds or 130 words  What is status now?  What remains to be done?  What innovation or help is needed?  Will new research/development be enabled?  How you can be involved?

5 Minute Presentation Part 6. Next Steps ~ 20 seconds or 45 words  Summary of technology and progress  Summary of benefits  Summary of opportunities  What you can do  Take away…….  Tag line – Wow statement - Mantra

Short Break

Preparing Slides How to lose an audience  Sentences over 8 words  Long list of bullet points (over 8)  Most graphs and tables  Too many numbers (digits)  Lots of abbreviations  Poor Fonts Don’t compete with slides.

Preparing Slides  18 Calibria Arial Times New Roman  24 Calibria Arial Times New Roman  28 Calibria Arial Times New Roman  36 Calibria Arial Times New Roman  Size  AVOID ALL CAPITALS  Minimize Italics, Underline, and Bold

Color cautions  Many are color blind  Colors have implied meaning Red - warm (hot), loss, alert Green – profit, good Yellow – large, positive, good Gray – small, a little, obscure Preparing Slides Labels – make clear, Illustrations - make relevant Sources – note tastefully

 Small room – white background – dark font  Large room – dark (navy or black) background - light font  Keep contrast high  Create a summary cartoon with major findings, or an illustration of the processes or problem  Consider showing it at the beginning and the end Preparing Slides

Preparing Yourself Latest News - check Interruptions Running out of time AV malfunction Handling material you are unsure of Problems are real – Be Prepared

What to Wear … Dress up – maybe wear a jacket?  More formal attire makes you appear more authoritative. Can show you care enough to try to look nice  Dark clothes more powerful than light clothes  Shirts or blouses with collars are better than collarless ones  Clothes with pressed creases (!) are signs of power

 Bring your presentation on a memory stick  Make sure you are familiar with the projection equipment, remote control and PowerPoint Equipment

Print Your Slides Don’t read the presentation Print out copies of your slides (‘handouts’)  You can annotate and use them as notes  You can review them as you’re waiting  If equipment fails, you can still make your main points in a logical way

Practice – actually stand up and say the words out loud  You discover what you don’t understand  You develop a natural flow  You come up with better phrasings and ways to describe things  Stay within the time limit  Try speaking too loud Don’t over rehearse or memorize the talk  Memorized talks lack emotion Practice

“On the Air” Stand straight Get comfortable Find friendly faces Look at faces and don’t change mid-sentence Memorize first few lines Look pleasant “cheat sheet” and half way point Dead air is better than air filled with repeated "ums," "likes”, and "you knows." Get to know your personal dead air fillers and eliminate them.

“On the Air” Speak loudly and slow enough for back row Energy on consonants at end Don’t look at slides Don’t over use pointer Never apologize Avoid conjunctions and CJASC (clichés, jargon, slang, acronyms and colloquialisms

Announce the ending so that people are prepared  Could be a slide titled “Conclusions”  Or say, “In my final slide …” or “My final point is …” Come back to the big picture and summarize the significance of your work in that context (What Now ?)  Extend logically beyond your limited study – but don’t overreach Open up new perspective (What Next ?)  Describe future work, raise questions, potential implications Conclusion

Ending your talk  Give the listeners a tag line or take away or mantra 8 words max – repeat it. Hopefully your started with this. “On the 8 th Day God created fractals” “Join the Rebellion” “Maybe it’s time to step back and look down”  Say “Thank You” … pause for applause … then  Say: “Any questions?” or where you will be for questions WOW Ending

Questions Answer – briefly – just address the question  Repeating question can give you time to think If you really don't know the answer – say so.  Say "Interesting, I will look into that" or “That’s a good point, let’s discuss it afterwards.” or “Good point; I am unsure but I will look into it.” Or you can ask for suggestions. Requires a long answer and is not critical to subject…  Say “Interesting question. I believe I can give you a more complete answer if we can connect after the talk.”

Keep your answers short and to the point – don’t respond with another lecture Don’t say that a question is bad, or that you addressed it already - Rephrase it into something that you want to talk about Never demean the question or questioner Anticipate typical questions and prepare for them Still concerned about questions?  Make extra slides – perhaps on details of instrumentation or methodology Questions

Difficult Situations Handle situations so the audience wants you back. Always take the high road Don’t complain If the questioner disagrees with you and it looks like there will be an argument then defuse the situation "We clearly don't agree on this point, let's go on to other questions and you and I can talk about this later“

 Prepare your Story  Prepare for your Audience  Prepare your Information  Prepare your Presentation  Prepare Slides  Prepare Yourself Be Prepared

Elevator Pitch Let’s now take the 5 minutes to 90 seconds !

Elevator Pitch Typical Elevator Pitch Time

The Elevator Pitch Bookends The first shot and who fired it What do you want the listener to do? 8 chunks of 11 seconds (Or about 200 words)

Elevator Pitch The 8 Chunks of 11 seconds 1. WHO ? 2. WHAT ? 3. HOW ? 4. BETTER ? 5. SO WHAT ? 6. WHAT NOW ? 7. WHAT NEXT ? 8. WOW !

WHO – Chunk 1  How the listeners’ world can be different  Who you are  How you relate to changing the listeners’ world  Why you are qualified speak

WHAT – Chunk 2  What is the problem or pain in the listeners’ world?  Who and how many have the pain?  How big or serious is the market ?  Why did you do this work?

HOW – Chunk 3  How did you fix the pain?  What is your Value Proposition  How do you solve the problem?

BETTER – Chunk 4  How is your solution better ?  Is the solution better enough?  Why or how is solution unique?

SO WHAT – Chunk 5  Should listener care at all?  Does it really matter?  How will listener’s life be better?

WHAT NOW – Chunk 6  What is the status of your solution?  What is the status of your work?  What kind of support do you have?

WHAT NOW – Chunk 6  What is the status of your solution?  What is the status of your work?  What kind of support do you have?

WHAT NEXT– Chunk 7  What could the listener do next?  What are the exact next steps?

WOW– Chunk 8  Give the listener a Tag Line, a take away or a mantra

Elevator Pitch If you do nothing else Create an Image they will remember

Questions