Presenting analysis and results isessential to any technological
pro-ject,whetherinternaltoyour companyortotheprofessionalcommunity,
such as in professionalsociety meetings, workshops, andconsortium
meetings. To be effec-tive,thepresentationmustbe convincing,
straightforward,
artic-ulate,andsupportedwithclear,easy-to-digestslidesthatconveythe
results credibly. Thecrucialobjectiveistoensure that your audience
under-standsyourmessageclearlyandcompletely.Accomplishingthis,however,
is not easy. Studies
haveshownrepeatedlythatanaudi-encegenerallyunderstandsandremembers2530%ofwhattheyhear,
but 6075% of what they
see.NotedexplorationgeophysicistCarlSavitoftenremarkedthatapresentationissuccessfulif20%of
the audience gets 20% of yourmessage. His words emphasize what you
are up against
whendeliveringpresentations.InanSEGpresentation,youonlyhave about
20 minutes to summarize a year or more of
researchorstudyinawaythatyouraudiencecanabsorb.Thisisadaunting task
unless you take great care in preparing and con-veying your
message. Key to this effort is putting yourself in the shoes of
youraudience,whoarehearingyourstoryforthefirsttime.Empathy for the
audience is essential whether you are con-veying your information
in a written paper or in an oral
pre-sentation.Here,weoffersuggestionstoaidtheclarityandeffectiveness
of oral presentations. We focus on two aspects:tips for the
presentation style itself and tips on the quality andform of
slides. Startsmart.First,avoidthetendencytotelleverylastneatthing
you did in your project. Successful talks are usually
thosethatconveynotjustresults,butalsoideas,concepts,andinsights. Be
concise. Focus on the main points, and
empha-sizethatthedetailsoftheprojectareinthewrittenpaper,expanded
abstract, or project report. Professional success
oftenreliesonyourabilitytostresstheimportantpointsofpre-sentations
in the allotted time. When an audience assimilatesyour message, you
gain credibility and respect. If you presentyour talk so that those
who are not experts in the topic areacan understand it, then not
only will the non-experts appre-ciate and understand the talk, you
will find that those withexpertise will appreciate it as well.
Anxiety before a presentationparticularly if you are newto the
processis common. Relax: the audience is not judg-ing you. They are
there because they truly want to hear whatyou have to say and are
interested in your
message.Itsallrighttobeexcitedandenthusiasticinfact,itspreferable!Someoftheleastinterestingpresentationsaregiven
by individuals who have been in front of an audienceso often that
they come across as disinterested. Keep in mindthat your talk is
not atravelogue, but a presen-tation of scientific
analysiswithinterestingresultsthathave implications for
beneficialapplications (e.g., finding oil and gasto provide energy
for society, methodsforhazardouswasteremediation,identification and
warning of naturaleventstopreventdisasters,etc.)Itshelpful to
imagine that you are shar-ing with a colleague, who is a
friend,what you have learned in yourproject.
Alwaysrehearseyourtalksothatyouknowexactly how long it will takeand
can deliver it clearly and con-cisely.Rehearsingalsohelpsyoupolish
your delivery. Ask a trusted colleague or two to watchyour
rehearsal and offer constructive criticism. It helps if
yourrehearsal audience is made up of individuals who are famil-iar
with the material as well as those for whom the messageis new.
Avoidusingexpressionssuchaswenextsee, we see here that, next, Ill
show you, then, I did. Theylack warmth and separate you from your
audience. It is
moreeffectivetousestraightforward,declarativesentencesthatinvite
your audience into the presentation. Ideally, you
wantyouraudiencetothinkthattheythemselveshavevirtuallycome up with
(or could come up with) the ideas you are con-veying. This is not
as strange as it might seem. Astute mem-bers of your audience who
really get the thread of what youare presenting are also thinking
ahead and drawing conclu-sions. That is when you have succeeded in
capturing the atten-tion of the audience. Tips for making effective
presentationsMICHAEL A. PAYNE, ExxonMobil, Houston, USAKEN LARNER,
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, USAMARCH 2008 THE LEADING EDGE
423Presentations: Key points to remember
Rehearseyourtalkwithcolleagueswhocanofferadetailed, constructive
critique The purpose of a presentation is to convey ideas,
concepts, and results,not how a project was conducted Explain
complex ideas in simple terms Make sure your audience understands
the key points Communicate directly with your audience. Make eye
contact with atleast one listener to gauge response and promote
interaction Foreachslide,firstdescribewhatyouareshowing,thenmake
observations and draw conclusions Speak at an appropriate pacenot
too fast, not too slow Clearly list the assumptions and limitations
of new technology andthe costs of applying it End your talk with
definitive conclusions
Finishyourtalkwithintheallottedtimeandallowtimefora
question-and-answerperiod.Usethisopportunitytoclarifyyour message
Downloaded 07/16/15 to 192.100.180.18. Redistribution subject to
SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at
http://library.seg.org/As you give your presentation, communicate
directly withyour audience. Its helpful to make repeated eye
contact withatleastonememberoftheaudience;choosesomeonewhoseems
particularly interested in your talk. You can use his orher
responses to your words as a means of interacting withthe audience.
