Tips for Presentations (OUTDATED)

This page is outdated; it was crafted in the days when presentations were made with plastic transparencies on an overhead projector. Instead, see other resources with tips about presentations.

Your presentation is intended to convey information to the audience, so it necessarily has a different style than a presentation intended to sell the audience your idea (or product), or to inspire, etc. Thus the key is to provide a clear exposition of the facts.

Hints

• Dress nicely. I'm not talking about a dress, or coat & tie, here, but perhaps something a little more than the "I just rolled out of bed" look.
• Time goes faster than you think, especially if you are allotted 30 minutes or less. Plan your talk carefully.
• When you have multiple speakers, plan and practice the handoff between speakers.
• Practice, practice, practice. Get together with a friend and have them watch your presentation and give you feedback. Give them a stopwatch (really!).
• Always have a title slide
• gives title of presentation
• gives authors, and affiliations
• optionally gives date and venue of presentation
• Always have a summary slide
• What points do you want them to take away with them?
• Point to sources of more information (URL)
• Ask "Are there any questions?"
• Leave summary on screen during question period
• Nothing more annoying than a bright white screen
• consider having 1 or 2 extra slides that might be useful if a certain question is asked.

• Use transparencies. They are faster and neater than writing on the blackboard, and they help the audience follow your main point.
• Even better, project the slides directly from the computer.
• If you use color, it tends to look better than on a printed transparency.
• In our classroom, the projector is on the ceiling and thus out of the way of the audience.
• It is much faster to switch from one slide to another; you can fit more material in less time.
• Where appropriate, you can include animations, sounds, demos, and links to the web.
• On the other hand, sometimes the computer projection breaks down.
• When making transparencies or planning a computer projection,
• use BIG fonts (minimum 18 point)
• use pictures, clipart, or figures where possible
• use an outline format, with only 3-5 bullets per page
• use Landscape mode (allows you to write longer bullets)
• count on 2 minutes per transparency
• try your transparencies (or computerized talk) in room 115, well before your talk, in case you find you need to redo them
• don't use light text on a colored background if you're using transparencies; use a clear background.  If using projection, consider a dark background; it looks pretty good.
• When planning a computer projection,
• Come to the classroom well in advance to test it, make sure it all works.
• A day ahead is not a bad idea.  Then again 10 minutes before class.
• plan to use a physical pointer, rather than the mouse (I can lend you a pointer)
• turn off any background programs that might pop up a notification dialog or make a sound, such as email or calendar
• turn off screen dimmer and screen savers
• presentations with PowerPoint
• pretty good tool for authoring and presentation
• use PowerPoint98, for best results
• sometimes crashes
• presentations with Netscape Navigator
• produce your presentation with any appropriate tool, save as HTML
• include buttons on each page for next slide, previous slide, first slide, last slide, etc
• presentations with Adobe Acrobat
• Yep, Acrobat Reader can do full-screen slides pretty well
• You need full Acrobat software to produce pdf file from, say, Word file
• presentations written in Microsoft Word
• can be done
• save as HTML or PDF, then display as above
• or, print them out
• When using transparencies,
• peel off the paper strip along the edge
• number the transparencies in case you drop them
• Find a place to set your transparencies
• Focus projector before you begin
• push slide to top of screen for best visibility
• don't stand between the audience and the screen
• don't point at the projector
• do stand back by the screen, and point at the screen
• use a pointer (I can lend you one)
• Bring transparency pens
• In case you want to mark on transparency
• But step away from projector when not marking!
• prepare with PowerPoint, ClarisImpact, etc, or Word
• To print transparencies
• either buy a box of transparencies for copiers and laser printers, and print them on any B&W Apple Laserwriter (but boxes are quite expensive)
• or go to the college copy center (in Thayer) and ask them to print onto transparencies
• if you want color transparencies, I recommend the college copy center or one of the outfits downtown
• Speak up! Speak clearly. Not too fast, not too slow.
• Try not to read your slides or notes. It sounds flat.

--David Kotz