the do s and dont s of presentations and powerpoint [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
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