Oral Presentation Guidelines
Mary Westervelt
Technical Communication
Program
General principles
1. Oral medium ≠ Written medium
2. Nerves complicate things.
3. PowerPoint isn’t All.
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Oral versus written
Different medium
Same goal: meet audience needs for
information
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What do they need to know?
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What’s the goal of the presentation?
 Think ‘thesis’, not just ‘topic’
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What’s the plan for the presentation?
Where are you in the presentation?
Convey the message orally!
Choose words carefully:
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Organization keywords
Short sentences
Simpler vocabulary
Examples
Paraphrase
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Convey the message!
Use your voice.
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I can’t hear you from the back row
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That was
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Alittleinflectionwouldhelpmecatchtheimportantwords
great until
the end…
 Stress / pause / repeat
Convey the message!
Five points for effective body language:
 Face the audience.
 Make eye contact.
 Move! But not too much.
 Use gestures that convey the message.
 Don’t let dress distract.
General principles revisited
1. Oral ≠ Written!
2. Nerves complicate things
3. PowerPoint isn’t All
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2. Nerves complicate things
Most important:
 Take time to prepare.
 Plan how to hand off between
group members.
 Practice - with a critical audience.
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Nerves: A BIG help:
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Check out the space beforehand.
Practice in that space.
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Nerves: The Big Day
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Remember that you’re ready.
Remember that you have a message
you want to convey.
Breathe!
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Finally:
1. Oral ≠ Written
2. Nerves complicate things
3. PowerPoint isn’t All
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Introduction
Concern about anthropogenic climate change has stimulated
research and investment into

technologies that limit CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels

technologies that remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere.
Near pure streams of CO2 are produced

from point sources or

from the atmosphere
The methods for are
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retrofitting power plants to separate CO2 from flue gas using various solvents,
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separating nitrogen from air prior to combustion to enable pure oxygen
combustion
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employing the watergas-shift reaction in a gasification plant to enable
hydrogen–oxygen combustion in a hydrogen gas turbine

capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere using solvents with a chemical
process designed to regenerate the solvents.
House, K.Z., House, C.H., Schrag, D.P., & Aziz, M.J. (2007) Electrochemical acceleration of chemical weathering
as an energetically feasible approach to mitigating anthropogenic climate change. Environ.Sci.Technol.
2007,41,8464-8470.
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Carbon capture and storage
Traditional methods
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Limit CO2 emissions
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Remove CO2 using solvents
Our method
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Enhance solubility of CO2 in the ocean
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Neutralize CO2 through reaction with Si
rock.
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6 Principal Air Pollutants
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Ozone Down
Source: Environmental Protection Agency 2007 report
http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2007/
Years 1980-2006
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GDP up, Emissions down
Source: Environmental Protection Agency 2006 report
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epa.gov/airtrends/sixpoll.html
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Indicate scale in photos.
Photo by Mark Fickett Posted on Wikimedia Commons 13 Jun 2012
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Ppt = vehicle; You = driver!
Don’t
 Read slides
 Use complex slides
 Use unintelligible slides
 Use irrelevant or distracting slides
 Rush through slides
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You’re in charge! Four tips:
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Tell listeners how each slide fits into
overall presentation
Text slides: Use as outline
Graphics: Interpret, don’t just read
Blank the image to remove distraction
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Use the b key (blanks computer screen)
Blank the projector
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Five final suggestions for slide
presentations
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Number slides
Keep font large and dark
Include a guide showing where you are in the
talk
Have a backup plan (Handouts? Chalk talk?)
Be prepared for questions
 Prepare answers
 Prepare slides
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Actual Emissions
1980 - 2006
Source: Environmental Protection Agency 2007 report
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On ESE Senior Design Website
Layout of slides:
Sample PowerPoint Presentation
Powerpoint tips:
Do’s and Don’ts of Presentation
Graphics
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Sample slides from
1. Center for Embedded Network Sensing
2004 presentation
2. ESE Senior Design 2007 presentations
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Background: Cardiovascular
Disease
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Immediate Goals
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Initiate development of sensor systems and
algorithms leading to capability for stroke and other
cardiovascular disease detection
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Sensing requirements include
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Blood oxygen
Pulse
Gait
Weight
Speech queries
Blood oxygen and pulse information available now
Posture and gait identification current priority
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Identify posture, limp, run, walk, stand, etc.
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Final Helps
On course website:
 Guidelines (Good/bad examples)
 Rubric raters will use
TCP Communication Fellows
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~tcp
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