Effective Presentation Techniques to Engage Your Audience in 16 Easy Steps

1. X Suggestions for giving effective presentations that will captivate your audience in 16 easy steps Jessica Purcell

2. How to give an effective presentation Jessica Purcell Department of Zoology University of British Columbia

3. Acknowledgments • Thanks to my classmates from Zoo502 2004/2005 for reminding me what NOT to do in a presentation!

4. Presentation Outline • Disclaimer • I will show a variety of examples of presentation tools that may distract your audience, but they are still really fun to play with! • Effective tools • Course goal

5. Disclaimer I will be silly in this talk, but these issues are real!

6. Things to Avoydin PowerPoint • Crazycolourskemes • Distracting animation • Unecessary Sound (I can’t even bring myself to include sound affects) • Speling errors • Putting too many words on slides • Reading directly off slides • Difficult to read fonts • Small type • Pictures or graphs that do not contribute to your point • Dark on dark and light on light What to avoid

7. PowerPoint Dos • Keep slides simple!!! - Few words (rule of 5) • Large text (24 pt) • Plan about one slide per minute! • Explain figures slowly and clearly! What to do

8. 100 # audience members 10 histograms regressions box plots 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Time spent explaining figures (seconds) Take home message: Take the time to explain figures!! Figures Linear regression R2=0.95, p<0.0001 (supervisor only) Effective Tools

9. What not to do while presenting • Don’t turn your back to the audience • Don’t block anyone’s view of the screen • Don’t rush • Don’t fiddle • Don’t ‘wing it’ • Don’t expect your audience “to know” • Don’t use jargon! • Don’t apologize!!!! What to avoid

10. Oh Shit, where’s my graph? What to avoid

11. Technical Issues • Always PDF, just in case! • Mac/PC issues • # of pixels • If projector colour lamps are not working, low contrast colours will be invisible!! What to avoid

12. What to do while presenting • Breathe • Make eye contact with audience members • Interact with your slides • Speak clearly • Know your audience What to do

13. Presentations differ from writing • Being repetitive can be GOOD! • It’s ok to be informal • Less constraint imposed by formatting What to do

14. Developing your style • Different styles can be equally effective (e.g. humour, unique slide layout, attractive visual aids) What to do

15. ONE MEMORABLE SPEAKER USED HUGE FONT!

16. Developing your style • Different styles can be equally effective • Be careful not to go overboard on gimmicks • Figure out what works for you! What to do

17. Presentation Outline • Disclaimer • I will show a variety of examples of presentation tools that may distract your audience, but they are still really fun to play with!   • Effective tools • Conlcusions, Course goal

18. Conclusions • Keep it simple! • Use your presentation as an advertisement for your work • Pitch to the right level for your audience • Find your presentation style

19. Course Goal • Essential skills for grad students • Safe venue to practice & develop presentation skills • Presentations will include: articles, teaching, your research.

20. Did I miss anything? • What else drives you crazy? • What do you admire in other people’s presentations?

21. Welcome to the department!