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COMMUNICATION
via PowerPointCOMMUNICATION
via PowerPoint
Claus BrabrandClaus Brabrand IT University of Copenhagen, DenmarkIT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
[ 2 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Outline
Introduction & History Content & Structure Semantics & Consistency Form (tips’n’tricks)
Images Text F onts Colors Themes Animations
Presentation (rehearse + live talk)
1
2
3
4
5
abc
[~Inventio/Dispositio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Memoria/Actio]
Fnt
<T>
[ 3 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
History
Purchased by Microsoft for $14,000,000 USD (July 31, 1987)
Robert GaskinsRobert Gaskins
PowerPoint was invented by Robert Gaskins in early 1987 under the name “Presenter” for company Forethought, Inc.
[ 4 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Version History (archaeology)
PowerPoint 1.0 (Mac: ’87)
Black’n’White only! (for ”Overhead projector”)
PowerPoint 2.0 (Mac: ’88; Win: ’90)
Now also in color (for work with ”color 35mm slides”)
PowerPoint 3.0 (Mac+Win: ’92)
Added video-out (for use with ”video projectors”)
[ 5 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Ubiquitous
PowerPoint is everywhere
Guestimate:
( US population)
After today’s lecture… :-)
300,000,000 users42
[ 6 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
(Popular) Related Tools
OpenOffice.org (aka. ”OO.o”): Free Software (LGPL) based on ”StarOffice” by Sun
Beamer (for use with LaTeX): i.e. good for mathematics:
[ 7 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Outline
Introduction & History Content & Structure Semantics & Consistency Form (tips’n’tricks)
Images Text F onts Colors Themes Animations
Presentation (rehearse + live talk)
1
2
3
4
5
abc
[~Inventio/Dispositio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Memoria/Actio]
Fnt
<T>
[ 9 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Appropriateness
Which ”kind” of talk?: Research talk Debriefing Lecture Project presentation … Advertizing talk (aka. ’sales pitch’) (different ”conventions” and ”appropriateness”-’es)
Warning: PowerPoint often
tends towards ”sales pitch”!
(may distract from message) MESSAGE
”conservative”
”fancy”
[ 10 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Note on ”Fancy Effects”
”The fancy effects offered by today’s presentation software should be used only when they contribute more to the message than they distract from it.”
-- Robert Gaskins”Powerpoint at 20: Back to Basics”
Communications of the ACM, 50(12), 2007
MESSAGE
[ 11 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Know your Audience
Prerequisites: Educational level Language & tone (~ type of audience) Technical skills (terminology, abbreviations, …)
Essentially: ”know what your audience knows” i.e., ”empathy”
[ 12 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Quote from Kierkegaard, 1859
"At man, når det i sandhed skal lykkes en at føre et menneske hen til et bestemt sted, først og fremmest må passe på at finde ham der, hvor han er, og begynde der.
Dette er hemmeligheden i al hjælpekunst. Enhver der ikke kan det, han er selv i indbildning, når han mener at kunne hjælpe en anden.
For i sandhed at kunne hjælpe en anden, må jeg forstå mere end han - men dog vel først og fremmest forstå det, han forstår.
Når jeg ikke gør det, så hjælper min mere-forståen ham slet ikke. Vil jeg alligevel gøre min mere-forståen gældende, så er det fordi jeg er forfærdelig stolt, så jeg i grunden i stedet for at gavne ham egentlig vil beundres af ham.”
-- “Brudstykker af en ligefrem meddelelse”, Kierkegaard, 1859
[ 13 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Know your Audience
Prerequisites: Educational level Language & tone (~ type of audience) Technical skills (terminology, abbreviations, …)
Essentially: ”know what your audience knows” i.e., ”empathy”
Mediators of Change (if applicable): Who’s opinions are you trying to change? …and will they ”take” your message?
[ 14 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Focal Point of Presentation
Level of interaction with audience:
May be perfectly okay (just be aware of it)
Warning: PowerPoint often
tends towards this one…!
Presenter-oriented(~ teacher-centric)
Audience-oriented(~ student-centric)
Monologue(one-way communication)
Interaction(exchange of ideas)
vs.
[ 15 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Audience Concentration
Audience activity experiment: Fitted students with pulse readers (during lecture):
puls
e re
adin
gs:
Warning: No long ”talks”
without breaks or variation!
[ 16 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
On Simplicity
”Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”"All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best”
-- ”Occam’s Razor”, 14th century(Paraphrased from Latin)
”La semplicità è l'ultima delle sofisticazioni”"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
-- Leonardo da Vinci, (Translated from Italian)
"La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien à ajouter, mais quand il ne reste rien à enlever""Perfection is achieved: not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove”
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Translated from French)
Advantage: PowerPoint
promotes simplicity!