Speak directly to your audience, not to the screen.
Glanceatyourslidesonlyenoughtoensurethatyouareawareofwhat is being
projected; then turn to the audience so that theycan hear you and
you can maintain that all-important eye con-tact with them. Make
sure you keep your presentation as atalk rather than allowing it to
degenerate into an explanationof the slides. Starting with the
introduction, invite your audi-ence with gestures and your tone of
voice to participate in thepresentation with you. Draw them into
your presentation,
andtheywillbefocusedwithfascinationonyoureveryword. Speak at an
appropriate pace during your talk. Most peo-ple do not hear and
absorb as fast as a rapid speaker
talks,particularlynowwhenthegeosciencecommunityisglobaland
manymembers have different first languages. Relax, slowdown, speak
clearly, and communicate. On the other hand,do not speak so slowly
that the audience gets bored and tunesout. Use your voice for
emphasis, varying the volume and
thespeedofyourdelivery.Fortheessentialpoints,raiseyourvoice, slow
down, and pause afterward to let the message sinkin. Its a story.
Think of your talk as a story, complete with chap-ters. Imagine
your story as a mountain range, associating
theimportanceofthekeypointswiththeheightofthemoun-tains. Make sure
your audience really understands the singlehighest peak, i.e., the
main point. Then, make sure they geteach of the other key points in
turn. In Colorado, Mt. Elbertwould be first, then the two or three
next highestfourteeners(mountainswith14000+ftele-vation) and so on,
without getting down to the13 000-ft peaks. All presenters
accidentally leave somethingout that they intended to say in a
talk. By focus-ing on the high peaks, you ensure your audi-ence
will get the essential pointsthose that youreally want them to
grasp. As long as the audienceunderstands these, it wont matter
that other itemswere left unsaid. Remember, youre telling a
storynot writingone. Therefore, avoid using intricate, carefully
crafted
sentencesasinwrittentext.Recognizethatinfriendlyspeech,wedonot
typically speak in sentences, but in short phrases that con-vey the
message concisely. Slidesgeneral guidelines. In recent years,
PowerPoint andsimilar tools have revolutionized presentations, and
it is easytoassumethatthequalityofslidesandpresentationshasgreatly
improved. To the contrary, the general quality of bothhassuffered,
perhaps in large part because of the ready avail-ability of these
tools. It is so quick and easy to enter lots ofwords and pictures
into slides that the message is buried. Slideswith too much detail
overwhelm the listener and confuse themain point. It bears
repeating: show only those slides that mosteffectively communicate
your points (Figure 1No and Figure1Yes.)However, the medium is not
the message. Visual aids shouldhelp, not dominate, the
presentation. Consider two extremes forslide presentationsa
presentation with no slides and one withso many slides that the
speaker could never realistically getthrough them all. 424 THE
LEADING EDGE MARCH 2008Figure 1No. Complete and lengthy sentences
include unnecessarydetails and force the use of too-small
fonts.Figure 1Yes. The conclusions are shown with succinctly worded
bullets. Slides: Slides are your prompt about what to sayto the
audience Keep slides simple Communicate one idea per slide Keep
content sparse, and never use the wordthe on a slide A dark
background with light-colored textor drawings works best
visuallyUseabulletedformatforoutlineslides
Repeattheoutlineslideatkeypointsthroughout the talk to remind the
audienceof where you are in the talk
Graphicslidesshouldcontainonlyenoughinformationtoconveythemessage,witharrows,boxes,etc.,thatdirectthe
audiences attention to key points Downloaded 07/16/15 to
192.100.180.18. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright;
see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/The best approach is to
aim for just enough slides to
sup-portyourmessage.Showonlythoseslidesthatmosteffec-tively
communicate your points and no more. Slides are visualaids that
augment the talkthey are not the full report. Usethem to
communicate the main ideas of the presentation andto help you, the
speaker, flow smoothly through the talk byprompting you for what
needs to be communicated (Figure2). Slide presentations often
contain the logo of the presen-ters organization on every slide. We
consider the logo to
bespace-consumingnoninformation.Afterall,thespeakersorganization
was listed in the program and given by the ses-sion chairman.
