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Using Graphics to Present Information

Using Graphics to Present Information. Preparing viewer-friendly slides. Viewer Friendly means . . . from the viewer’s point of view!. Taken from “Hoover Deep Draft Caisson Vessel in Perspective” by Sandstrom, Slocum and Heideman with ExxonMobil.

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Using Graphics to Present Information

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  1. Using Graphics to Present Information Preparing viewer-friendly slides

  2. Viewer Friendly means . . . from the viewer’s point of view!

  3. Taken from “Hoover Deep Draft Caisson Vessel in Perspective” by Sandstrom, Slocum and Heideman with ExxonMobil

  4. Begin planning visuals as soon as outline is completed. • Plan on using no more than 12-15 slides for a 12-15 minute talk. • Temptation is to have too many! • Consider all delivery methods • You might consider other methods in addition to computer projection.

  5. Creating Visuals • Simplify the proposal or report graphics (graphs, tables, etc.) • Think BIG. • Include mapping visuals.

  6. Presentations allow parallel processing of information. • Hearing and reading • Words and images • Make full use of this double opportunity • Use wordsas images • Make visual anything you can (even processes and concepts)

  7. Mapping maps structure of talk mostly words Data presentation graphs, bar charts, etc. mostly images Use both kinds of visuals on slides. Design Criteria for New Software Compatibility with current software Cost to develop Cost to consumer Adherence to industry standards

  8. First Two Slides of a Presentation • Title slide • Includes your name and affiliation • Usually includes date. • Often includes name of event • Agenda or Outline slide • Introduces topics, concepts, information to be discussed • Don’t make this generic!

  9. Hillary Hart Dept. of Civil Engineering University of Texas at Austin Communicating Environmental Risks with Stakeholders STC Conference May 2007

  10. Outline • Research objectives • Background • Methodology • Results and Discussion • Conclusions

  11. Titles Put your main point at top of slide. • A colleague, Michael Alley, has studied effectiveness of one- or two-word titles. • Guess what? • Theyare not very informative. • What would be a better title for this slide?

  12. Short sentencesmake meaningful titles. • Consider using title font smaller than the default. • Try to keep bulleted lists to a minimum.

  13. The experimental phase of the project had two steps. • Duplicate Browning’s experiments using zinc to treat drinking water. • Analyze our data and interpret any differences from Browning’s results.

  14. The next phase of the project assessed the goal of the experiments. • Determine applicability of the zinc method to drinking water-treatment systems in northeastern Ghana. Photo: Katherine Alfredo 2005

  15. PowerPoint encourages overuse of bulleted lists! • Remember the “bad” slide?

  16. Planning • Different retention rate • Listening vs. reading • Talking vs. writing • Listeners not in control • Audience not all technical • Presentation linear • Thinking not linear • Easy to get off target • Use an outline • Divide into 3 parts • Build in visuals • Introduce yourself • Don’t stop in tracks at end

  17. What’s wrong with the previous slide? • Bulleted lists make the eyes glaze over.

  18. Make as much information as possible visual.

  19. PowerPoint Pointers • Use the design templates rather than the “AutoContent” wizard. Or customize slide master. • Be careful about colors – use very dark text on very light background or vice versa. • Avoid red text • Either keep slides consistent in design or vary according to subject matter. • Experiment with animations and dimming, but be cautious.

  20. Beware of PowerPoint excesses. • Don’t overdo the special effects • Or your audience will be distracted by your design tactics and won’t get the right message!!

  21. Make the right point with each of your visuals. • Be careful of frivolous use of clip art.

  22. Design Guidelines for Slides • Design each slide to make one main point. • Two visuals may be better than one. • Use 20-24 pt. minimum font for text. • Use 18 pt. minimum font for axes • Sans serif font projects best (Arial, etc.). • Use few words; separate with lots of white space. • No more than 7-8 lines • No more than 7-9 words/line

  23. What’s wrong with this visual?

  24. How you present the data can mean the difference between life and death. • See two slides (actual and after-the-fact) on p. 7 of Dag Knudsen’s presentation. • See Tufte’s famous “damage index” – a better way to present information about the possible o-ring failure that caused the Challenger disaster. • from Visual Explanations (2000)

  25. Data on o-ring damage in field tests were used to calculate damage scores. Scores were then plotted against temperature.

  26. Delivering your visuals . . . • Leave up visual only as long as you’re talking about it. • Remember that YOU must still be the focus.

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