(due to space constraints)
[ 17 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
…but NOT TOO simplistic!
”Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler than that”
-- Albert Einstein
“We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain
their appearances”-- Sir. Isaac Newton
Correlation is not Causation
vs.
Warning: PowerPoint
often tends towards
(over-)simplification!
(Possibly shortest ’true statement’ of phenomenon.)
”Empirically observed covariation is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for causality.”
(Grossly over-simplistic!) Example from:[ Tufte, 2003 ]
[ 18 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Structure
Structure:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Aka.: ”say what you are gonna say; say it; then say what you’ve said”.
[ 19 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Structure (of ”The Body”)
Chronological: First, we did …; Then, we tried … (didn’t work); Hereafter, we ‘backtracked’ …; …
Retrospective: The Problem is …; The Solution is …; Problem Solution …;
Problem
Solution
Warning: Usually
a bad idea for projects
(lots of ”irrelevance”)
Problem
Solution
Advantage: Easier to
follow (and demonstrates
retrospective reflection)
[ 20 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Other ways of Structuring
Deductive Structure: Inductive Structure:
Introduction
Solution
“Break-down”
Introduction
“Build-up”
Solution
Conclusion Conclusion
[ 21 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Deduction vs. Induction
Deduction: whole parts:
aka. “top-down reasoning” abstract concrete general specific
Induction: parts whole:
aka. “bottom-up reasoning” concrete abstract specific general
Just two different ways of reasoning: Deduction Induction (just swap directions of arrows)
whole
A B C
whole
A B C
[ 22 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Nomination of CIA Director
LEVIN:
"You in my office discussed, I think, a very interesting approach, which is the difference between starting with a conclusion and trying to prove it and instead starting with digging into all the facts and seeing where they take you.
Would you just describe for us that difference and why [...]?"
LEVIN: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI)HAYDEN: GENERAL MICHAEL B. HAYDEN (USAF), NOMINEE TO BE DIRECTOR OF CIA
CQ TranscriptionsThursday, May 18, 2006; 11:41 AM
"DEDUCTIVE vs. INDUCTIVE REASONING"
HAYDEN:
"Yes, sir. And I actually think I prefaced that with both of these are legitimate forms of reasoning,
that you've got deductive [...] in which you begin with, first, [general] principles and then you work your way down the specifics.
And then there's an inductive approach to the world in which you start out there with all the data and work yourself up to general principles.
They are both legitimate."
[ 23 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Make Structure Explicit
Use outline:(aka. roadmap) a
”progress indicator”may help even further
Explicit structure:1. xxxxxxxxxx
2. yyyyyyyyyy
3. zzzzzzzzzz
4. wwwwwww
1. xxxxxxxxxx
2. yyyyyyyyyy
3. zzzzzzzzzz
4. wwwwwww
1. xxxxxxxxxx
2. yyyyyyyyyy
3. zzzzzzzzzz
4. wwwwwww
1. xxxxxxxxxx
2. yyyyyyyyyy
3. zzzzzzzzzz
4. wwwwwww
self evident to presenter [ teacher ] not to audience [ student ] (esp. during “learning process”)
Advantage: Audience can
follow the explicit structure
(where are we, what next, ..)
[ 24 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Structuring your Talk
Recall the 5 canons (from classical rhetorics): Inventio Disposito Elucutio Memoria Actio
…is how this presentation got organizedAdvantage: PostItsTM
”promote” simplicity!
(due to space constraints)
[ 25 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Outline
Introduction & History Content & Structure Semantics & Consistency Form (tips’n’tricks)
Images Text F onts Colors Themes Animations
Presentation (rehearse + live talk)
1
2
3
4
5
abc
[~Inventio/Dispositio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Memoria/Actio]
Fnt
<T>
[ 26 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Form vs. Content
Form and Content are not independent:
Form Contentusually
but also!
”A good ’encoded’ form guide ’decoding’ of the content”
CONTENT
Content
+ FORM
CONTENT
e” e”“Encod
“Decod
[ 27 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Semantic Coloring
Use colors to ”encode” content information: Blue for some concept Green for some other concept Purple for some third concept
You can do this…: Globally for entire presentation Locally for one slide/section (caution of ”mix-ups”)
Warning: Your ”color scheme”
will affect overall aesthetics
and ”look-and-feel” (caution)
class Application { Client user; Server db;
Application(Client c, Server s) { this.user = s; this.db = c; db.addClient(user); register(db, user); ...
(e.g., server)
(e.g., client)
(e.g., application)
[ 28 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
’Distribution of Focus’
In order to emphasize something effectively…:
…you have to ”de-emphasize” (other things)!