Aprime example of how not to compose thecontent of a slide is given
in Figure 3. This classic tongue-in-cheek slide (courtesy of Les
Hatton) from a couple of decadesago takes the all-too-frequent
practice of showing logos to anextreme, minimizing the area
available for the content on theslide. Certainly, if you must use a
logo on every slide, makesure that it is small and not
ostentatious. Most often, the message in a geophysical presentation
isbest conveyed by showing data. Figure 4-No is an exampleof how
not to present data in a slide. The photo inserted inthe upper left
gives a graphic example of an earthquake vic-tim that can elicit
pathos in the audience. In a geophysical
pre-sentation,however,pathosisntthepoint.Thisgraphicisadiversionfromthemessagecontainedinthedataandwilllikely
draw the audience, even if momentarily, away from thedata and
dilute the message. Additionally, it is not possible to read the
information con-tained in the curve and bar graph, even for those
at the front.The data figure in the slide is just too tiny. Figure
4-Yes
showsallthatneedstobeconveyed.Notethatjustthebargraphcompletely
fills the screen. The curve shown in Figure 4-No(whatever it shows
since we cannot read it) is immaterial. Notealso that the title in
Figure 4-Yes is not only briefer than thatin Figure 4-No, it is
much more to the point. Since the wordcasualties by definition
includes those injured, it is an inap-propriate title for the bar
graph, which specifically lists
onlylossoflifeinanumberofdevastatingearthquakes.Compare the
information contained in the simplepresentation in Figure 4-Yes
with that in the
highlygraphicFigure4-No,withitspicturesque,butcontent-free
background. Ensure that similar data shown on differentslides are
displayed with the same scale so that
theaudienceimmediatelygraspsthesignificanceofvariations in the data
shown or compared in differ-ent slides.
Figure5-Notakestheinsertionofgratuitous,entertaining, and
distracting pictures to an extreme,in addition to offering a title
that says little about whatthe numbers mean. How cute that a
chimpanzee can be taughtto smoke! Any contemplation of that fact
will detract the audi-ences attention away from the message.
Then,thereisthediagramdepictingtheprogressofinfluenza in a bodys
system. This is fascinating material in
atalkaboutinfluenza,butdistractingforapresentationonearthquakehazards.
Also,thefontismuchtoosmall.Withthe unnecessary photographs removed,
Figure 5-Yes showsall the pertinent data, in large lettering and in
descending orderof relative risk. The title of the slide indicates
explicitly
whatthenumbersmean.Thefigure,moreover,allowssufficientroom to show
in a readable form the source of the data. Onanother note about
this slide, the risk factors might be
moreeffectivelyshownasabarorlinegraph.Therelativeriskswould then
jump off the page visually for the audience. Figure 6 compares two
slidesone with too much
detail(Figure6-No)andone(Figure6-Yes)thatcontainsenoughinformation
to engage the audience rather than diverting theirattention to
determining what the slide means. Both slides con-tain the
essential information. The title informs the audienceat a glance
what the data represent. They see it and hear yousay it, and
remember it. We took Figure 6No and improvedit for simplicity,
clarity, and interpretability. Note the follow-ing differences
between the two figures: 1)An informative slide title has been
introduced to tell theaudience at a glance what the slide is
conveying2)The velocity plot has been
removed3)Thedistanceannotation,whichistoosmall,hasbeenremoved and
replaced by a more readable scale bar,
and4)Criticallyhelpfulannotations(PlanView,Profile,MonitorWell,andClearwaterReservoirSand)andthe
key point of the slide (yields tighter clusters) havebeen inserted
with acceptable font sizes.5)The velocity plot, which represents an
independent idea,hasbeenmovedfromthisslide(Figure6-No)toalaterone
(not shown here) as a standalone idea. In doing so, itcan be
enlarged sufficiently so that the audience can seethe differences
in the two velocity curves.
