What makes a good presentation?

1

What makes a good presentation?

2. The slides

3. The talk

4. Miscellaneous

1. Structure

2

1. Structure

present as few equations as possible

1. Presentation paper

motivation is most important!!! (see Economic History presentations)

emphasize the economic intuition

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Put yourself into the shoes of someone who


2. Rule of thumb:

doesn’t know much about your topic, literature, details

Best example: Recall how you felt during the most recent seminars

implement what you liked

avoid what put you to sleep

1. Structure

4

(Brief outline of your talk)

(Motivation of your topic)

(Describe the essential parts of your economic/econometric model)

1. “What is the point of being here?”

3. Outline of a good presentation:

(Very briefly relate your work to the existing literature)

(Present, explain, and discuss your results)

3. “What is new?”

4. “What do I need to know to understand your results?”

2. “When can I ask what question?”


2. Rule of thumb

5. “What should I learn from your talk?”

1. Structure

5

2. The Slides

12 point font won’t do!

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2. The Slides

12 point font won’t do!

20 point font is the absolute minimum

28 point font is even better

Don’t do fancy things with

10 – 12 slides maximum for a 40 minute presentation

Don’t overload your slides

Don’t have too many slides

The

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predicted shares

observed shares

If you need to show equations: make them simple!

RankingsElections

mean loglikelihood ratio

Number of voters

Kernel of themultinomial distribution

2. The Slides

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Table 3. Assessment of six models of voter behavior

Analysis of observedelection data

Analysis of simulated data(“impartial anonymous culture

assumption”)

Degrees of freedom

MeanLLR

MeanWSSR

AIC BIC MeanLLR

MeanWSSR

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Equally likely rankings

0 -196.80(4.26)

207.28(4.42)

359,357 359,357 -535.12(0.31)

581.00(0.41)

Unequally likely rankings

5 -31.15(0.97)

32.45(0.88)

56,890 56,922 -161.00(0.15)

160.22(0.17)

Borda model 913 -116.79(2.72)

121.00(2.78)

215,085 220,951 -367.14(0.23)

363.84(0.24)

Condorcet model 913 -84.99(2.00)

88.36(2.25)

157,018 162,885 -297.27(0.20)

283.20(0.20)

Spatial model 3,652 -0.87(0.05)

0.97(0.06)

8,893 32,360 -73.15(0.11)

65.13(0.09)

Notes: 1. Standard errors of estimate of the estimated means are shown in parentheses.2. To facilitate comparisons, we have multiplied the statistics reported in Columns (3) and (7) by 1,000,000. 3. We calculated the AIC and BIC in Columns (4) and (5) using the LLRs in Column (2), which share the same denominator. Thus the two measures of fit differ from the conventional measures by an additive constant.4. To determine the BIC in Column (5), note that there are 5 913 – 1 = 4,564 degrees of freedom in the data.

Don’t reproduce tables from your paper

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Analysis of observed

election data

Analysis of simulated data

(“impartial anonymous culture”)

mean LLR mean LLR

Equally likely rankings (IC)

-196.80

(4.26)

-535.12

(0.31)


-31.15

(0.97)

-161.00

(0.15)

Borda model -116.79

(2.72)

-367.14

(0.23)

Condorcet model -84.99

(2.00)

-297.27

(0.20)

Spatial model -0.87

(0.05)

-73.15

(0.11)

Note: Standard errors of estimate of the estimated means in parentheses.

Assessment of six models of voter behavior

10


election data

mean LLR


-196.80

(4.26)


-31.15

(0.97)

Borda model -116.79

(2.72)


(2.00)

Spatial model -0.87

(0.05)



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election data

Analysis of simulated data

(“impartial anonymous culture”)

mean LLR mean LLR


-196.80

(4.26)

-535.12

(0.31)


-31.15

(0.97)

-161.00

(0.15)

Borda model -116.79

(2.72)

-367.14

(0.23)


(2.00)

-297.27

(0.20)

Spatial model -0.87

(0.05)

-73.15

(0.11)



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Don’t show anything on a slide that youdo not plan to discuss in your presentation

Don’t write out text in long paragraphs withdetailed definitions that your audiencecannot possibly digest at a single glance because your explanation is too longwinded and tedious.

use short bullet points

add verbal explanations

use graphics when possible

2. The Slides

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3. The talk

Don’t read your slides!



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3. The talk

the slides are for your audience, not for you

write everything you plan to say on paper… but don’t read your presentation from that paper

practice your talk, with all your slides,

- in front of a mirror

- with your friends

slides should have only short bullet points

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3. The talk

only make things appear and disappear onyour slides if you know your presentation cold otherwise: show the entire slide

don’t be afraid of questions If you cannot answer the question, say

“That is a good question. I haven’t thought about it yet.”

Write the question downand work on it when you are back in your office

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3. The talk

if you describe an equation, use the variablenames and not their symbols

YC

This is not “beta”but “the marginal propensity to consume”

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look at your audience, not at your shoes

speak loudly enough

smile

3. The talk

your audience is your friend, not your enemy

if you get nervous, imagine that everyonein the audience is naked

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4. Miscellaneous

arrive at least 15 minutes early to set up yourequipment

have a backup plan in case something does not work

email your presentation to yourself(in case the flash drive fails)

bring a printout of your presentation(to make transparencies if the computer fails)

be prepared to talk even without your slides(in case the projector fails)

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Thank your audience

for coming!

It is bad if your presentation ends with “that’s it!”

Documents

What makes a good presentation?