How To Present
Christine Robson
November 20, 2007

Overview
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Material you’re presenting
– Working with presentation software
– Avoiding chart junk
Talking to your audience
– How to be convincing
– What to say (and not to say)
– Swapping between presenters

How to make good slides

Why make slides?
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“Backdrop” for your talk
Defend yourself with hard numbers and quotes
Helps visual vs. auditory learners
Can be used as handouts

Convey Information
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Each slide presents a coherent thought
Use concise bullets
Each bullet must add information
Use the tree structure for imbedded concepts
– i.e. for examples
– Useful for breaking down multi-part ideas

What’s wrong here?
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Overview
– The third quarter results clearly indicate an overwhelming success of our product when compared to the competitors products
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Much improved in 12-18 age ranges
Slightly improved in 18-24 age ranges
– Need more market study in this age range, particularly the effects as high school students graduate
Entire new market in 24-40 age ranges
Overall this shows a dramatic increase in market potential
– This should be our new direction in 2008

Presenting your Data
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Remember Tufte
– Present data simply and concisely
– Avoid chart-junk and wasted ink
A good picture should be worth a thousand words
A mix of pictures and words is best

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Data Points from GTME BSE division, Product lines 3E,
TA5, 64C series, and R*
90
80
70
East
West
North
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
The consistent data in the west and north regions indicates that these markets are stable. By contrast the high variability of the east region clearly indicates a potential market to be tapped for new revenue growth in 2008

Pets of 2 nd grade students
Number of Pets
10
8
6
4
2
0
Mary Suzie Peter Bob Jane
Where should Hammy, the class hamster, spend Thanksgiving?

Remember the grid!
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Your webpage layout used grids
– Don’t abandon them now!
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Your presentation is like a website
– Each slide has a layout, like a page
– Keep consistency between slides

Remember the grid!

Your webpage layout used grids
– Don’t abandon them now!

Your presentation is like a website
– Each slide has a layout, like a page
– Keep consistency between slides

Remember the grid!

Your webpage layout used grids
– Don’t abandon them now!

Your presentation is like a website
– Each slide has a layout, like a page
– Keep consistency between slides

Most presentation software will help you

General Guidelines
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Keep your slides simple
– Two or three main points
– One chart at a time
– No chart junk!
Limit yourself to 1 slide per minute
– Otherwise your audience can’t keep up

Speaking

Talk to your audience
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Know your target audience
– Background Knowledge
– Expectations
– What they want to hear
– Who they will trust
Look them in the eye
Engage people and draw them in

Keeping up appearances
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Look & act professional
– More people will believe you
Be calm and relaxed
– Get a good night’s sleep
– Do NOT over-caffeinate
Stand up straight and don’t fidget
– Harder then it sounds…

Be Convincing
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Confidence is convincing
– Always sound like you know what you’re talking about
Admit when you don’t know
– “Good question…”
Don’t get defensive

You should never…
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Put something on a slide without mentioning it
– audience will stop “trusting” you to tell them everything
– promotes reading your slides instead of listening
Put up a chart without explaining it
– everyone is looking at it anyway
Read your slides

Appearing United
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One person has to be the “Master of
Ceremonies”
– First & Last person to speak
– Can help with transitions between other speakers
Refer to each other by name
– i.e. “Thanks, John”

Sharing the stage
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Every person speaking has their own role
The audience will assume characters, i.e.
– the person who describes implementation is the
“techy”
– the “salesperson” describes the user need
Use this to divide content
– Keep the same person speaking about the same type of stuff

Practice makes perfect
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Practice transitions
– Between slides
– Between speakers
Start with speaker notes, but know the material by heart
Be prepared for interruptions
– Questions
– Technical problems

Practice with an audience
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A mirror is OK
In front of friends is better
Critical colleagues are best
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Keep yourself to your time limit

Nuts & Bolts

Final presentation scheduling
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If your group presents on Tuesday,
Dec. 4, your final report is due on
Thursday, Dec. 6
If your group presents on Thursday,
Dec. 6, your final report is due on
Tuesday, Dec. 4
Send email with your preferences to cs160—first come, first served