Theseenhancementsresultintwosimpleslidesratherthan one complicated
one. As a result, the data in Figure 6-MARCH 2008 THE LEADING EDGE
425Figure 2Yes. A succinctly worded outline listing major portions
of atalk.Figure 3No, never. This exaggerated slide clearly overdoes
the logoand reduces the data to an unreadable size.Downloaded
07/16/15 to 192.100.180.18. Redistribution subject to SEG license
or copyright; see Terms of Use at
http://library.seg.org/YesactuallyoccupymorerealestatethaninFigure6-No,allowing
the speaker to convey the message more effectively.The annotations
identify key points that the speaker needs
tocoverandgreatlyaidunderstandingataglance.Now,thespeaker has no
need for a laser pointer. There is even
roomforthekeyconclusion(theneweventrelocationtechniqueyields
tighter clusters). Text slides. Word slides should be used no more
than nec-essary. Use them to help the audience follow where you
areinthetalk.Theyalsoaregoodforprompting,whichhelpsyou to stay
relaxed and emphasize the key points.
Moreover,thecontentofawordslideshouldbesparse(i.e., just a few key
words in bullet points, as in the conclu-sion slide shown in Figure
1-Yes). Wordy slides, such as thatin Figure 1-No, only encourage
the audience into a readingexercise, diverting its attention away
from where it should beaddressed-listening to you.
Exceptwhenyouaredisplayingdataandconceptsingraphics, your audience
should be focused on you, listeningto your words and registering
the added emphasis conveyedthrough your facial and body language.
Surprisingly, even ina large auditorium, audiences can see and
benefit from ges-tures, which can be a useful visual aid for
explaining ideas.The audience is there to hear what you have to
say; they alsobenefit from how you say it. If the audience is
forced to readwordy text while you are speaking, it divides their
atten-tion to the extent that they will miss the entire message.
Word slides should have a common font and size, althoughits
preferable to use a slightly larger font for the title. The
fontsize should be large enough for those in the back of the
audi-ence to read with ease. This holds independent of the size
andshape of the room. Do not count on font
sizexxalwaysbeingrightforyourslide.Because letter size in a slide
scales withthe size of screen, we recommend set-ting the font size
as a given fraction ofthe height of the slide. In our experience,a
good rule is to make the height of lower-case letters (such as the
letter a) 1/25the height of the slide. (As we have aged426 THE
LEADING EDGE MARCH 2008Figure 4No. Gratuitous photo with
distracting pathos and illegibledata.Figure 4Yes. All the data
needed.Youprobably can read the words on Figure 4-Yes with no
trouble, but that isbecause you are reading it close-up on a
printed page. However, the lettering in even this high-quality
slide is far too tiny for an audience to read. Weve made
recommendations for font size,but also comment here on how a slide
such as Figure 4, with its small lettering, can be
presentedacceptably during a presentation. This figure was taken
from a published paper, and the speakerhas two choices for
presenting the material. One is to show the figure as published (in
which thespeaker should acknowledge the source, preferably on the
figure, but at least verbally). In thiscase, the speaker should
also acknowledge that the audience may have difficulty reading the
con-tent of the slide and then help the audience by explaining the
data verbally. For example, for thisslide the speaker could mention
that the abscissa ranges from years 1890 through 1990 and the
ordinate is logarithmic, going from 100 deaths at the bottom to
100,000 toward the top. The speakermight also help the audience by
pointing out the relatively small loss of life for the San
Franciscoearthquake of 1906 relative to the huge loss in the
Tangshang, China, earthquake of 1977. The second choice for
presentation is to redraft the slide so that it shows just a subset
of thenumber of earthquakes, with bolder lines and larger
lettering. Your audience will appreciate nothaving eye-strain by
the end of your presentation. Think of the listeners at the back of
the room.Aim for this group to be able to read your figures with
ease, which will ensure that those closerto the front will have the
pleasure of clearly readable figures. Downloaded 07/16/15 to
192.100.180.18. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright;
see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/and our eyesight has
degraded, that 1/25 rule has changedto 1/20 and is heading toward
1/15.) Use bold-face fonts, asappropriate, so that letters are easy
to read. Talks can sometimes benefit from the use of an outline
slide.An outline slide tells the audience what you are going to
say,what you are saying, and then what you have said. By
observ-ingwhereyourtalkisheading,theaudiencewillbebetterable to
follow the presentation. Figure 2 illustrates anoutlineslide. Too
often, the first item in an outline slide is Introductionand the
last one is Conclusions. These words are uninfor-mative. Instead,
the first point in the outline could be moreexplicitly stated, for
example, Motivation and Assumptionsor Theory or Summary of Previous
Studies. The last itemmight be Summary and Way Ahead, for example.
