the do s and dont s of presentations and powerpoint m.p.mcguigan@bath.ac.uk

The Do s and Don’t s of Presentations and Powerpoint

m.p.mcguigan@bath.ac.uk

Aim of the presentation

Presentations need to be given for many reasons and in many different situations

• Formal

• Informal

• Research

• Concept pitch

• Sales

Make sure you know your audience and the aim of the presentation is very clear

Plan the presentation

Know how much time you have and plan the presentation accordingly

Research presentations usually

• 15mins: 10–12min presentation & 3-5min questions

• 20mins: 15min presentation & 5min questions

• Aim for no more than one slide per minute of presentation.

• Do not over-run

Slide Design

A balance between

• Interesting

• Informative

• Nice to look at

• Easy to read

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background– Light text on dark background

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background– Light text on dark background

• Be very careful of your colour combinations

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background– Light text on dark background

• Be very careful of your colour combinations– Need contrast between background and text

Slide Design: Background

Your choice of background has a huge influence on your slides

• Plain backgrounds boring but very easy to read– Dark text on light background– Light text on dark background

• Be very careful of your colour combinations– Need contrast between background and text– Some colours just don’t work!

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

• Adding shading

Slide Design: BackgroundSlide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting byCan make background more interesting by

• Adding shadingAdding shading

• Powerpoint background templatePowerpoint background template– Can be restricting with colours and fonts, but easy Can be restricting with colours and fonts, but easy

and quick to useand quick to use

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

• Adding shading

• Powerpoint background template

• Background design

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

• Adding shading

• Powerpoint background template

• Background design– Be very careful that background does not distract

from slide content

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

• Adding shading

• Powerpoint background template

• Background design– Be very careful that background does not distract

from slide content– Feint designs can be good

• But audience can spend whole presentation trying to figure out what your background is!

Slide Design: Background

Can make background more interesting by

• Adding shading

• Powerpoint background template

• Background design– Be very careful that background does not distract

from slide content– Feint designs can be good– Good to use plain background with simple picture or

motif to personalise your slides

Slide Design: Font• Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

• Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

• Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

• Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

• Which of these lines do you find easiest to read?

Slide Design: Font• Times New Roman - Which of these lines….

• Arial - Which of these lines….

• Verdana – Which of these lines….

• Tahoma - Which of these lines….

• Comic Sans - Which of these lines….

• All 32 pt

Slide Design: Font Size

• 32 pt font is easy to read• 28 pt font is still fine• 24 pt is ok but if you just use this you are likely to have too

much text on the slide• 20 pt is getting small and difficult to read• 18 pt should only be used for small details

• Never use anything smaller that 18pt

Slide Content: Outline

Many people recommend starting with an outline of the contents and structure of the

presentation

• Structure

• Slide design

• Presentation Skills

• Example research presentations

• Discussion and feedback

• Conclusions

Slide Content: Structure

• Introduction– Background and work that has lead to the

current study– Hypothesis/Question

• Methods• Results

– Unlike a research paper you should discus your results as you present them

• Conclusions– Implications, take home message and further

research

Slide ContentTry not to cover too much information on

each slide: one point per slide.• Don’t have too much text!• Try not to have large blocks of text• Where appropriate use diagrams and

pictures to illustrate your point– Schematic diagram of experimental set up– Picture of data collection

• Make sure pictures are relevant

Slide Content: Tables and Graphs

• In most research presentations the results are presented in the form of Tables and Graphs

MAKE SURE THE AUDIENCE CAN READ THEM

Slide Content: Graphs

• If you paste a graph straight from Excel– The lines are too thin– The lines are often colours that you cannot see– Axis titles are too small

Slide Content: Graphs

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51

Fz

Fy

Fx

Title

Axis labels

Axi

s la

bel

s

Font too small

Lines too thin

Grey background shows pasted straight from Excel

Slide Content: Graphs

Ground Reaction Force for the forelimb of a trotting goat

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Gro

un

d R

eact

ion

Fo

rce

(Bw

) Vertical

Ant-post

Med-lat

Slide Content: Graphs

Ground Reaction Force for the forelimb of a trotting goat

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Gro

un

d R

eact

ion

Fo

rce

(Bw

) Vertical

Ant-post

Med-lat

Slide Content: Graphs

Hind limb joint angles

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

Hip

Knee

Ankle

MTPUse contrasting colours

Don’t use light blue

Slide Content: Graphs

Hind limb joint angles

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

Hip

Knee

Ankle

MTP

Slide Content: Graphs

80

85

90

95

100

105

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

Hip

120

125

130

135

140

145

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

Knee

140

145

150

155

160

165

170

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

Ankle

146

148

150

152

154

156

158

160

162

164

166

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (percentage of stance)

Join

t an

gle

(d

egre

es)

MTP

Don’t try to fit too much on one slide

Slide Content

Results

• Start by describing the graphs and tables– What the axis are– What each of the lines represents– What the graphs shows

• What does it all mean?

• Discuss the results in relation to your hypotheses and previous research

Slide Content

Conclusion

• Arguable the most important part of the presentation

• Make sure your ‘take home point’ is very clear

• What are the implications of this research?

Slide Content

Remember to…

• Cite the sources of your information– The author(s) and date of the reference are

usually sufficient

• Acknowledge any assistance you have been given

Presentation Skills

• Don’t go too fast

• Remember to breathe and take pauses

• Try to engage your audience – eye contact

• Try not to read from notes

PRACTICE!!!!The more you do the easier they will

become