DT211 & DT228

Team Project

Presentation Skills

Module Web Page: http://www.comp.dit.ie/pbourke

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?

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?

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

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

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

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

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!

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

PowerPoint: Colours & Fonts (cont…)

Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from

Always be consistent with the background that you use

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

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

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

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

Questions?

?

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!)

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 Dumb

Should We Abandon PowerPoint?

?

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”