The out-lineshouldlistwhatisuniquetoyourpresentation.
Avoidincluding too many entries and making the font size too small.
It can be helpful to repeat the outline slide at appropriateplaces
in the talk, highlighting the specific topic that you
willcovernext.Thiscanhelpfocustheaudienceonwhereyouare taking them
with your presentation. This is also a goodplace to pause in your
story and allow the audience to digestyour message. Explain what is
coming next before springingthe next slide on them.
Yourbulletedslidesshouldconsistofkeyeye-catchingwords. Agood start
at simplifying them is to remove most, ifnot all, of the articles
(a, the) and most of the verbs.
Wesuggestneverusingthewordtheonaslide,andalmostnever the words a or
an. PowerPoint etiquette and delivery. To date, PowerPoint
pre-sentations are most often single-screen, so, for example,
thebenefitofdoingbefore-and-aftercomparisonsacrosstwoscreens is
unavailable. The electronic presentation,
however,offerstheopportunityforeasilytogglingbackandforthbetween
figures. Occasionally, you might wish to return to afigure
presented several figures back. For
this,itisbestnottoclickbackwardthroughthefigures,butrathertorepeatthatfigureatanother
place in the arrangement of
figuressothatyoucontinuallyadvanceforwardthrough the slides. If, in
the future, PowerPoint presentationscan be conveniently done with
two screens, dosome orchestrating of slides on the left and
rightscreens. It is less confusing for the speaker andmakes for a
smoother presentation when
bothscreensareadvancedatthesametime.Ifyouwish to hold a figure on
one screen while advancing the
oneontheotherscreen,repeatthatslideinyourarrangement.Blank slides
can aid the presentation when nothing needs tobe shown at a given
point while you are speaking. Leaving aslide up after describing it
diverts the attention of the listener.For before and after
comparisons, put the before slideon the left screen and the after
slide on the right screen. Youcan also take advantage of the extra
real estate by using theleft screen to capture the key points in a
few words and theright screen to show the graphics. Keep it simple.
Aslide should not overwhelm the audiencewith detail. Slides are
there to augment your talk so that theaudience follows and
remembers more of what you say. If youmust illustrate all of the
points contained in such a slide, thenbreak it up, putting the
content into several simple slides. Notonly are simple messages in
slides individually beneficial tothe audience, they help to
simplify the entire story embodiedby the presentation. This helps
you to move smoothly throughthe storyline. In particular,
communicate just one key idea per slide. Thishelps your audience to
follow your message. The use of suf-ficiently large lettering is
especially helpful toward this endbecause it inherently minimizes
the quantity of material thatcan be squeezed into a slide. The
simpler the slides, the clearer,easier, and more straightforward is
the talk. The clearer thetalk, the greater the chance that a higher
percentage of the audi-ence will receive and understand the
message. If the audiencehas to strain to see and interpret the
message in your slides,it will be distracted from hearing the one
coming from yourlips. Using a dark background with light-colored
text or linesis easy on the viewers eyes. Dark lettering on a light
or whitebackground sometimes might appear clearer, but use only
asmuch light space as necessary on the slide for the graphics
tofit. Never use graphics or dark-colored fonts against a
darkbackground (e.g., red text with blue background). The mate-rial
will be unreadable. Not only does this strain your
audi-enceseyes,italsodilutesthemessage.Lightblueletteringand lines
on a dark blue background also are unacceptable.We have seen
presentations in which the speaker, while squint-ing to read his
own slide, says some of you might have trou-ble reading this slide.
For both graphics slides and word slides, give thought toMARCH 2008
THE LEADING EDGE 427Figure 5Yes. The words in larger font
succinctly encompass the message in a slide with an informative
title.Figure 5 No. Photos divert the attention of the audience from
themessage, as do the meaningless title and minuscule font size
withunitless numbers.Downloaded 07/16/15 to 192.100.180.18.
Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of
Use at http://library.seg.org/aesthetics in the arrangement of the
material, in particular
mar-ginsandspacingofthecontent.Marginsbeshouldneithertoo small nor
too large. Besides compromising the
aesthetics,marginsthataretoolargereducetheareaavailableforthecontent.
Being a story, your presentation will naturally consist ofparts
that can be considered as chapters. Just as an extra blankpage is
often inserted prior to the start of each chapter in abook, it can
aid your presentation if you add a slight pauseprior to continuing
on to the next chapter.
