How to put an audience to sleep
Oral Presentations Made Easy
How to put an audience to sleep in five minutes
or
W. HallettDept. of Mechanical Engineering
University of Ottawa
How to put an audience to sleep
1. Organization/Preparation
Outline:IntroductionMain body (divide into topics)ConclusionsAcknowledgements
- develop outline in terms of slides
How to put an audience to sleep
1. Organization/Preparation
Selection of material:- concentrate on important points (learningobjectives!), avoid minor details
- more content � more learning
- graphs or data - give representative samples- each graph must have a purpose
- equations - essential ones only- avoid derivations
How to put an audience to sleep
1. Organization/Preparation
Amount of material:- average 1 - 2 slides . 1 minute, longer for
slides requiring more discussion - to shorten presentation, prioritize topics
and slides, delete or combine lowerpriority ones
Plan slides so that they can also be yournotes for speaking.
You should be able to speak without hand-held notes
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Layout:- uncluttered- max. 12 lines or pieces of information per slide6 minimum font . 24 pt.
- put a title on each slide- number titles to indicate organization of talk
- leave some blank space between sections ormajor points, figures, etc.
40 pt. title
32 pt. text
heading
blank space
How to put an audience to sleep
Font:- plain Roman or Gothic (e.g. Arial)- use lower case:
CAPITALS ARE HARDER TO READ
- letter size $ 6% of slide size, thickness $ 1/6 of letter height
- avoid bizarre fonts - you maythink they look cool, but youraudience won’t!
2. Graphics
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
0.02
0.04
0.06
0 100 200 300 400 molecular mass
alcohol
acid
aldehyde
Graph imported directly from Quattro or Excel:
Can youdistinguishthese colours?
How fast canyou read legendand graph?
(do you liketwisting yourneck?)
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
0.02
0.04
0.06
0 100 200 300 400 molecular mass
alcohols acids
aldehydes
thermalconductivity
W/mK
label curves directly -no legendall titles horizontal
smaller font - 24 pt.
(take out gridlines)
paraffins(linesthicker)
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Graph conventions:- measured data = points (Q, O, L, �, �, etc.)
- exception: trace produced by continuouslyrecording instrument (e.g. tensile test)
- theory or calculations = lines or curves, not points(unless they are really only single points)
- do not connect measured points by lines- if curves are drawn to show trends (use only ifnecessary) they should not join all the points
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 10 20 30 40 50 radius (mm)
exp’t - takeout lines
Graph imported directly from Quattro or Excel:
theory - don’tshow points
How to put an audience to sleep
2. GraphicsGraph cleaned up for presentation:
0
20
40
60
0 10 20 30 40 50 radius (mm)
theory
measurementstake out gridlines - but leave tickson axes
measurements -points only
line only
title horizontal
always give UNITS
velocity(m/s)
How to put an audience to sleep
Experimental Apparatusexhaust
plenum and gratecan be lowered to
sample bed
secondary air jets (8)
gas sampling probe
fuelbed
flow straightener
thermocouples (TypeB, ceramic coated)
primary air
gaschromato-graph
grate
refractory
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Problem slide: the microscopic fuzzy JPEGdownloaded from the web - re-draw or omit.
- credit source of figures copied from othersas you would in a written report
Source: garbage JPEG from Hallett (2004) Source: Mechanical Engineering
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
x 2x + 2 x^2 f(x)
A 1 4 1 1
B 2 6 4 3
C 3 8 9 7
D 4 10 16 13
E 5 12 25 21
Title of TableTables
- use tables only if you must - keep simple- can easily become too much information
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Equations- use the minimum number of equations
necessary to make your points
- use adequate font size- use proper equation editor and notation- no “spreadsheet” equations
(e.g. y = 2x^2 + a/b*x)
- define any variables that are not likely to befamiliar to your audience (this takes space -don’t use more equations than necessary!)
How to put an audience to sleep
Pyrolysis Model
Solid-phase conservation equation for mass fractionYW of unpyrolyzed wood:
Gas-phase transport equation for tar:
Notation: YT = tar mass fraction, DT eff = tar diffusivityrT = tar reaction rate, g = void fraction
blank space
How to put an audience to sleep
2. GraphicsColours: - avoid combinations with low contrast. - avoid red on green (colour-blindness)- avoid fluorescents
Bad choice - low contrast.
Good contrast - easily readable
Red on green - can you read this?
Fluorescents are hard on the eyes
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Animation -avoid unless essential tomake your point
otherwise it is just a silly gimmick
that wastes time and makesyour audience doubt your sanity
or want to stuff you intoyour CD drive
How to put an audience to sleep
2. Graphics
Test for Slides:All slides should be readable from a
distance from the computer screen of 6times the screen diagonal (2 - 3 m)
Plan your slides so that they can also beyour notes for speaking
How to put an audience to sleep
3. Delivery
- speak loudly, clearly, slowly- make eye contact with audience- don’t stand in front of the screen
- if possible, speak without notes, usingslides as outline/guide, but don'tmemorize your talk
- don’t read your slides
- introduce each graph and figure ( “thisgraph shows v plotted against time...”)
How to put an audience to sleep
3. Delivery
- if possible, try out room and equipmentbeforehand
- show interest and enthusiasm!- acknowledge other contributors
Questions- be polite, brief, to the point- don’t get into arguments- be honest - if you don’t know something,
don’t stonewall