lecture overview
DESCRIPTION
Effective Technical Speaking for Computer Engineers (Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer & Sharad Seth). Lecture Overview. Preparation phase Audience Analysis Objectives and main points Effective use of slides Format, Fonts & Figures Handouts Effective verbal presentation - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
CSCECSCE488488
Professional DevelopmentProfessional Development
Effective Technical Speaking Effective Technical Speaking for Computer Engineersfor Computer Engineers
(Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer (Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer & Sharad Seth)& Sharad Seth)
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 2
Lecture OverviewLecture Overview Preparation phase
Audience Analysis Objectives and main points
Effective use of slides Format, Fonts & Figures Handouts
Effective verbal presentation Matching verbal and visual parts Keeping the audience interested (awake) Handling Questions
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 3
Preliminary ItemsPreliminary Items Choose your Medium (slides, Powerpoint, etc.)
What is necessary?
What is sufficient? What is easiest to execute?
Rehearsal Rehearse for a human critic (teammate) Videotape can be very enlightening
Rehearsal can be a major mitigator of stage fright
Get your timing down pat!
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 4
Audience AnalysisAudience Analysis Who are they (demographically)?
Age, gender, culture, educational level?
What are they? Students, colleagues, engineers, executives? Customers?
What is their knowledge level?
What are they looking for? What do they expect to learn? How badly do they want to learn it?
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 5
ObjectivesObjectives Three universal objectives
Get the “facts” across
Convince the audience of their validity Keep them awake long enough to do the above
Individual objectives influence the emphasis Should you emphasize “just the facts”? Will you need to do a lot of convincing?
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 6
Identify the Main PointsIdentify the Main Points Assumption: a listener can only handle 5 main points Realize that at any time, 20% of audience is thinking of
something else Repeat the main points 3 times
First, them what is coming (Intro/summary) Then, tell it to them (main body of talk) Finally, tell them what you just told them (conclusions)
Distinguish between main points and details Hierarchical levels of bullets on slides Vocal volume, inflection and pauses Summary slides at beginning and end
Use pictures whenever you can
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 7
Slide OrganizationSlide Organization Title Page
title
authors affiliation (or course number)
Contact data (at least e-mail)
Date of presentation
Outline or Overview
Main Body of the Slides
Conclusions or Summary
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 8
General Slide FormatGeneral Slide Format Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Visual clutter is distracting
Too many special effects are distracting Use animation for illustration, not cosmetics
Want them to remember the substance, not the form
Use short, concise “bullets” Employ hierarchical bullets
Do not use paragraphs or long sentences
Do not cram too much onto one slide
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 9
FontsFonts Font Styles
Keep fonts clean and simple e.g. Arial or LaTeX \sf for most text e.g. Times New Roman or LaTeX \rm for titles
Don’t use too many fonts Limit the use of emphasis (e.g. underlining)
Font Sizes Use at least 20 pt. for default text (LaTeX \LARGE) At least 24 pt for televised talks If the audience has to work at it, they just will give up
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 10
Use of Figures & ExamplesUse of Figures & Examples A good picture (example) is worth a thousand words
And a bad picture is worth a thousand snores
Take time to talk the audience through each figure
Make sure the image is clearly visible Line size is thick enough
High enough contrast in colors
Make sure fonts on the picture are readable Exception: if you had to borrow a pre-made image Then you really have to talk them through it
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 11
A Bad SlideA Bad Slide The instance space Xn consists of all configurations of n
points on R
A concept is a set of all configs. from Xn within unit distance under the Hausdorff metric of some “ideal” configuration of k points, where HD between configs. P and Q is
and d(p,q) is distance from p to q
If P is any configuration of points on R, then concept corresponding to P is
X is a positive example of CP if it’s in CP and is a negative example otherwise
)}}},({min{max,)}},({min{maxmax{),( qpdqpdQPHPpQqQqPp
}1),(:{ XPHXXC nP
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 12
A Better SlideA Better Slide Each concept c is a set of fixed-width intervals on R Each example X is a set of points on R Example is positive iff each point in an interval & no
interval empty
concept
positive
negative
negative
X1
X2
X3
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 13
Use of HandoutsUse of Handouts Slides must be uniquely numbered (increasing order)
Handout copies of all slides before beginning Include all slides
In the same order and with the same numbering scheme
Stapled or bound
Two slides per handout page is eminently readable
Four to six slides per page may be too many Harder to take notes
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 14
Match Verbal & Visual PartsMatch Verbal & Visual Parts Time-per-slide
Rule-of-thumb: 2-3 minutes per slide Figures generally take longer Rehearse with your actual slides
Do not verbally “wander away” from your bullets No one will remember a word you said anything worth remembering must have a bullet
Point to the slides to change context Do not present complex details verbally
formulas, equations, statistics, etc. must be visual But beware of information overload!
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 15
Pay Attention to the AudiencePay Attention to the Audience Pick a few people and “talk to them”
Make eye contact (keeps them awake)
Change victims periodically (keeps them guessing) Cover the whole room
There is lots of feedback available Facial expressions & body language Furrowed brows vs. nodding heads
Fidgeting, browsing ahead in the handout, eyes closed
Adjust your talk to these cues
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 16
Physical Actions Physical Actions Stand up, don’t sit
Get away from the workstation They can hear you better, Puts you in a physically dominant position
Don’t just stand there, Move! A little motion keeps people awake Use hand gestures BUT: don’t overdo it.
A moving target commands attention Too much motion is a distraction
Face the audience Point to the screen, not the slide!
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 17
Speak up!Speak up! Speak loud enough to be heard without effort
Speak with confidence (watch out for arrogance) Improves your credibility Try to use the lower registers of your voice
Vary the pitch, volume, inflection
Develop a rhythm (don’t stumble over each word)
If you have an accent or impediment Slow down! Don’t let your volume drop
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 18
Connecting with the AudienceConnecting with the Audience Talk, don’t read!
Take cues from your slides, but do not read them It’s OK to check your notes (occasionally) Having notes on the “backup” papers helps
Write on the slides It gives the audience something to do It strongly reinforces memory It draws their attention to the details Especially good if the details are important Give them time to get caught up
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 19
Being “Entertaining”Being “Entertaining” Acknowledge that listening is hard work Entertaining implies keeping them:
interested, focused, awake Using Humor
Need the right amount, of the right type Should be relevant to the topic A little goes a long way
short relevant stories a little irreverent comment
Don’t push your luck
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 20
Handling QuestionsHandling Questions Repeat the question: “The question is …”
So, everyone else gets a chance to hear it,
To make sure you understand it
To stall while you formulate the answer
Deferring the question is OK: If you are discussing it later in the talk
If it is too complex & peripheral - offer to discuss later
If you really don’t know - say you will find out for them
Always follow up on a deferred question
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 21
Group PresentationsGroup Presentations Should be a single cohesive presentation
visual style
page numbering handout binding
One person should handle intro. & conclusions Introduce other team members Overview what topics they will cover
Hand-off the presentation to others by name
9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 22
SummarySummary A presentation can make or break a project
Know your audience ahead of time
Identify the main points you want to get across
Use clear, effective slides
Use a loud, clear, non-monotonous voice
Match the verbal to the visual presentation
Pay attention to the audience