1. Effective Technical Speaking for Computer Engineers (Adapted from Roger Kieckhafer’s and Sharad Seth’s presentations)

2. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking2 Lecture Overview Preparation phase Audience Analysis Objectives and main points Effective use of slides Format, Fonts & Figures Handouts Effective verbal presentation Matching verbal and visual parts Keeping the audience interested (awake) Handling Questions

3. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking3 Preliminary Items Choose your Medium (slides, power-point, etc) What is necessary? What is sufficient? What is easiest to execute? Rehearsal Rehearse for a human critic (team mate) Videotape can be very enlightening Rehearsal can be a major mitigator of stage fright Get your timing down pat!

4. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking4 Audience Analysis Who are they (demographically)? Age, gender, culture, educational level? What are they? Students, colleagues, engineers, executives? Customers? What is their knowledge level? What are they looking for? What do they expect to learn? How badly do they want to learn it?

5. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking5 Objectives Three universal objectives Get the “facts” across Convince the audience of their validity Keep them awake long enough to do the above Individual objectives influence the emphasis Should you emphasize “just the facts”? Will you need to do a lot of convincing?

6. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking6 Identify the Main Points Assumption: a listener can only handle 5 main points Repeat the main points 3 times First, them what is coming (Intro summary) Then, tell it to them (main body of talk) Finally, tell them what you just told them (conclusions) Distinguish between main points and details Hierarchical levels of bullets on slides Vocal volume, inflection and pauses Summary slides at beginning and end Use pictures whenever you can

7. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking7 Slide Organization Title Page title authors affiliation (or course number) Contact data (at least e-mail) Date of presentation Outline or Overview Main Body of the Slides Conclusions or Summary

8. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking8 General Slide Format Keep It Simple Visual clutter is distracting Too many special effects are distracting Use animation for illustration, not cosmetics Want them to remember the substance, not the form Use short concise “bullets” Employ hierarchical bullets Do not use paragraphs or long sentences Do not cram too much onto one slide

9. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking9 Fonts Fonts Styles Keep fonts clean and simple e.g. Arial or LaTeX \sf for most text e.g. Times New Roman or LaTeX \rm for titles Don’t use too many fonts Limit the use of emphasis (e.g. underlining) Font Sizes Use at least 20 pt. for default text (LaTeX \LARGE) At least 24 pt for televised talks If the audience has to work at it, they just will give up

10. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking10 Use of Figures & Examples One good picture (ex) is worth a thousand words And one bad picture is worth a thousand snores Take time to talk the audience through each figure Make sure the image clearly visible Line size is thick enough High enough contrast in colors Make sure fonts on the picture are readable Exception: if you had to borrow a pre-made image Then you really have to talk them through it

11. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking11 A Bad Slide The instance space X n consists of all configurations of n points on R A concept is a set of all configs. from X n within unit distance under the Hausdorff metric of some “ideal” configuration of k points, where HD between configs. P and Q is and d(p,q) is distance from p to q If P is any configuration of points on R, then concept corresponding to P is X is a positive example of C P if it’s in C P and is a negative example otherwise

12. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking12 A Better Slide Each concept c is a set of fixed-width intervals on R Each example X is a set of points on R Example is positive iff each point in an interval & no interval empty positive negative X1X1 X2X2 X3X3 concept

13. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking13 Use of Handouts Slides must be uniquely numbered (increasing order) Handout copies of all slides before beginning Include all slides In the same order and with the same numbers Stapled or bound Two slides per handout page is eminently readable Four to six slides per page may be too many Hard to read Hard to take notes

14. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking14 Match Verbal & Visual Parts Time-per-slide Thumbrule: 2-3 minutes per slide Figures generally take longer Rehearse with your actual slides Do not verbally “wander away” from your bullets No one will remember a word you said anything worth remembering must have a bullet Point to the slides to change context Do not present complex details verbally formulas, equations, statistics, etc must be visual But beware of information overload!

15. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking15 Pay Attention to the Audience Pick a few people and “talk to them” Make eye contact (keeps them awake) Change victims periodically (keeps them guessing) Cover the whole room There is lots of feedback available Facial expressions & body language Furrowed brows vs. nodding heads Fidgeting, browsing ahead in the handout, eyes closed Adjust your talk to these cues

16. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking16 Physical Actions Stand up, don’t sit Get away from the workstation They can hear you better, Puts you in a physically dominant position Don’t just stand there, Move! A little motion keeps people awake Use hand gestures BUT: don’t overdo it. A moving target commands attention Too much motion is a distraction Face the audience Point to the screen, not the slide!

17. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking17 Speak up! Speak loud enough to be heard without effort Speak with confidence (watch out for arrogance) Improves your credibility Try to use the lower registers of your voice Vary the pitch, volume, inflection Develop a rhythm (don’t stumble over each word) If you have an accent or impediment Slow down! Don’t let your volume drop

18. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking18 Connecting with the Audience Talk, don’t read! Take cues from your slides, but do not read them It’s OK to check your notes, occasionally Having notes on the “backup” papers helps Write on the slides It gives the audience something to do It strongly reinforces memory It draws their attention to the details Especially good if the details are important Give them time to get caught up

19. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking19 Being “Entertaining” Acknowledge that listening is hard work Entertaining implies keeping them: interested, focused, awake Using Humor Need the right amount, of the right type Should be relevant to the topic A little goes a long way short relevant stories a little irreverent comment Don’t push your luck

20. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking20 Handling Questions Repeat the question: “The question is …” So, everyone else gets a chance to hear it, To make sure you understand it To stall while you formulate the answer Deferring the question is OK: If you are discussing it later in the talk, If it is too complex & peripheral - offer to discuss later, If you really don’t know - say you will find out for them, Always follow up on a deferred question

21. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking21 Group Presentations Should be a single cohesive presentation visual style, page numbering, handout binding One person should handle intro. & conclusions Introduce other team members Overview what topics they will cover Hand-off the presentation to others by name

22. CSCE-488: Technical Speaking22 Summary A presentation can make or break a project Know your audience ahead of time Identify the main points you want to get across Use clear, effective slides Use a loud, clear, non-monotonous voice Match the verbal to the visual presentation Pay attention to the audience