Helpdesk video  bhtRU bhtRU

Oral Presentations

Presentation content  “Presentations do not have a problem with lack of information. Most of the time there is too much. The biggest issue is the way you present your PowerPoint presentation.”  Many presenters think, "If it's new and dynamic; it will make my PowerPoint presentation much better."

PowerPoint is evil  Turns everything into bullet points  Everything becomes phrase  Format over content  “PowerPoint is a competent slide manager and projector. But rather than supplementing a presentation, it has become a substitute for it.”

Problem of slides & phrases  “When information is stacked in time, it is difficult to understand context and evaluate relationships.”  People learn and gain understanding by forming relationships, not by memorizing stuff

Proper slide design  Audience centered design is key  Write text for the audience, not the speaker  Write text that the audience can understand without the speaker there.

Making the slides  Design for the audience, not the speaker  Highlight the essence of your talk.  Give enough information to be understood without having heard the talk

Making the slides  Don’t use transitions. And, if you do, use only 1 transition type  Match the background to the talk. Beach scenes don’t fit your communication topic  Watch the use of colors or the text might be hard to read

Making the slides  Clip art does not make a good slide.  Make the graphics contribute to the presentation.  One topic per slide. You don’t have to put fill the slide with bullets.

Making the slides  Keep audience oriented  The presentation should have –title slide (includes your name) –overview slide –body slides –summary slide

Title slide  Title of your talk  Your name  if external presentation – School/company – Contact information

Overview slide  Give an outline of your talk  Help listener stay oriented  Bullets match slide titles

Information slides  Short phrases  Support for your talk; not the entire thing  Include important points that the listener should take away  Giving a real long phrase or sentence is very hard for the listener to process and also interferes with the talk

Not speaker notes  Include important points that the listener should take away  Often notes to the speaker that are not relevant to the audience  Slides should make sense to a person who has not attended the talk.

Typical speaker note slide  Ethnography  Initial interviews  Building scenarios  Group discussions  Verification Does this make sense to anyone but the speaker?

Watch transitions  Slide transitions are often distracting.  Never use more than one for the entire presentation. Definitely not a different one between each slide.  Avoid adding each bullet one at a time.

Conclusion slide  Wrap up of the talk  Should closely match the outline slide  Discuss the high points of each bullet What should the listener take away

General slide design  Keep text large (at least points)  One main topic per slide  No or one transition effect  Use proper background  Use proper graphics – Kewl images and background is not cool

Giving the talk  Follow the same rules you learned for speaking without the use of PowerPoint  Eye contact –Talk to multiple audience members  Don’t read slides or notes  Discuss slide topics in order  Speak clearly  Watch for nervous habits

Giving the presentation  NEVER read the slides without saying anything else. The audience can read. Your job is to provide additional information.

Short sample presentation What not to do

Journal overview

Design  Fonts  White space  Headings

Fonts  Fonts –Give interest –Readable  White space  Heading –Larger than text –Orient reader

End