A Bad Slide is one that contains too
much information for the audience
to read and to understand in the
time in which you are going to have
the slide projected
Average Monthly Precipitation
Average Monthly Precipitation
Miami, Florida
Reno, Nevada
20
10
1.2
15
1.0
8
10
Rainfall
5
0
0.6
6
4
0.4
-5
2
0.2
-10
-10
Inches
Inches
0.8
-5
0
5
Month
•
•
10
15
20
0.0
Jan Feb
Mar Apr May
Jun Jul
Aug
Sept Oct
Nov Dec
1971-2000
0
Jan
Feb
Mar Apr
May Jun
Jul
Aug Sept Oct
Nov Dec
1971-2000
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
Reno is in a drier region than Miami and so we would expect there to be less rain in any given month.
If we look at the data, we see that this is indeed the case.
Some Advice
Everything on a slide should be:
•
•
•
visible
useful
clear
Never read your slides!!
A Good Slide
Average Monthly Precipitation
Reno, Nevada
1.2
1.0
Inches
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Jan Feb
Mar
Apr May
Jun
Jul
Aug Sept Oct
Nov Dec
1971-2000
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
A Good Slide
Average Monthly Precipitation
Miami, Florida
10
Inches
8
6
4
2
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
1971-2000
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
A Good Slide
Rainfall Comparison
10
Reno
Miami
average rainfall (in)
8
6
4
2
0
0
5
10
numeric month
15
A Good Slide
Rainfall in Reno
average rainfall (in)
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
5
10
numeric month
15
A Good Slide
Rainfall in Miami
average rainfall (in)
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
5
10
numeric month
15
A Good Slide
Rainfall Comparison
10
Reno
Miami
average rainfall (in)
8
6
4
2
0
0
5
10
numeric month
15
A Bad Outline
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Methods
Experimental results
Interpretation of results
Conclusions
A Better Outline
•
Why rain is nice
Who likes rain
Who doesn’t like rain
Where rain is expected
Where rain is observed
•
•
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu
12.445 Oral Communication in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Fall 2010
For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.