The Art of Powerpoint

Lee Drake

Presentation Skills illustrated

Presentation Skills

•Keep it clear

•Keep it simple

•Don’t overwhelm with technology; use it to accent, not dictate.

Focus on Research

•Powerpoints are about communicating ideas first and foremost

•But don’t overwhelm them with information

Focus on Research

•What are the key points that you need to get across?

•What constitutes “too much detail?”

Audience

•There is no “one-size fits all” approach to presentations - each should be tailored to your specific audience

•How much do they know about your field?

•What about your research is going to catch their attention?

Audience

•Why are they there? What do they want to learn from you?

Audience

•Try to anticipate their questions:

•“So what?”

•“Why is this worth my time right now - I have my own research to do!”*

•“Why should I listen to you?”

*This is why I usually skip presentations

Key Points

•Try to reduce your research to a few easily understood bullet points

•The simpler the sentence, the more your audience will take away from the talk

Images

•Images should accent the topic, not dominate it (unless it is a chart directly related to research)

Good:

QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Bad:

Results were found to be significant

Using Images

• Images can help set a tone without dominating the slide or overwhelming information

• Just make sure the image doesn’t have a single point of focus (e.g. a smiling face).

You can also use an image as a background, just make sure to include an opaque or translucent background

...because it is really hard to read if you don’t include some kind of boundary to buffer the image

Use fancy graphics sparingly in scientific presentations though - black & white is more appropriate. However, for informational or business presentations, this can be helpful

Clutter

•Every word you say should not be on the slide.