KJC001 (talk.ppt – September 22, 2003)

How to Give Engineering Presentations for

Foundations of Engineering

K. J. ChristensenDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering

University of South FloridaTampa, Florida 33620christen@csee.usf.edu

Here acknowledge any funding sources if this work was completed under a grant.

• Introduction

• Key parts of a talk • Preparing slides

• Summary • References

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Agenda

• This talk is about how to give an engineering talk

• Being able to give good presentations is very important

• A good talk is based on,− A message – you have an idea or a finding − A good organization− Well prepared slides

Many engineering firms practice “Engineering by PowerPoint” - This may not be ideal, but it is reality

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Introduction

• The key parts of a talk are:

1) Cover slide

2) Acknowledgements (if needed)

3) Agenda

4) Introduction

5) Problem statement

6) Solution

7) Evaluation of solution

8) Summary and future work

9) List of references

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Key parts of a talk

This is for an “idea talk”

Introduction

• Describes the landscape • Motivates the problems

• Defines terms

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Problem statement

• Clearly describe the problem− What is it that you are solving?

• How will you know when you have solved the problem

• State constraints, assumptions, etc.

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Solution

• Describe the solution− How did you solve the problem?

• Use the language and style of the discipline and audience

• Use figures!!!

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Evaluation of the solution

• Describe the evaluation and/or analysis of the solution− How do you know that the solution is “good”?

• Describe trade-offs

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Summary and future work

• Summarize what you have said

• Identify any holes or bugs (future work they will be)

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Preparing slides

Some rules-of-thumb…

1) No art - this ain’t art class (use company style)

2) One slide per minute

3) A bullet never exceeds one line - slides are not to be read

3) Use hierarchies of bullets

4) A picture is worth 10K words (50% of slides should be visual)

5) Minimum font size is about 18 point

6) Using color sparingly and meaningfully (see also (1) above)

7) Each slide should contain a slide number and logo

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Summary

• Giving talks is key to your success as an engineer

• “Engineering by PowerPoint” is real

• Organization is key to a good talk

• “Clean” slides are important– Follow the given rules of thumb

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References

• Some of the ideas in this presentation come from

R. Anholt, Dazzle ‘Em with Style: The Art of Oral Scientific Presentation, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1994.

• This book is summarized at:

http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Supp/dazzle.html