Academic Presentation Skills

1. Academic Presentation Skills 16 November 2011 Sources: Comfort, Jeremy. 1997. Effective Presentations. Oxford University Press, Sweeney, Simon. 1997. English Business Communication. Cambridge University Press and http://www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/Presentations-Tips.ppt [accessed 13.10.2008]. Decker Communications http://decker.com/

2. Contents • Before the presentation • The structure • Introduction • Main body • Conclusion • Bad manners • Slides – some tips • Outlines • Slide Structure • Fonts • Color • Background • Graphs • Spelling and Grammar • Conclusions • Questions • In conclusion

3. Before the presentation • Audience • What are their expectations • What do they know  knowledge of your field • How many to expect to be present • Questions and discussion • Clear objective • Your knowledge of the field • Presentation technique • What to include • Length and depth • Number of key ideas

4. Before the presentation 2 • Structure • Sequence (introduction, main body, conclusion) • Repetition, summarizing • Delivery • Style (formal / informal; enthusiasm / confidence) • Voice (variety, speed, pauses, emphasis) • Bodylanguage (eyecontact, gesture/ movement, posture) • Language: simple and clear, sentencelength, structuresignals

5. Before the presentation 3 • Visual aids • Type / design / clarity; • Relevance to the topic • Checkspelling • Simple and clear • Practice • Time yourself • Use a taperecorder • Scriptornotes? • Checkequipmentbeforehand (ifpossible)

6. The structure: introduction 1 • Introduction • Have a strongintroduction to yourpresentation • Giveyouraudience a reason for listening • Donotstartwithcrucialinformation yourlistenersmightnotbe ”tuned in” yet

7. The structure: introduction2 • Points in yourintroduction: • A greeting • Yourname and position • The title of yourpresentation / yourobjective (make sure yourtitle is informative) • The purpose of yourpresentation • The main partsorpoints to becovered

8. The structure: main body • Main body of the presentation • Organizeyour main points in a logicalorder; the wayyoudoitcandiffer • Choose 2-4 main points, whichyoucandivide into smallersections of information • Linkyourideasbyusinglinkingwords and phrases

9. The structure: conclusion • Summarizeyourkeypoints • Concludeyourpresentationwith a dramaticstatementor a recommendation, donot just trailoff • Distributesupportinformationifneeded • Invite and anticipatequestions; beready to answerthem • Thank the audience

10. Bad manners • Ifyourpresentationlacksstructure, youhaven’tpracticed and show poorslides, the audiencewon’tunderstandyou and willbecomeimpatientwithyou • Donotreaddirectlyfromyourpapersoryourslides • Donotturnyourback to the audience

11. Slides – some tips • Outlines • Slide Structure • Fonts • Color • Background • Visuals • Spelling and Grammar • Conclusions • Questions

12. Outline • Make your 1st or 2nd slide an outline of your presentation • Example: previous slide • Follow the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation • Only place main points on the outline slide • Example: Use the titles of each slide as main points

13. Slide structure - good • Use 1-2 slides per minute of your presentation • Write in point form, not complete sentences • Include 4-5 points per slide • Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases only

14. Slide structure - bad • This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

15. Slidestructure - good • Show one point at a time: • Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying • Will prevent audience from reading ahead • Will help you keep your presentation focused

16. Slidestructure - bad • Do not use distracting animation • Do not go overboard with the animation • Be consistent with the animation that you use

17. Fonts – good • Use at least an 18-point font • Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points • this font is 24-point, the main point font is 28-point, and the title font is 42-point • Use a standard font like Times New Roman, Tahoma or Arial

18. Fonts – bad • If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written • CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ • Don’t use a complicated font

19. Color - good • Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with the background • Ex: blue font on white background • Use colour to reinforce the logic of your structure • Ex: light blue title and dark blue text • Use colour to emphasize a point • But only use this occasionally

20. Color – bad • Using a font colour that does not contrast with the background colour is hard to read • Using colour for decoration is distracting and annoying. • Using a different colour for each point is unnecessary • Using a different colour for secondary points is also unnecessary • Trying tobe creativecan alsobe bad

21. Background - good • Use backgrounds that are attractive but simple • Use backgrounds which are light • Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation

22. Background – bad • Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from • Always be consistent with the background that you use

23. Graphs – good • Use graphs rather than just charts and words • Data in graphs is easier to comprehend and retain than raw data • Trends are easier to visualize in graph form • Always title your graphs

24. Graphs - good

25. Graphs – bad

26. Graphs - bad

27. Graphs – bad • Minor gridlines are unnecessary • Font is too small • Colours are illogical • Title is missing • Shading is distracting

28. Spelling and grammar • Proof your slides for: • speling mistakes • the use of of repeated words • grammatical errors you might have make • Have someone else check your presentation, if you cannot see your own mistakes!

29. Howwetakeinformation

30. Therefore…… There are some important conclusions that we can take in from this information: • Use visuals (pictures, graphs, tables, props) whenever you can • In a speech you are only using 38% of the communication medium • Ditch the bulletpoints

31. Achievingyourobjectives

32. Conclusion • Use an effective and strong closing • Your audience is likely to remember your last words • Use a conclusion slide to: • Summarize the main points of your presentation • Suggest future avenues of research

33. Questions ?? • End your presentation with a simple question slide to: • Provide a visual aid during question period • Avoid ending a presentation abruptly

34. In conclusion • Prepareyourselfwell (bothyouroralpart and yourvisuals) • Practice out loud that is the onlyway to checkhow long yourpresentationwilllast (trust me) • Ifyouexperiencestagefright  relax, breathedeep and rememberthatyouarenotalone!