Preparing and G iving O ral P resentations

1. Preparing and Giving Oral Presentations Today’s agenda: Course evaluation General principles for oral presentations

2. Tell a story An oral presentation has the same elements that are in written papers (including Acknowledgments) but generally without references. • Introduction • Methods • Results • Conclusion/Summary

3. Introduction • Convince the audience that the problem is important and interesting. • Give enough background and context to allow them to understand the study; state the goals clearly. • Assume that they are interested but not informed. • Avoid needless jargon and digressions. • Use humor only with caution. You want people to take you seriously, so be professional.

4. Methods 1. Describe the important methods—try mixing: • Cartoons (simple line-drawings) • Schematics • Photographs • Text 2. Find simple ways to express complex methods. 3. Minimize the number of words. People will read them and not listen to you!

5. Results • Only show results relevant to the story. • Graphs—make sure they are simple and clean but avoid graphs that show too little information. • Use tables cautiously—they often contain more information than you really want to present. • Avoid negative space—use photos or other things to fill the space and add content.

6. Figures • If appropriate, show the audience what your animal(s) looks like. • Choose sharp colorful images, preferably taken live in the field. • If borrowed from the Internet or taken from a publication, don’t forget to provide a credit-line in the margin. • If appropriate, consider “building” an image with multiple slides to add complexity.

7. Steelhead life-cycle Ocean Freshwater Estuary

8. Steelhead life-cycle Ocean Freshwater Estuary Are the sizes at ocean entry of juvenile steelhead from upstream and estuary habitats different? Is there size-dependent mortality at sea? Is there differential growth between the two habitats? Do estuary-reared juveniles recruit disproportionately to the adult population?

9. Graphs • Make sure graphs can be read: – Use a simple font, not something weird – Symbols (squares, diamonds, etc.) should be big – Use a large font—think of the person in the back • Take time to explain all axes. • Explain/describe the “take home” message implied by each graph. • Colors should be consistent among graphs and not too complicated.

10. Diel catches of anglerfish Anglerfish catches were low in the afternoon, peaked at midnight, and then decreased in the morning. Overall, most fish were caught at a depth of 25 m. Catches in 10 m only occurred at night. OK, but a bit wordy and complicated

11. Diel catches of anglerfish Abundance Depth (m) Catches of anglerfish were low in the afternoon, they peaked at midnight, and then decreased. There was also a shift toward shallower water at night.

12. Bars with different colors can convey information Diel catches of anglerfish Abundance Depth (m) Catches of anglerfish were low in the afternoon, they peaked at midnight, and then decreased. There was also a shift toward shallower water at night.

13. Tables Use sparingly

14. Tables • If you must show tables: • Highlight pertinent results • Make font large enough to read • Avoid excessive decimal places • Take the time to explain the table

15. Conclusions • Parallel to the Discussion in a paper. • Use the pyramid technique: First interpret the results in light of the hypotheses, then put them in the context of broader literature. • Use bullets with key points: Explain each bullet thoroughly, and minimize the number of words and lines.

16. Practice your talk! • Does your time exceed what is allowed and did you leave time at the end for questions? • What points will you cover for each slide? A good rule of thumb is one slide per minute, unless you are showing photos or graphs with the same x- and y-axes. • Resist the temptation to keep adding material. Beyond a point, the audience will not remember any more, and will often remember less.

17. Common mistakes in oral presentations • Not enough introduction Don’t start “mid-paragraph” 2. Too much text Reading from slides word for word—avoid like the plague! • Talking to the screen Look at your audience, make eye contact 4. Fonts too small or weird (this is inappropriate) Use sans-serif fonts (calibri or arial) 5. Distracting colors Avoid red-green combination; aim for contrast 6. Spelling errors Proofreed everything (again) 7. Abrupt style changes between sections Check transitions between all sections 8. Technological incompatibility Check for Mac/PC hiccups

18. Overall format and color schemes Decide on a simple format and stick to it: Light background and dark letters or vice versa. Make sure there is good contrast. Be consistent in font placement, size and style. Be careful of certain color combinations. Red on blue is hard to read Blue on red is hard to read Yellow on white is hard to read

19. Color blindness: What do you see? The Ishihara test http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.asp

20. Oral paper presentations On Wednesday, each of you will give a PowerPoint presentation on the research project you’ve been working on during the quarter. Please limit your talk to 6 minutes, allowing 1 or 2 minutes for questions and/or comments. All of us will grade each talk.

21. Oral paper presentations on Wednesday We’re all going to grade each other—here’s the grading scheme: 4.0 Outstanding in all respects: clearly spoken, well-organized, informative introduction, understandable methods, good graphics, sound conclusions, on time (A). 3.7 Excellent presentation: strong in all respects but with one or more aspects showing some weakness (A-). 3.3 Very good presentation: strong overall but weak in some areas such as graphics, clarity of ideas and logic, organization (B+). 3.0 Good presentation: sound in general but some conspicuous weaknesses in important areas such of organization, logic and graphics (B). 2.7 Pretty good presentation: a good effort but quite weak in several areas (B-). 2.3 Fair presentation: difficult to follow, graphics unclear, not logical (C+). 2.0 Weak presentation: little effort made to understand, organize and present the information (C).

22. Oral Presentation Grade Sheet

23. Assignment for Wednesday: Read the book on PowerPoint presentations, pages 215–226. Work on your presentation, practice your delivery, and get the timing down. E-mail me a copy of your presentation sometime before 2:15 on Wednesday.