Making a Presentation Research Methods and Data College of Advancing Studies Brendan A. Rapple
Jan 11, 2016
Making a Presentation
Research Methods and Data
College of Advancing Studies
Brendan A. Rapple
Preparation
No one is a born speaker.
Important to practice as much as possible.
Prepare a script.
Good idea to practice in front of a mirror.
Preparation (cont.)
Check out the venue and equipment in advance.
If possible, send any PowerPoint, video etc. to the instructor (organizer, convener etc.) in advance.
Preparation (cont.)
Find out how much time has been allotted to you?
Don’t go over the time.
14 minutes MAXIMUM is allotted for this class
Do you leave extra time for questions & answers?
Who is the audience?
Should you provide hard copies of your presentation?
Audience
Know precisely who your audience is.
What level of knowledge do they have?
Say something to capture their attention straightaway.
Talk to the audience (not the visual aid).
What do you want your audience to believe and to remember?
Structure
Your talk should have A beginning A middle An end
Omit anything from your presentation that you are unsure about.
Important that the audience remembers your ending – it should have impact.
An Old Teaching Strategy
Tell the audience what you are going to tell them.
Then, tell them.
Finish by telling them what you’ve just said.
The KISS Principle
Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Visual Aspect (if using PowerPoint)
If you are not using PowerPoint or another visual aid, keep notes/outline handy.
But if you are using a visual aid . . . . . .
Make sure the presentation is loaded and that it works!!
Simplicity is usually best – too many animation effects can be distracting and alienating.
Carefully choose background, layout, fonts, colors.
Pictures, diagrams, links to web can add attraction.
Keep slides relatively spare – don’t crowd them.
Don’t read the text word for word.
Don’t use all capitals – they’re difficult to read and to some they indicate anger.
Must be a logical, coherent flow between slides.
Bad Slide
It’s a study that seeks to understand the mysteries of existence and reality.
It tries to discover the nature of truth and knowledge and to find what is of basic value and importance in life.
Philosophy is thus a form of inquiry.
It’s a process of analysis, criticism, interpretation, and speculation.
The term philosophy itself comes from the Greek philosophia, which means love of wisdom.
Ancient Greeks were the first known western philosophers -- about 500 bc.
They sought answers about the nature of the world and “reality”.
Formerly, people had largely relied on magic, superstition, religion, tradition, or authority. Non-Western Philosophy: long history in China and India.
Western philosophy generally developed independently of Eastern philosophy.
Political PhilosophyExamines the nature and possible arguments for various competing forms of political organization, such as:
laissez-faire capitalism, welfare democracy (capitalistic and socialistic), anarchism, communism, fascism, etc.
Business EthicsExplores such questions as
how moral obligations may conflict with the profit motive and how these conflicts may be resolved.
the nature and scope of the social responsibilities of corporations, their rights in a free society, and their relations to other institutions.
Another Bad Slide
Libraries hold much more than just books: Digital resources, journals, sound and video recordings,
newspapers, maps, government documents, DVD’s, etc.
Point the user to the world of global information Not limited to what is physically in the building Online resources help open up access to the global world
Libraries acquire, organize and make accessible information in traditional and digital formats
Collections can often be accessed remotely
More Tips
The following site from ARMA International has some excellent advice on creation on creating PowerPoint presentations:
http://www.arma.org/LearningCenter/Facilitator/uploads/PowerPointGuidelines.ppt
FontsFonts Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style
Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style
Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style
Don’t !
Use a TemplateUse a Template
Use a set font and color scheme. Different styles are disconcerting to
the audience. You want the audience to focus on what
you present, not the way you present.
Avoid These Combinations Examples:
Green on BlueDark Yellow on Green
Purple on BlueOrange on GreenRed on Green
Don’t !
This is a good mix of colors. Readable!
BackgroundBackground CCoolloorrssRemember: Readability! Readability! Readability!
This is a bad mix of colors. Low contrast.Unreadable!
This is a good mix of colors. Readable!
This is a bad mix of colors. Avoid brightcolors on white.Unreadable!
Avoid using graphics that are difficult to read. In this example, the bright colors on a white background and the small font make the graph hard to read. It would be very difficult to see, especially in the back of a room.
8
Don’t !
Graphics and ChartsGraphics and Charts
This graph contains too much information in an unreadable format.
10
Don’t !
These are examples ofgood graphs, with niceline widths and goodcolors.
Good GraphGood Graph
Do !
Charts and GraphsCharts and Graphs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
North America Europe Austrailia
Mode A
Mode B
Mode C
Don’t
Charts and GraphsCharts and Graphs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
NorthNorthAmericaAmerica
Europe Australia
Mode A
Mode B
Mode C
Do !
More Bad Slides
The following seven slides have been borrowed from:
www.stanford.edu/class/bio44/IP/IP%20Week%202.ppt
The above presentation has a lot of good tips.
This is a BAD slide….
A little better?
How’s this?
Diagram 1: Life cycle of the Frog
And how about now?
Diagram 1: Life cycle of Xenopus sp.
How do you like this overhead?
Results
Caffeine Dose (mg) Average Test Score
Standard Deviation
P-value
0 70 2.4
50 74 4.3 0.175
100 68 1.2 0.429
150 63 2.7 0.024
200 59 3.4 0.005
What about this table?
Isn’t this better?
Note: Red indicates data with a significant p-value
Caffeine Dose (mg) Average Test Score
Standard Deviation
P-value
0 70 2.4
50 74 4.3 0.175
100 68 1.2 0.429
150 63 2.7 0.024
200 59 3.4 0.005
Effects of Caffeine on Test Scores
Spell Check
Its essenttial that yyou usse the spel-checker to locatte any silly typoos or mispellinggs.
It gives a baad impresion to see baad speling in a pressentation.
Pace Yourself
Pace yourself well – make sure that you keep to the allotted time.
This means that you should rehearse!
Finish Strong
Finish with a good conclusion that helps the listeners remember your talk.
Final Points
Be entertaining!
Voice and body language can be as important as content.
Keep the audience engaged.
Appear confident and professional.
Be enthusiastic.
Nervousness is good! Makes one prepare better.
Always keep within the allotted time: 14 minutes MAXIMUM is allotted for this class
Make sure that your conclusions are conveyed.
Avoid excessive detail, complexity.
Give credit when appropriate.