1. COMP 208/214/215/216 – Lecture 5
Presentation Skills
恭喜發財

2. Aims
“To introduce the skills needed to present and defend your work effectively in oral form.”
Dawson’s Chapter 9

3. Different types Formal Presentation Informal Presentation
large audience
small audience
Informal Presentation
as a group
as an individual
Demonstration
Not done on this course:
part of the 3rd year
project
Project Reviews
Reports at project meetings
Project Demo in week 11

4. General Tips Prepare what you want to say Time Audience
Appropriate balance between topics
Appropriate level of detail
Audience
What background do they need?
What do they want to know?
Show enthusiasm.

5. Formal Presentations: Content Planning
Formal Presentations: Content Planning
Clarify your objectives:
What are you required to mention?
What do you want to say about it?
Order your main points
Chronological: e.g. requirements, design, implementation, evaluation
General to specific: e.g. artificial intelligence, natural language, your project.

6. Formal Presentations Content1 2 3
Formal Presentations
Content
Try to have a beginning (intro/ToC), middle (main points) and end (summary)
Detail for each will depend on time available and relative importance of the various points.

7. Formal Presentations
Allocate time to topics: make sure you have time for all your main points;
How much background is necessary or possible?
Equal time for each point or more time for a particular point?
E.g. if you are talking about a specific project in natural language, keep the general material brief, or you won’t have time for your stuff.

8. Formal Presentations Timing Never over-run your time
This will cause problems for those following you
Have enough material
Perhaps have some optional material if you look like under running
Rehearse your talk
So you have a good idea of how long it is.

9. Formal Presentations Audience Who are they? What do they already know?
Assessors, peers, clients, colleagues
What do they already know?
How many? Same/different backgrounds?
What do they want to know?
What do you want to tell them?

10. Slides No more than 1 slide for every 2 minutes of talk
Which tool? Any that
Provides uniform look - consistency is good
Makes it easy to incorporate external material
Imposes some discipline.

11. Don’t put Too Much on a Slide
The slide should not write down everything you want to say, otherwise it will just be a jumble of words that will be difficult to understand. Certainly, you should not include long rambling sentences, or photocopies of whole book paragraphs. The best idea is to capture some
Key phrases
As bullet points.
Make sure only the main points are mentioned in a clear concise way and add details as you talk through the slides! Too many pictures or diagrams may be distracting too.
According to what I just said this slide is RUBBISH!

12. Fonts This is Tahoma This is Times Roman This is Courier
This is avant garde
This is Palatino
This is Ariel
This is Comic Sans Ms
A matter of taste - but be consistent.
Useful for program
code listings

13. Font Size (44 point) This is 32 point This is 28 point
Depends on the size of
room, to some extent.
I think 20 point is the
minimum useful size
If the font size becomes
too small there is too much
on the slide.

14. Backgrounds Matter of taste Some people like a textured background
Some people prefer plain
Personally, I prefer plain.

15. Light Background Dark Text Some people like this, some do not
But important to have contrast.

16. Delivery Make sure your slides are organised before you start
Face the audience
Try to make eye contact with the audience - everyone - don’t pick on an individual
Speak loudly enough to be heard all over the room
Don’t speak too fast
Don’t gesticulate widely - but controlled gestures are good
Don’t fidget, or walk around too much
Don’t be afraid to pause.

17. Use of Notes Reading from full text is not advised You can use
It is better to have some key word prompts to remind you of what to say and in what order to say it
You can use
cards; notes on backing sheets; a piece of paper with key words
Don’t get lost in your notes
Write large; use different colours to separate points.
If you prepare your text well, and rehearse it several times, you shouldn’t need your notes too much.

18. Dealing With Questions?
Dealing With Questions
Try to anticipate what you will be asked
Answer confidently
Answer briefly - and keep to the point
Don’t argue with your questioner
Speak to the whole audience, not just the questioner
If you don’t have an answer, admit it: don’t bluster.

19. Are you still THERE???

20. Different types Informal Presentation Formal Presentation as a group
large audience
small audience
Informal Presentation
as a group
as an individual
Demonstration

21. Presenting as a Group Think as a group about
what you need to say
who is going to say it
who will take the lead on answering questions
If everyone knows what is happening, things run smoothly and there are no conflicts and interruptions.

22. Review Meetings Decide who will introduce each item
Keep your introduction short and to the point
Be familiar with the material you are introducing
Be ready to explain, clarify and answer questions.

23. Reporting to a Meeting
Know the agenda: identify what you will speak to
Know what you are going to say
Keep it short
Stick to the point
Be prepared to back up what you say - make sure you have the detail to answer questions if they are asked.

24. Demonstrating Software - I
Know your software - what it can (and cannot) do; how to access its functions
Decide what you want to demonstrate
Don’t try to show more than the time allows
Try to use a running example or case study to work through the functions you want to show in a logical sequence.
Try this out beforehand
Be prepared to answer questions as you are running the software
Be prepared to deviate from your script if the audience requests it
But only do things if you know what will happen.

25. Demonstrating Software - II
Don’t just show the user interface - show the implementation view as well
Be prepared to talk about how it works as well as what it does
Try to make it interesting
Be enthusiastic about it.

26. Demonstrating Software - III
Make sure the audience can see
Can be a problem if there are more than 3 people round a machine
Who will do what?
Maybe one person will operate the system, while another describes it.
As always, the best advice is: prepare.

27. Summary Planning is the key to success in all presentations
Think about what you want to say, and what you can say in the time
Rehearse formal presentations and demonstrations
Identify possible problems beforehand