Presentation software

1. ***- Presentation software CONTENTS: Presenting information is an important skill Introduction and general guidelines for developers of presentations Creating charts Specialized presentation software (and MicrosoftPowerPoint in particular) Creating a scientific poster Presentations through the WWW or through an intranet

2. ***- Presentation software Presenting information is an important skill

3. ***- Some types of presentations in science • Live presentations supported by a series of projected slides • Series of slides made available through an intranet or through the WWW • Live presentation and discussion with a printed poster as starting point

4. ***- Why are presentations and presentation skills important? • To present / report activities or findings or suggestions to superiors or colleagues • To educate / train / teach people (for instance in science, use of information, applications of computers…) • To explain your ideas / work / activities / projects • To convince other people of the value of your ideas • To ask for opinions • To ask for support / co-operation / contributions / …

5. ***- Presentation software Introduction and general guidelines for developers of presentations

6. ***- Media for presentation: overview • Overhead projection of transparencies • Slide shows (using classical, hard copy 35 mm slides) • Direct computer-controlled projection • ...

7. ***- Media for presentation: transparencies There are various types of plastic transparencies for overhead projection: • For writing with suitable pencils • For Xerox machines (can resist the heat in the machine)For laser printers (can resist the heat in the machine) • For ink-jet printers (ink sticks well on the rough side; see that the printer prints on the suitable, rough side!)Price goes up!

8. 8 ***- ?? Question ?? • Which types of transparencies do you know? • Can you distinguish them? • How much do they cost in comparison with each other?

9. ***- Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 1) • What is the aim of the presentation? • What are my main points? • What are my sub-points? • What is my conclusion? • What is the summary? • Which questions from the audience can I expect and which answers should I give?

10. ***- Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 2) • Who will be my audience? • What size will be my audience? • Which kind of visual aids will be useful? • What handouts will be useful? • Which is the appropriate language and terminology for my audience? • Where will I do the presentation?

11. ***- Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 3) • Will the following be available in the room: • a whiteboard, • a flipchart, • an overhead projector, • a slide projector, • equipment for projection directly from a computer… ? • Can the room be darkened well enough for projection?

12. ***- Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 4) • Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse,… • Be totally familiar with your introduction. • Test also on the pc + projector that you will actually use in the real presentation to avoid • lost images • wrong fonts (in particular symbol and icon fonts) • a video included in a slide is not projected • …

13. 13 **** ?? Question ?? • Which is the most common, classical structure of papers and presentations in a scientific environment? • ANSWER: • Introduction • Problem statement • etcetera…

14. 14 **** ?? Question ?? • Which structure will YOU use in your • dissertation • presentation slides

15. ***- Live presentations: some tips (Part 1) • Show confidence. • Know that to feel nervous is to be human. • Channel your adrenaline into positive energy. • Breathe deeply before you start your presentation. • Look at the audience and pause before you start to speak

16. ***- Live presentations: some tips (Part 2) • Concentrate on your message, not on yourself. • Stand erect. • Begin with a powerful introduction to catch the attention of your audience; for instance: • Present an agenda/summary slide that lists the key-points of your presentation • Ask a question • Excite • Tell a story • OR: present your conclusion to start with

17. ***- Live presentations: some tips (Part 3) • Apologies are NOT needed. • S p e a k c l e a r l y. • Speak with authority. • Use some silent pauses. • Look at everyone. • Deliver the message with dynamism; use movement to maintain attention.

18. ***- Live presentations: some tips (Part 4) • Do NOT look at the projection screen. • Use humor if possible. • End with a powerful conclusion, challenge or appeal.

19. 19 *--- !! Task - Assignment !! Use suitable and cheap transparencies with suitable colour pens and prepare 1 transparencyfor a short live presentation. (No computer involved.) Tips: write readable text and exploit colour ink pens.

20. 20 **-- !! Task - Assignment !! Read Lee, I. Presentation tips for public speaking. [online] In A research guide for students. Available from: http://www.aresearchguide.com/3tips.html

21. ***- Software packages that are useful for presentations • To create transparencies: • (Word processing programs) • Presentation software packages! • To create hard-copy slides: • Presentation software packages! • For direct computer-controlled projections: • (Word processing programs) • (Hypertext editors + WWW browsers) • Presentation software packages!

22. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: readability (1) • Keep texts short. • Use less than 10 lines of texts on a slide, because people hate reading long texts and listening at the same time. • Use maximum 3 levels of headings per slide. • Like this heading at level 2 for instance • And like this and the next heading at level 3 • This is just another example of level 3

23. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: readability (2) • Create your slides so that they are well readable even when printed or copied • smaller and • in black and white only This is important for instance for printed handouts.

24. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: bullet points • Use bullets or numbers to start each item in a text list. • Use a contrasting colour for the bullets if possible. • Do NOT use bullets as well as numbers on the same line, like in • 1 blablabla • 2 more blablabla • 3 even more blablabla • Do NOT start a title with a bullet

25. 25 **-- ?? Question ?? Black text with red bullets on a white background is a “classical” combination. Why?

26. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: typography (1) • Use fonts that are present on most computers, so that the slides can also be shown with the right, appropriate, correct fonts, using the fonts on almost any computer. • Use large characters, so that the people in the back of the room can also read your message.

27. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: typography (2) • Bold text is better readable in slides than normal text.(This is certainly so in the case of light characters or lines on a dark background.) • Avoid a lot of italic text, because it is less well readable. • Use maximum 2 fonts per slide.

28. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: contrast Foreground and background colours need high contrast for visibility.

29. ***-Examples Some tips for developers of presentation slides: contrast demo • Dark characters on a very light background • Dark, bold characters on a very light background • Light characters on a very dark background • Light, bold characters on a very dark background • Light characters on a light background • Light, bold characters on a light background

30. 30 ***- ?? Question ?? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using -- light characters on a dark background -- dark characters on a light background

31. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: tables • Use tables whenever possible, for instance when comparing systems. • Use small tables; avoid detailed, big tables with small characters and numbers, because nobody will be able to read them.

32. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: enhancements Instead of text, try to use whenever possible: • flow charts, • schemes, • charts (pie charts or others), • pictograms such as arrows to indicate a sequence, and J L

33. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: visualize Instead of writing, try to visualize your ideas and messages.

34. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: titles • Make the title stand out clearly from the body text lines. • Do not use the same title on several slides, because this may confuse your audience.Instead, use • variations • or subtitles • or insert terms like “continued” or “cont.” or “part 1” / “part 2” / …

35. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: the mouse • Try NOT to use the mouse during your presentation, because it may be distracting from your message. • Instead, • use simply the keyboard to show the next slide or to go to a slide with a specific number • use your arm and hand or a long stick to point to some items on your slide

36. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: interaction • Avoid a long introduction without slides. • Interact with your slides. • Point to a relevant element on a slide when speaking. • See that your speaking correlates well with what you show on the projected slide.

37. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: interaction • Make clear to your audience the relevance of your research or in general the contents of your presentation, in particular in • your introduction • again in your conclusion • In other words: Make a clear distinction between • scientific research results and • the relevance of those results and the conclusion(s)

38. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: interaction • Make sure that the audience knows you. • Avoid reading from slides. • Avoid speaking to slides. • No apologies. • Learn to navigate through slides (arrows etc…)

39. ***- Some tips for developers of presentation slides: the final slide • Use the last slide well, for example: • To repeat an important message or address • To thank the audience • To ask for something (for instance: a participation or a contribution or an approval or a comment) • In other words: do NOT show an empty or meaningless or confusing or distracting screen during the final part of your presentation.

40. ***-Example Thank you for your attention Any questions?

41. 41 **-- ?? Question ?? How should you set up a program for word processing in order to use it rather well for presentationsdirectly from a computer with a projector?This can be useful for example to report clearly a text that is the result of a workshop/meeting.

42. 42 **-- !! Task - Assignment !! If YOU have to prepare a workshop or tutorial with slide presentations, then you can learn how to do this betterfor instance by having a look at a set of concrete, practical documents in the form of computer filesthat form a manual that is available free of charge.

43. 43 ***- !! Task - Assignment !! Read the following article: Bourne, P.E. Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations [online] Available from: doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077 http://compbiol.plosjournals.org/ [cited 2007]

44. ***- Presentation software Creating charts

45. 45 **-- !! Read !! Read Freeman, Jenny V., Walters, Stephen J., and Campbell, Michael J. How to display data. Blackwell, BMJ Books, 2008. 1. Introduction to data display 2. How to display data badly 3. Displaying univariate categorical data 4. Displaying quantitative data 5. Displaying the relationship between two continuous variables

46. 46 **-- !! Read !! Read Matthews, Jane R. and Matthews Robert W. Successful scientific writing. (Third edition) Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2008, 239 pp. 3. Visual support for the written word 4. Visual support for the spoken word

47. ***- Charts and data display are important • Charts are in many cases needed in a • Printed report / document / paper • Printed poster • Digital report / document / paper, offline on a computer or distributed by e-mail or on the WWW… • Presentation (series of slides)

48. ***- Charts and data display:keep it simple • Simplify. • Simplify again. • Mark the essential point(s):

49. ***- Tips for developers of charts: programs to create charts • A new chart can be inserted and further created for instance • in a document created with Microsoft Word, using Insert | Object | … • in a slide created with Microsoft PowerPoint, using Insert | Chart

50. ***- Tips for developers of charts: type of chart • Use a well suited type of chart to show your numerical data. For instance: Use pie charts to show proportion, such as market share.