Tips for Using PowerPoint Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Tips for Using PowerPoint Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also Goals of a presentation slide: To help your audience understand your main messages To serve as notes for the audience after your talk To serve as a reminder to you of your main point

Two common problems of slides Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also Slides that no one can read Slides that no one can remember

Use readable text format Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Use readable text and layout Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Instead of the PowerPoint default layout, consider the following structure Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also Sentence headline Supporting text in body of slide

Three criteria for evaluating layout design Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also How memorable is the design? How many slides does the design require? Does the design help the slides serve as notes?

Use sentence headline to make main assertion Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also A good headline: Identifies the slide’s purpose for the audience Identifies the slide’s purpose for the speaker

A bad example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

A better example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

The body of slide should support headline with images and brief supporting text Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also Support primarily with images: Support with essential text:

A good example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Don’t provide too much description! Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Don’t provide too much detail! Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Have an open and organized layout! Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Make your slides memorable Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Slides should include key results and images Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

A bad example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

A better example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Another good example: Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

Still another good example Source: Chapter 4, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley See also

The importance of figures: “Graphic excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest place” - Edward R. Tufte - “Figures play a significant role in the expression of scientific ideas” - APS Style Guide - More on this next week…