Whenyoudisplayaslide,firstdescribewhatyouareshowing before
discussing the interpretation. Sinceyour talk is a story, it is
more effective to say afew words about what is coming in that
sliderather than bringing up the new slide beforestarting to talk
about it. You want to ensure theaudience understands the slide
before you startmaking observations and drawing conclusions.Explain
the axes of cross-plots and
histograms,includingscalesandunits.Telltheaudiencethecoordinate
system and scales for maps and crosssections. Also, it is good to
point out links betweenassociatedplots,forexampleaprofileline
A-Adrawn on a map that depicts a cross section that willfollow in
the next slide. Laser pointers: An unnecessary evil. Leave your
laser pointerat home. Ideally, you shouldnt need one. On graphics
slides,use of highlighting (e.g., arrows, ovals, boxes) on a slide
bestillustratestheexactlocationsofinterestinthefigure.Thoughtful
highlighting reduces or even eliminates the
needforalaserpointer,particularlytherecentbrightgreenonesthat wash
out much of the screen and are harsh on the
audi-enceseyes.Laserpointersareneedlessforwordslides.Audienceareperfectlycapableofreadinganappropriatelyconstructed
word slide without having to follow the bounc-ing ball. Finally,
ensure that your slides are free of grammatical andtypographical
errors. Ask those who attend your rehearsalsto help spot such
errors. Finalanalysis.
Whenyourtopicinvolvesnewtechnology,alwaysclearlylisttheassumptionsthatyouusedinyourresearch
and the limitations imposed by those assumptions(i.e., over what
range for the key parameters the technologyisapplicable).
Also,lettheaudienceknowhowthecostofapplying this new technology
compares with alternatives. Inaddition to providing all of the
advantages of this great newmethodology, also talk about the
disadvantages, unresolvedissues, and other sticking points to its
application. The scien-tific method that we all have been taught
relies on testing
var-ioushypotheses.Someofthesehypothesesarevalidandgeneratereasonableresults.Mostwillhavelimitationsandcause
the methodology to break under certain
circumstances.Inyourresearch,trytobreakyourgreatnewidea,andtellyour
audience about shortcomings that you have discovered.They will
appreciate this and value your thoroughness andcandor as
well.Strong presentations will have definitive, carefully
thoughtout conclusions, whether they are offered verbally or in a
con-clusions slide. Asimple and concise conclusion will follow
nat-urally; support it with well-presented, convincing argumentsand
data from your talk. This holds whether you have suc-cessfully
reached an end of the project, or your paper is
partofanongoingstudyandhasreachedaplateau,andholdswhether the
findings are positive or not.Always allot time at the end of your
presentation for ques-tions and answers. This time is often the
most lively and valu-able part of the talk because it is the most
interactive. The Q&Aperiod provides time for you to clarify
your points and
ensurethattheaudiencegetsyourmessage.Italsogivesyouthechance to
receive valuable feedback for your work. You havean opportunity to
learn something from the audience that youcould potentially use to
solve a sticky problem. Presentations that effectively convey the
results from a
sci-entificprojectrequireaclear,concise,well-articulatedtalksupportedbycrisp,clear,easy-to-digestslides.Aboveall,empathizewithyouraudience,andtakecaretohelpthemgrasp
your message fully. We hope the guidance offered herecan be of
significant help toward this goal. Not only will theaudience
benefit from your ability to convey complex ideasin simple terms,
your reputation for conveying ideas will beenhanced. As a result,
your peers will be inspired to seek youout to share their ideas
with you. Good luck with your talks!TLEAcknowledgments: Roel
Snieder kindly provided Figures 45 from a spoofpresentation
Earthquake Hazard: APolitical Problem? to students at theColorado
School of Mines that demonstrates how not to give a presentationand
offers a better alternative for the presentation. We thank Les
Hatton
forallowingustousehiswackyWombatfigure,andYapingZhuforhisConclusionsslide.MembersoftheExxonMobilstaffarealreadyusingsome
of these tips to yield improvements in their presentations.
Corresponding author: [email protected] THE LEADING
EDGE MARCH 2008Figure 6Yes. The addition of a title and appropriate
annotations andlabels help the speaker convey the message
clearly.Figure 6No. This slide has the essential information, but
thats it.Theres not enough identifying information and the audience
may notbe able to connect the visual presentation with the verbal
one.Downloaded 07/16/15 to 192.100.180.18. Redistribution subject
to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at
http://library.seg.org/