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Hints for Giving Presentations
SWE 737—Advanced Software Testing March 2017 Jeff Offutt
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Designing and building your slides
Outline Designing your talk Designing and building your slides Before your talk During the talk Ending the talk © Jeff Offutt
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Start With Something the Audience Already Knows
Explain why the audience should be interested Start with something they care about Motivate Define problem What is wrong with the current solutions? Why does it matter? What are you going to do about it? Give a high level and abstract description Introduce solution Give all the details Be very careful with algorithms and math Details Experiment or other evaluation Give enough details but not too much Evaluation What does it mean—does the solution work? Connect to solution, problem, & motivation Summarize © Jeff Offutt
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Generic Outline – 4 Levels
Entire Audience Entire Audience Motivate Intro Summarize Conclusions General Knowledge General Knowledge Problem Context & Overview Results & Discussion Evaluation Deep Knowledge Deep Knowledge Solution Deep Weeds Specialists Details © Jeff Offutt
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Introduction Motivate your work—Answer “why”
Why is the problem interesting, important, & exciting? Place your work in context: how is it different? Teaser for your results – why should we listen to the talk? Not a full outline, but enough so they want to listen to the rest Suspense is usually not good © Jeff Offutt
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Guts of the Talk Explain what you did Convey one technical nugget
Don’t be comprehensive – convey the big picture Use pictures, 1-2 examples, etc. Advertise the paper Convey one technical nugget Show one generally interesting concrete thing Analysis Did you solve the problem? What are the important results? © Jeff Offutt
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Conclusions Summarize with one or two key points
If your audience remembers one thing from your talk, you have succeeded If they remember two things (and you covered two things), you’re doing really well © Jeff Offutt
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In Only 20 Minutes? Advertisers pay $2.5M for 30 seconds during the Super Bowl A television episode is 22 minutes long Be directly and avoid unnecessary details Organize your presentation Edit: Change the organization, cut details, cut more details Practice! Without an audience In front of your project group members In front of friends not familiar with your project © Jeff Offutt
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Learn From Other Speakers
Pay attention to the delivery styles Good and bad speakers When a talk is boring or over your head—think about the delivery Pay attention to the room: Does the sound carry well? How is the lighting? © Jeff Offutt
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Designing and building your slides
Outline Designing your talk Designing and building your slides Before your talk During the talk Ending the talk © Jeff Offutt
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General Slide Advice Average 1.5 minutes per slide
This varies a lot and will change as you become more experienced Think about the audience and what they know Use pictures Put at most five major bullets on your slides People should be able to read slides quickly – and then listen to you Do not try to explain algorithms or formulas © Jeff Offutt
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Font Suggestions Font size must suit the room and the screen
20-point is usually the minimum legible size In a 100+ room, 24-point might be small You must know the room size and audience size! Sans-serif fonts are easier to read Common sans-serif: Gill Sans MT, Verdana, Calibri, Arial Common serif: Times Roman, Bookman Learn how to set fonts globally © Jeff Offutt
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Keep Slide Animation Simple
Lots of jumping, whirling, and flying looks cool ... to teenagers But it usually looks childish in a scientific talk Use animation to improve the message of the talk For example, to advance a concept one step at a time © Jeff Offutt
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Use Color Cautiously The key is to use high contrast
Low contrast is very hard to read Color will look different on different computers, and different when projected Cognitive science pro tip: Dark text on light background is faster to read in print Light on dark is faster to read when projected Blue text is especially fuzzy This just hurts © Jeff Offutt
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Designing and building your slides
Outline Designing your talk Designing and building your slides Before your talk During the talk Ending the talk © Jeff Offutt
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Anticipate the Questions
While rehearsing, think of several difficult or embarrassing questions Most of the actual questions won’t be nearly as tough as these If you get a question you had not anticipated, that means you did not prepare adequately (This always happens, because we never prepare as much as we wish we could) © Jeff Offutt
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Answer Questions Clearly
Repeat the question: To make sure you understood it To give you time to think To make sure the audience heard it Listen attentively and answer clearly even if the question was stupid Never ever ever get defensive Don’t judge the questions; senior scientists don’t need PhD students to tell them that they asked a “good question” © Jeff Offutt
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Keep Slides With You Keep a spare copy on a data stick
