Tips for Presentations

David Kotz

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.

Bruce Donald's tips