CMSC 304 Giving Effective Presentations

CMSC 304CMSC 304

Giving Effective PresentationsGiving Effective Presentations

Professor Marie desJardins

April 16, 2013

4/16/131CMSC 304 - Presentations

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OutlineOutline Four rules for all presentations

General guidelines for preparing talks

Paper presentation guidelines for this class


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RuleRule Know what on earth you’re doing up there!

Rule #2: Know what you want to say

Rule #3: Know your audience

Rule #4: Know how long you have


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Rule #2: Rule #2: Know What You Want to SayKnow What You Want to Say

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Your audience wants to hear what your topic is, what your main point is, what you learned that was interesting, and why they should care

You should give enough detail to get your interesting ideas and observations across, but not enough to lose your audience

Examples are very useful to illustrate your points

Whatever you do, don’t just read your slides!

CMSC 304 - Presentations

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Rule #3: Rule #3: Know Your AudienceKnow Your Audience

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Depending on youraudience, you might beable to assume some background – or not

Depending on the venue,you may need to focus on different aspects of your work

The most important thing is to emphasize, in a way that they will understand and relate to, what your findings are , what your evidence is, and why they(this particular audience) should care!


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Rule #4: Rule #4: Know How Long You HaveKnow How Long You Have

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How long is the talk? Are questions included?

A good heuristic is a minute or so per slide ...but it depends a lot on the content of those slides!

If you have too many slides, you’ll skip some or—worse—rush desperately to finish. Avoid this temptation!!

Almost by definition, you never have time to say everything about your topic, so don’t worry about skipping some things!

Unless you’re very experienced giving talks, you should practice your timing


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Slideology 101Slideology 101 Don’t just read your slides!

Use the minimum amount of text necessary

Use examples and visuals (images, graphs, diagrams)

Use a readable, simple, yet elegant format

Use color to emphasize important points, but avoid the excessive use of color

“Hiding” bullets like this is annoying (but sometimes effective), but…

Don’t fidget, and…

Don’t just read your slides!

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Abuse of animation is a cardinal sin!


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How to Give a Bad TalkHow to Give a Bad Talk

Advice from Dave Patterson, summarized by Mark HillAdvice from Dave Patterson, summarized by Mark Hill

1. Thou shalt not be neat

2. Thou shalt not waste space

3. Thou shalt not covet brevity

4. Thou shalt cover thy naked slides

5. Thou shalt not write large

6. Thou shalt not use color

7. Thou shalt not illustrate

8. Thou shalt not make eye contact

9. Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk

10. Thou shalt not practice


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CMSC 304 Paper CMSC 304 Paper PresentationsPresentations

Content: You should provide a well organized presentation of the area that you studied: What is the topic area? What are the main ethical questions? What is your overall conclusion? What is the evidence and support for this conclusion?

You should include all of the main steps of the ethical analysis framework somewhere in your presentation

Timing: You should aim for an 8-minute presentation This works out to (roughly) 8-10 slides

(but it depends on how detailed your slides are) I will cut you off if you go too long! There will be a few minutes after each talk for questions


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Paper PresentationsPaper Presentations Audience: Your audience consists of your

fellow students. (I don’t count.) If you selected a topic that we discussed in class this

semester, they’ll all have some background If you’ve selected a different topic, they may know little

or nothing about the area


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Giving the Giving the PresentationPresentation

You may use your own laptop or put the presentation on my laptop or Alec’s

You should arrive early the day of your presentation to test your laptop and/or transfer the presentation

Draft slides can optionally be sent to me for review, if you want feedback beforehand I will only promise to review and comment on draft slides if

they are sent at least 24 hours before your presentation!

Practice your presentation, even if it’s just to yourself, to make sure your timing is correct


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Audience ParticipationAudience Participation All students are expected to attend all of the presentations

Everyone should ask a question or make a comment at least once per day (except for the day you’re presenting)

At the end of each class (except for the day you’re presenting), I’ll ask you to turn in a short observation report You should list three new things that you learned or aspects of the

presentations that day that you found interesting. (This doesn’t have to be an essay, but it should be a sentence or two that is grammatically correct and complete.)

You may also include comments or thoughts about the effectiveness of the presentations (things that you thought worked or didn’t work). (I won’t share these with the other students, though I may work them into my own feedback if I agree with your comments)


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Grading and FeedbackGrading and Feedback I’ll use a review form (which I’ll post in advance) to rate

your presentation on various aspects

I will also typically provide some written feedback (comments)

Your grade will be based on: Your level of preparation The clarity of your presentation The timing of your presentation


Documents

CMSC 304 Giving Effective Presentations