1. The Do s and Don’t s of Presentations and Powerpoint

2. Aim of the presentation
Presentations need to be given for many reasons and in many different situations
Formal
Informal
Research
Concept pitch
Sales
Make sure you know your audience and the aim of the presentation is very clear

3. Know how much time you have and plan the presentation accordingly
Research presentations usually
15mins: 10–12min presentation & 3-5min questions
20mins: 15min presentation & 5min questions
Aim for no more than one slide per minute of presentation.
Do not over-run

4. Slide Design A balance between Interesting Informative Nice to look at
Easy to read

5. Slide Design: Background
Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides
Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read
Dark text on light background
Light text on dark background
Be very careful of your colour combinations
Need contrast between background and text
Some colours just don’t work!

6. Slide Design: Background
Can make background more interesting by
Adding shading
Powerpoint background template
Background design
Be very careful that background does not distract from slide content
Feint designs can be good
Good to use plain background with simple picture or motif to personalise your slides

7. Slide Design: Font
Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

8. Slide Design: Font Times New Roman - Which of these lines….
Arial - Which of these lines….
Verdana – Which of these lines….
Tahoma - Which of these lines….
Comic Sans - Which of these lines….
All 32 pt

9. Slide Design: Font Size
32 pt font is easy to read
28 pt font is still fine
24 pt is ok but if you just use this you are likely to have too much text on the slide
20 pt is getting small and difficult to read
18 pt should only be used for small details
Never use anything smaller that 18pt

10. Slide Content: Outline
Many people recommend starting with an outline of the contents and structure of the presentation
Structure
Slide design
Presentation Skills
Example research presentations
Discussion and feedback
Conclusions

11. Slide Content: Structure
Introduction
Background and work that has lead to the current study
Hypothesis/Question
Methods
Results
Unlike a research paper you normally discuss your results as you present them
Conclusions
Implications, take home message and further research

12. Slide Content
Try not to cover too much information on each slide: one point per slide.
Don’t have too much text!
Try not to have large blocks of text
Where appropriate use diagrams and pictures to illustrate your point
Schematic diagram of experimental set up
Picture of data collection
Make sure pictures are relevant

13. Slide Content: Tables and Graphs
In most research presentations the results are presented in the form of Tables and Graphs
MAKE SURE THE AUDIENCE CAN READ THEM

14. Slide Content: Graphs If you paste a graph straight from Excel
The lines are too thin
The lines are often colours that you cannot see
Axis titles are too small

15. Slide Content: Graphs Title
Grey background shows pasted straight from Excel
Lines too thin
Axis labels
Font too small
Axis labels

16. Slide Content: Graphs

17. Slide Content: Graphs
Don’t use light blue
Use contrasting colours

18. Don’t try to fit too much on one slide
Slide Content: Graphs
Don’t try to fit too much on one slide

19. Slide Content Results Start by describing the graphs and tables
What the axis are
What each of the lines represents
What the graphs shows
What does it all mean?
Discuss the results in relation to your hypotheses and previous research

20. Slide Content Conclusion
Arguably the most important part of the presentation
Make sure your ‘take home point’ is very clear
What are the implications of this research?

21. Slide Content Remember to… Cite the sources of your information
The author(s) and date of the reference are usually sufficient
It is NOT necessary to give a list of references at the end of your presentation
Acknowledge any assistance you have been given

22. The more you do the easier they will become
Presentation Skills
Don’t go too fast
Remember to breathe and take pauses
Try to engage your audience – eye contact
Try not to read from notes
PRACTICE!!!!
The more you do the easier they will become