Barack Hussein Obama
(pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊ
ˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is
elected President of the United States
of America and the Junior United
States Senator from Illinois. He will
take office as the forty-fourth President
of the United States on January 20,
2009. Obama is the first African
American to be elected President of
the United States, and was the first to
be nominated for President by the
Democratic party.-- Wikipedia (2008)
Barack Hussein Obama
(pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊ
ˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is
elected President-of the United
States of America and the Junior
United States Senator from Illinois. He
will take office as the forty-fourth
President of the United States on
January 20, 2009. Obama is the first
African American to be elected
President of the United States, and
was the first to be nominated for
President by the Democratic party.
-- Wikipedia (2008)
Barack Hussein Obama
(pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊ
ˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is
eleceted President of the United
States of America and the Junior
United States Senator from Illinois. He
will take office as the forty-fourth
President of the United States on
January 20, 2009. Obama is the first
African American to be elected
President of the United States, and
was the first to be nominated for
President by the Democratic party.
-- Wikipedia (2008)
Barack Hussein Obama
(pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊ
ˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is
elected President-of the United
States of America and the Junior
United States Senator from Illinois. He
will take office as the forty-fourth
President of the United States on
January 20, 2009. Obama is the first
African American to be elected
President of the United States, and
was the first to be nominated for
President by the Democratic party.
-- Wikipedia (2008)
vs.
[ 29 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Differentiated Importance
Use ”differential levels of importance” to emphasize and de-emphasize; e.g.:
”This is really important” ”for emphasis”
e.g., Bold, Italics, and emphasis color
”This is of ’standard’ importance” ”for ’the rest’ ” e.g., Standard Color (e.g, black)
(This is not really as important) ”for de-emph.”
e.g., Gray and ParenthesesAdvantage: Helps the
reader tremendously!
(but use consistently)
High
Medium
Low
[ 30 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Consistency
Be (meticulously) consistent:
Pick a(ny) convention (and stick with it)!
We employ data-flow analyses to construct a graph […]
We instrument the compiler with a data flow analysis […]
In Sec. 4 and 5, the two parts of the data-flow-analysis […]
Advantages of analysis:
• better error messages.
• find errors at compile-time
• basis for optimization
• safety guarantees.
[hyphenation] [case/abbreviation]
[punctuation]
[sequence/position]
[ 31 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Exercise on ”Consistency”
Think about ”inconsistency dimensions”: Hyphenation:
(”data-flow analysis” vs. ”data flow analysis”)
Abbreviations: (”F.eks.” vs. ”Fx.”)
Case (upper/lower): (”Elucutio” vs. ”elucutio”)
Punctuation: (”some sentence.” vs. ”some sentence”)
…
[ 32 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Outline
Introduction & History Content & Structure Semantics & Consistency Form (tips’n’tricks)
Images Text F onts Colors Themes Animations
Presentation (rehearse + live talk)
1
2
3
4
5
abc
[~Inventio/Dispositio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Memoria/Actio]
Fnt
<T>
[ 33 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images
Use relevant images whenever possible: Improves appearance (if used appropriately) Makes a presentation ”less boring” Helps association (if used appropriately)
May be used as (psychological-)anchors i.e., ”recall” of content/thoughts/discussions/emotions/...
association”Red/black-tree”e.g.,
(Many people ”store”lots of things
effectively /w images)
content
emotions
discussions
thoughts
[ 34 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Locating/creating images: Inspiration: [ images.google.com ] Use digital camera:
Incorporating Images:
Set transparent color (in ”Picture Tool Bar”)
PrtScr Ctrl VCtrl V
Images (cont’d)
e.g.:
vs. Unfortunatelyonly one color
Ctrl C
[PrtScr] ; Paint ; <paste> ; [select area] ; <copy> ; PPT ; <paste>
[ 35 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images (cont’d)
Align Images !!!
Constant space invariants
(both makes slides look more solid and stable)
[ 36 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images (cont’d)
Set ”same height” (for horizontally aligned images)
Set ”same width” (for vertically aligned images)
[ 37 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images (cont’d)
Moving images (more) precisely: …when using mouse: [Alt] + …when using keys: [Ctrl] +
Further precision: Use ”window zoom” (in PPT menu)
[ 38 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images (cont’d)
Use arrows to direct attention: (or crossreference)
Use highlighting to emphasis relevance:
class Application { Client user; Server db;
Application(Client c, Server s) { ... db.addClient(user); register(db, user);
[ 39 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Images (cont’d)
”Compress images”:
…saves space (in final presentation)!
[ 40 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Text
Avoid / limit ”text-only-slides”: Uninspirational
(…and boooooring!)
Avoid ”full sentences”: many will read 100% i.e., not concentrate on you
Avoid ”orphans”: Lone word on a newline
vs.
not seenot hear
Modality duplication:
”Less is more”TEXT
In fact (generally):
abc
[ 41 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Bullets!
Use with great caution!!!