Take the spare to the room Check that your slides are on the room’s PC before the session starts Powerpoint looks different on different computers If you use your own computer, test it with the projector before your talk Don’t depend on the cloud © Jeff Offutt
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The Room and Nerves Mi casa mi casa
If you feel the room is yours and the audience is visiting you, you will feel less nervous If at a conference, sit in on a talk in the room before your talk Always enter the room before the audience Correct any problems Adjust the lighting, furniture, etc. © Jeff Offutt
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Stimulants and Physical Comfort
If you are nervous, your adrenaline level is high, and coffee might make things worse Don’t drink it just to be polite Make sure to visit the toilet before your talk Be comfortable Tight ties and high heels can break your concentration Shorts and Hawaiian shirts break your audience’s concentration © Jeff Offutt
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Designing and building your slides
Outline Designing your talk Designing and building your slides Before your talk During the talk Ending the talk © Jeff Offutt
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Do Not Read Slides The audience can read them without your help
Your job is to interpret what the concise phrases mean by supplying Explanations Examples Verbal descriptions Perspective etc. Tell the audience a story about the slides © Jeff Offutt
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Point at the Screen Not the Computer
If you point at a computer screen, the audience cannot see where you point Many people do not handle light pens well It takes practice to use them without distracting the audience Nerves can make your hand shake Pencils and pens are often too short to be effective They force you to stand in front of the screen © Jeff Offutt
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Stay in Control You can decide whether to answer questions at the beginning or end of the talk Allowing questions in the middle is dangerous because you might lose control Some people will try to disrupt interview talks to see how you handle it Don’t let a “question” turn into a talk Remember, 90% of the audience wants you to tell the interrupting questioner to “just shut up” Interrupt the questioner (politely) © Jeff Offutt
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Pick Out People Do not stare at the session chair, teacher, or screen
Pick out six to nine faces, equally distributed throughout the audience Speak to each and make eye contact Always look at some person when making an important point or conclusion You are talking to only one person at a time, and each person feels that you have been talking to him or her personally Lack of eye contact suggests evasiveness or lying © Jeff Offutt
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Speak Clearly and Assertively
Do not use words that you do not understand Do not allow your voice to drop when you are dealing with controversial ideas Be assertive when you answer a question with “I don’t know.” Make the audience think it’s okay that you don’t know The audience will respect your honesty The questioner probably already knows If you pretend, they will know you don’t know, and will know you’re a liar © Jeff Offutt
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Don’t Worry About Pronunciation
If English is not your native language, try to get the pronunciation right, but don’t agonize over it Everybody has an accent! You need to be understandable, not perfect Talk a little slower If possible, rehearse with colleagues whose native language is English © Jeff Offutt
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Don’t Fidget Try to stand fairly still and look comfortable
Don’t repeatedly check your watch, laugh nervously, wring your hands, or rock If your nerves show, the audience will think you’re afraid they’ll find flaws in your research And look harder !! © Jeff Offutt
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Be Careful with Humor Humor can easily backfire
Starting a technical talk with a joke doesn’t work for most speakers Humor has its place and is appreciated if done well, but it takes practice and experience And never works if you’re nervous Making fun of yourself is safer Making fun of someone else is risky © Jeff Offutt
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Use a Timer Looking at your watch breaks the audience’s concentration
Put a clock or your watch on the table where it’s easy to see without looking If you have rehearsed enough, you will not need a clock! © Jeff Offutt
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Be Yourself The most important thing you can do is to be yourself
These hints and notes are not intended to change your personality for one talk You are speaking because you have something important to say and the people in your audience are there to hear you say it It is best said simply and casually © Jeff Offutt
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Designing and building your slides
Outline Designing your talk Designing and building your slides Before your talk During the talk Ending the talk © Jeff Offutt
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Most Importantly Have fun – if you have fun your audience will
Remember this is a show – the technical aspect is important, but every talk is part theatre Preparation solves every problem Nerves never stop – even the most experienced speakers get nervous You can’t stop being nervous, you have to control it © Jeff Offutt
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No “Thank You” or “Questions” Slide
Don’t end with a slide that says “thanks!” or “questions?” If you do well, the audience should thank you And they know they can ask questions Instead: Summarize, review, or provide contact info A technical talk is partly a show Even if you’re not “naturally outgoing,” you can learn the skills to give good presentations Jeff Offutt cs.gmu.edu/~offutt © Jeff Offutt
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