Transcript Slides on giving presentations

CMSC 304
Giving Effective Presentations
Professor Marie desJardins
April 16, 2013
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Outline
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Four rules for all presentations
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General guidelines for preparing talks
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Paper presentation guidelines for this class
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Rule
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Know what on earth you’re doing up there!
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Rule #2: Know what you want to say
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Rule #3: Know your audience
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Rule #4: Know how long you have
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Rule #2:
Know What You Want to Say

Your audience wants to hear what your topic
is, what your main point is, what you learned
that was interesting, and why they should care
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You should give enough detail to get your
interesting ideas and observations across, but
not enough to lose your audience

Examples are very useful to illustrate your
points

Whatever you do, don’t just read your slides!
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Rule #3:
Know Your Audience

Depending on your
audience, you might be
able to assume some
background – or not
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Depending on the venue,
you may need to focus on different aspects of your work

The most important thing is to emphasize, in a way that they
will understand and relate to, what your findings are , what your
evidence is, and why they(this particular audience) should care!
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Rule #4:
Know How Long You Have

How long is the talk? Are questions included?
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A good heuristic is a minute or so per slide
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...but it depends a lot on the content of those slides!
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If you have too many slides, you’ll skip some
or—worse—rush desperately to finish. Avoid this temptation!!
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Almost by definition, you never have time to say everything
about your topic, so don’t worry about skipping some things!

Unless you’re very experienced giving talks, you should
practice your timing
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Slideology 101
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Don’t just read your slides!
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Use the minimum amount of text necessary
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Use examples and visuals (images, graphs, diagrams)
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Use a readable, simple, yet elegant format
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Use color to emphasize important points, but avoid the excessive use of color

“Hiding” bullets like this is annoying (but sometimes effective), but…
Abuse
of
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Don’t fidget, and…
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Don’t just read your slides!
CMSC 304 - Presentations
animation
7
is
a
cardinal
sin!
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How to Give a Bad Talk
Advice from Dave Patterson, summarized by Mark Hill
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Thou shalt not be neat
Thou shalt not waste space
Thou shalt not covet brevity
Thou shalt cover thy naked slides
Thou shalt not write large
Thou shalt not use color
Thou shalt not illustrate
Thou shalt not make eye contact
Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk
Thou shalt not practice
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CMSC 304 Paper
Presentations
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Content: You should provide a well organized presentation of the area
that you studied:
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What is the topic area?
What are the main ethical questions?
What is your overall conclusion?
What is the evidence and support for this conclusion?
 You should include all of the main steps of the ethical analysis
framework somewhere in your presentation
Timing: You should aim for an 8-minute presentation
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This works out to (roughly) 8-10 slides
 (but it depends on how detailed your slides are)
I will cut you off if you go too long!
There will be a few minutes after each talk for questions
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Paper Presentations
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Audience: Your audience consists of your fellow
students. (I don’t count.)
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If you selected a topic that we discussed in class this semester,
they’ll all have some background
If you’ve selected a different topic, they may know little or nothing
about the area
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Giving the Presentation
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You may use your own laptop or put the presentation on my laptop
or Alec’s
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You should arrive early the day of your presentation to test your
laptop and/or transfer the presentation
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Draft slides can optionally be sent to me for review, if you want
feedback beforehand
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I will only promise to review and comment on draft slides if they are sent
at least 24 hours before your presentation!
Practice your presentation, even if it’s just to yourself, to make sure
your timing is correct
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Audience Participation
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All students are expected to attend all of the presentations
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Everyone should ask a question or make a comment at least once per
day (except for the day you’re presenting)
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At the end of each class (except for the day you’re presenting), I’ll ask
you to turn in a short observation report
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You should list three new things that you learned or aspects of the
presentations that day that you found interesting. (This doesn’t have to be
an essay, but it should be a sentence or two that is grammatically correct
and complete.)
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You may also include comments or thoughts about the effectiveness of the
presentations (things that you thought worked or didn’t work). (I won’t
share these with the other students, though I may work them into my own
feedback if I agree with your comments)
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Grading and Feedback
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I’ll use a review form (which I’ll post in advance) to rate your
presentation on various aspects
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I will also typically provide some written feedback (comments)
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Your grade will be based on:
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Your level of preparation
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The clarity of your presentation

The timing of your presentation
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