”Bullets don’t kill people, people kill people”
-- NRA (National Rifle Association, USA)
Warning: Sequencing is
uni-dimenstional!
chronologically (e.g., earlylate); alphabetically (e.g. ’A’’Z’); logically (e.g. firstlast); xor priority-wise (e.g., highlow)
Warning: Hierarchical info
structures have to be
”linearized” (= flattened) A list can either (be ordered)…:
i.e. one order only (at same time)!
Warning: we loose
structural information!
Warning: we loose
inter-dependencies!
[ 42 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
F Onts
Two (very different!) font design goals:
“No area is so small that you cannot spend your whole life researching it.”
-- M. Schwartzbach(oral communication)
Designed to be read on paper: Designed to be read on screen:
vs.e.g.,: Times Roman (Morison et al., 1931)
Helvetica (Miedinger, 1957)
Arial (Nicholas & Saunders, 1982)
e.g.,: Tahoma (Carter, 1994)
Verdana (Carter, 1996)
Trebuchet (Connare, 1996)
[ 43 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Sans ou Avec Serifs?
”Serif” Fonts: Usually best on paper
”Sans Serif” Fonts: Usually best on screen
Online font readability test:
[ http://edtechfm.sdsu.edu/bhoffman/type/font/intro.htm ]
my scores: population avg.:
[ 44 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
This is 96 pt fontThis is 66 pt font
This is 44 pt fontThis is 32 pt fontThis is 28 pt font
This is 24 pt fontThis is 20 pt fontThis is 18 pt fontThis is 16 pt fontThis is 14 pt font
This is 12 pt fontThis is 10 pt fontThis is 8 pt font
Fonts (size)
If smaller; use: bold wide fonts
PowerPointstandardrange
Warning: Avoid font
size less than 20 pt!
[ 45 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Fonts (code)
For code fragments…: Use monospace fonts (e.g., ”Courier New”):
static int fact(int n) { if (n <= 1) { return 1; } else { return n * fact(n-1); }}
static int fact(int n) { if (n <= 1) { return 1; } else { return n * fact(n-1); }}
vs.
Warning: Avoid
”proportional-fonts”
for code fragments!
[ 46 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Colors
Lots of ”bad combinations”:
Note: often poorly reproduced on projectors
Maximize contrast: Maximize ”|RGB|-difference” (as an approximation):
R2 + G2 + B2
”Red on Orange” ”Blue on Green” ”Black on Blue” ”Yellow on White”
light-on-dark
dark-on-light
[ 47 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Colors (cont’d)
Caution with color blindness! Red-Green colourblindness:
7–10% of (male) population
(i.e., statistically 2-3 of the ” s” among you in class)
Illustration by:E. W. Scripture, 1895“Thinking, Feeling, Doing”
”Ishihara”(color test plate):
Should say ”74”(”21” or nothing,
if colourblind)
[ 48 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
THEMES
Themes are convenient
BUT: be careful Some are very very very frequently used!!!
<T>
[ 49 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Animations
Animations can make presentation more alive
However, use with caution!: Many different Inconsistent use Overly fancy
Chaotic / Amateur’ish
[ 50 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Animations (cont’d)
”strip-tease effect” Content appears incrementally…:
Good for ”controlling focus”: (i.e., you + audience have attention same place)
[ 51 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Outline
Introduction & History Content & Structure Semantics & Consistency Form (tips’n’tricks)
Images Text F onts Colors Themes Animations
Presentation (rehearse + live talk)
1
2
3
4
5
abc
[~Inventio/Dispositio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Elucutio]
[~Memoria/Actio]
Fnt
<T>
[ 52 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Annoyances (audience poll)
Annoyance Percentage
The speaker reads the slides to us 62.0 %
Text so small I couldn't read it 46.9 %
Slides hard to see because of color choice 42.6 %
Full sentences instead of bullet points 39.1 %
Moving/flying text or graphics 24.8 %
Overly complex diagrams or charts 22.2 %
[ http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/pptresults2005.htm ]
What annoys audiences about presentations?
[ 53 ]Claus Brabrand, ITU Nov 10, 2008COMMUNICATION via PowerPoint
Live Presentation
Rehearsal (Memoria): Test equipment beforehand Get to know room Avoid CO2 drinks before talk
(S. Auken’s TV appearance) Rehearse slide transitions
Presentation flow Plan skip points
to skip during presentation Get to know personal pace
#slides/minute Disable ”menu on right click”
(in Tools>Options>View)
Live presentation (Actio): Use all Mathias’ rhetorical
advice Speak loud & clearly Use ”presenter” Use keys ”b” / ”w”
…for focus on you # + <return>
…to jump to particular slide # Cultural conventions:
Denmark vs. Japan? Subject conventions:
Science vs. Humanities?