1. DT211 & DT228 Team Project Presentation Skills Module Web Page: http://www.comp.dit.ie/pbourke

3. Contents In today's lecture we’ll discuss giving good presentations Presentation overview Edward Tufte’s Tips How to use PowerPoint well Other presentation tips Death by PowerPoint?

4. Presentation Let’s do a quick overview on presentations that you have been at What things have people done in presentations that have worked well? What things have people done in presentations that have worked badly? What interesting things have you seen people do in presentations?

5. Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips Edward Tufte makes the following suggestions for giving presentations: Show up early Have a strong opening What's the problem? Who cares? What's your solution? On every subtopic move from the particular to the general and back to the particular Give everyone at least one piece of paper

6. Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips (cont…) Know your audience Rethink the overhead The audience is sacred Humour is good Avoid masculine (or even feminine!) pronouns as universals They has been accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary for years Take care with questions Let people know you believe your material

7. Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips (cont…) Finish early Drink lots of water Have a strong conclusion Think about all presentation possibilities Practice, practice, practice Film your presentation Play it back and watch yourself Watch it without the sound Listen to it without the picture Have your first couple of lines rehearsed

8. PowerPoint Done Well Tips for good PowerPoint presentations Include only necessary information Avoid long paragraphs of text Don’t overcrowd the presentation Don’t forget to spell check Don’t be afraid to use pictures – but be careful of overused clip-art Be consistent with formatting Have a backup plan Remember slides are not the same as notes

9. PowerPoint Tips: Colours & Fonts Colours: Limit the number of colours Use contrasting colours for background and text Try to think about accessibility Font: Always use size 20 or bigger Larger font may be used for emphasis Somebody who is colour blind won’t be able to read this!

10. PowerPoint Tips: Colours & Fonts (cont…) Using too small font is impossible to read CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY Don’t use complicated fonts Using a font colour that does not contrast with the background colour is hard to read Using a different colour for each point is unnecessary Using a different colour for secondary points is also unnecessary Trying to be creative can also be bad

11. PowerPoint: Colours & Fonts (cont…) Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from Always be consistent with the background that you use

12. PowerPoint Tips: Animation Using animation in PowerPoint is almost always a bad idea! It just confuses people and makes your slides take forever to appear Also you spend all of your time pressing the next slide button So don’t do it! Except when it adds to the clarity of your presentation

13. Oral Presentation Tips Some tips for oral presentations: Body language is important Speak loudly and clearly Try to put some feeling into your voice Do not read from notes Maintain eye contact with your audience Speak to your audience Don’t be afraid to take a pause Don’t be afraid to correct yourself

14. Handling Questions Questions at the end are just about the most important part of a presentation Repeat the question to the audience Restate or ask for clarification if necessary Request that questions are asked during the talk or afterwards Avoid prolonged one-to-one discussions If you can’t answer a question, just say so Have a dedicated questions slide

15. Conclusion The most important things to remember when giving presentations are: Think about your audience Think about your objective Think carefully about visual aides (slides) Speak confidently, clearly and to the audience PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

16. Questions? ?

17. Rethinking The Overhead “PowerPoint presentations too often resemble a school play – very loud, very slow, and very simple” -Edward Tufte “The Cognitive Style Of Power- Point: Pitching Out Corrupts Within”, Edward Tufte, 2006 Edward Tufte is an analytical designer (who would rail against being on this slide!)

18. NASA & PowerPoint After the Columbia space shuttle crashed in 2003 the Columbia Accident Investigation Board fingered PowerPoint as a culprit NASA, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint New York Times Article: PowerPoint Makes You DumbPowerPoint Makes You Dumb

20. Should We Abandon PowerPoint? ?

21. Short team presentations Each Monday 3 teams will present on a chosen topic 5-7 minutes presentation Title for next Monday “How to be an effective Team”