Class Summary, Nov 29

This week we learned how to give technical presentations. I already knew a lot of this stuff, but not all. In fact, I learned something today that helped me give a better presentation the following week in the lab for this class. That piece of information was that people only remember about 30% of what you tell them, so the best way to give a presentation is to tell them what you're going to tell them (intro; what you'll cover), tell it to them (body), and then tell them what you told them (summary). The teacher for the lab class said she really likes it when people do this.

So, general presentation tips: don't have too much text, don't use just one color, have a background that is more interesting than a single color without clashing with the text, no more than seven things per slide (studies have shown that more than seven things, including pictures and the title, is less effective), and dress appropriately (your audience remembers your presentation, not your attire).

Now for some specific tips. First, for the opening: Establish relevancy to your audience. Give an overview of your presentation - tell them what you're going to tell them. Relate it to the big picture; how will it affect the future, how will it affect their lives, etc. Lastly, thank the people that helped you - they'll appreciate it.

For the body of the presentation: When using a chart to show data, choose the right type of chart. Make sure it doesn't give the wrong impression or convey the data incorrectly. Make sure it's easily readable and appropriate to your data. When designing slides, don't put more than one concept on a single slide. Low-content slides are okay, but two concepts on the same slide is a bad idea. If possible, start the slide title with a verb, because it sounds more active than a noun or other type of word. When going through your presentation, you should take about 90 seconds on each slide. A bit less is okay, but not too much, because with each new slide the audience doesn't listen to you for ~30 seconds while they read/understand it. A bit more is okay, but if you go for too long with a single slide the audience will get bored. Subtle animations are best, so you don't distract your audience from your content.

For the ending: When answering questions, approach the person as you call on them, so they know you're talking to them. Repeat the question to the audience, both so everybody can hear it and to give yourself a few seconds to think. Finally, talk to the audience as you answer it, so they continue to feel involved. There are a few ways of dealing with hostile questions, but the best way is to dodge them.

The most import thing to do, in my opinion, is to not read your own slides. They should be a guide to what you're presenting, but you need to give the meat of the presentation. Otherwise, why not just give the audience the presentation to read themselves?