Guide to Oral Presentations

Faculté de génie Génie mécanique

Faculty of Engineering Mechanical Engineering

ORAL PRESENTATIONS MADE EASY or How to Put an Audience to Sleep in Five Minutes W.L.H. Hallett

1. Organization/Preparation Perspective/Objectives: - what is your audience? what do they already know?

- what do you want them to learn? to remember? (2-3 key points) - what are the most important things to communicate about your work?

Organization: - basic structure: Introduction - introduce the topic, state objectives, give background Main Body of Presentation, which should be broken into major topics, eg.

Objectives, Methods, Results Conclusion - summarize main points, indicate future directions - make an outline with main topics and subtopics - organize in terms of slides - each subtopic should have at least one separate slide devoted to it, and each slide presented should have a definite purpose Selection of Material: - illustrate main points only, avoid minor details - describe important concepts in terms of basic processes familiar to your audience - give representative results only - every graph must have a purpose - provide background information if material is likely to be unfamiliar to your audience - mathematics - use only essential equations, avoid derivations

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- avoid large numbers of slides - allow 1 minute for most slides, 2-3 minutes for each detailed slide. 15 - 20 slides is about right for a 20 - 30 minute seminar.

Presentation too long? - does each slide serve an important purpose? if not, delete or combine - prioritize each topic, delete the lower priority ones - don’t get bogged down in details

2. Graphics Layout: - strive for clean, uncluttered look - leave blank space around blocks of text or figures - no more than 12 lines/items of information on one slide - avoid busy backgrounds and gadgets - try to set up a uniform format for your slides

- each slide should have a title and clear headings and sub-headings - colours: strong contrast for text (black or blue letters on white background, or white or yellow on dark background works best). Avoid reds and fluorescent colours.

Text: - for overheads, make lettering at least 6 mm high on 8.5 x 11 sheet (24 point type) - computer slide lettering should be larger (30 pt minimum) to compensate for focussing or resolution problems (some video projectors do not focus sharply) - stick to plain fonts (Roman or Arial), use lower case (CAPITALS LOOK TOO BUSY) - give clear headings and sub-headings, preferably numbered - use a minimum number of words - audience is supposed to listen to you, not read Figures/Graphs: - each figure should have a title - keep graphs simple, don’t put too many variables on one graph. Label curves on graphs directly - legends or keys take too long for viewers to read, and some people are partially colour blind and won’t be able to distinguish colours in your legend.

- label axes clearly, but don’t put too many numbers on the scale - remove gridlines from graphs - avoid drawings with unnecessary detail, dimensions, and notes.

- diagrams should be as large as possible, preferably filling most of one slide - avoid tables - if you use them, make them large, few entries Test: you should be able to read your slides from a distance of 6 × screen diagonal from the computer (2 m for a 15" monitor - larger distance for a larger screen).

Plan your slides so that they can also be your notes for speaking. You should not have to bring written notes to the presentation.

3.Delivery Speech - loud, clear, slow - avoid monotone, “valley girl” inflection, and, like, the word “like” - make eye contact with audience, make sure they're not sleeping - as much as possible, speak without notes, using the points in your slides as your outline, but avoid memorizing your talk. Audiences appreciate “live” presentations.

Graphics: - don't stand in front of the screen - you aren't transparent!

- introduce each graph ("this shows x plotted against y at constant z") - avoid laser pointers - they're hard to see and will betray your shaking hands Questions: - be honest, be brief - don't know answer? don't stonewall or improvise!

- repeat question in case audience hasn't heard it - dealing with jerks - be polite, rebut comments, but don't get into public arguments