How to give Great Presentations (course)
- 1. HOW TO GIVE A GOOD PRESENTATION
- 2. WHY BOTHER GIVING A GOOD TALK? | First impressions matter! | There’s no point doing good work if others don’t know about it or can’t understand what you did. | Good practice for a teaching career! Good practice for any career! | Helps you sort out what you’ve done, and understand it better yourself.
- 3. TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS | Quick 1-minute “what I do” talk | 25 minute conference paper presentation | Project presentation | Thesis defense | Job talk What they have in common: | Never enough time to talk about everything | All of them reflect on you & need practice/polish | Focus on a clear goal and message.
- 4. TOP 10 POINTERS FOR A GOOD TALK 1. Be neat 2. Avoid trying to cram too much into one slide y Don’t be a slave to your slides. 3. Be brief y use keywords rather than long sentences 4. Avoid covering up slides 5. Use a large font
- 5. TOP 10 POINTERS FOR A GOOD TALK 6. Use color to emphasize 7. Use illustrations to get across key concepts y May include limited animation 8. Make eye contact 9. Be ready to skip slides if time is short 10. Practice !!
- 6. A “TYPICAL” PROJECT TALK OUTLINE | Title/author/affiliation (1 slide) | Forecast (1 slide) Give gist of problem attacked and insight found | Outline (1 slide) | Background y Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2 slides) y Related Work (0-1 slides) y Methods (1-3 slides) Explain your approach; illustrate algorithm Who am I? What is the problem? Why is it important? What have others done? What is my approach?
- 7. A “TYPICAL” PROJECT TALK OUTLINE | Results (2-6 slides) Present key results and key insights. This is main body of the talk, but don’t try to show ALL results. | Summary (1 slide) | Future Work (0-1 slides) Backup Slides (0-3 slides) Optionally have a few slides ready to answer expected questions. 3 Things to Remember!
- 8. OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER | Oral communication is different from written communication y Keep it simple and focus on a few key points y Repeat key insights | Be sensitive to your audience y The same talk may need to be adjusted for a different audience | Make the audience want to learn more | Handling Q&A is as important as the formal talk itself
- 9. HOW TO IMPROVE? | Practice by yourself | Practice in front of friends | Practice in front of a webcam y Watch footage later… alone… as painful as that may be! | Take note of effective speakers and adopt their successful habits
- 10. THE BIGGER PICTURE: COMMUNICATION AND YOUR CAREER Expressing yourself technically helps you make and use professional connections wisely You are joining a long-term community… Communicate your ideas to forge mentoring and technical relationships in the service of professional goals