ERA Journal

1.         Introduction

1.1.  Measures of successfor thetalk

Themeasureof successof aresearch presentationisits effect on thepeoplein the audience. Onespecificmeasure isthat peopleremember themain points ofthe talk. Another measureisthattheyfaceyou ratherthan their screensasyou speak;yet another is that somepeople areinterested enough toask questions at the endandyou havetime left forthem to do so. 

Theslides aretheside show. Theyshould illustratewhatyou aresaying. Wordyslides thatyou do not read willcompete with your talkingforthe audience’sattention, and they willwin, becausethe visual channel dominates the auditorywith respect to attention [2].Ifyou needmoretextto keep on track,read occasionallyfrom your laptopwhileyou speak, but do notit to the audience.

2.         Keyconceptsandlessons 

I.            Howtopreparethetalk 

2.1.  Content-no slides yet

2.2.  Decide upon thecoreideas. 

Themain task is to makethe presentation interesting whilegettingyour point acrossso that people willwantto payattention. Craft an“elevator speech”in thefirst few minutes ofyour talk. The elevator speechconsistsof the1 to 3 mostimportant coreideasthat you would want someoneto remember ifyou hadonlythe duration of an elevator ride to speak. This might includeyour contribution or solution to the problem, backgroundon the problem itself, whythe problem is interesting or important, what othershavedoneto solve it, and howyour contribution differs. Experimental results discussedduringthe talk willhelp demonstrate why your solution is effective. 

2.3.  What does it mean to be interesting, and how to conveyit? 

Construct thesignificance and contribution statements in fundamental termsso that they areunderstandable toanyone:think of thepersonat a table next toyou inarestaurant, or your mother. Whenyouthink ofthe ideas as interestingto anyone,you willtend to explain usingless technical language, [3]and describebenefits suchas: savestime, saves money,allows better decisions, prevents accidents, and so forth, that willdraw in the entireaudience. Your mission is to makesurethat whatyou sayholds the interest, or attention, ofthe audience. We alreadyknow that thematerial is interesting toyou: deliveryour talkwith enthusiasm andthe audience should reflectthat emotion [2]. 

2.4.  Definemost terms 

Whenyou do usetechnical language, defineterms. Even for anaudienceof people in yourfield, there willbesome who havenot read papers veryrecently that directlypertain to thetopic, and theymighthavetrouble understandingthe finer detailsasyou are speaking. Describethemethod in broader strokes and refer thosewhowant moreto examineyour article. Your talk does not substituteforreadingyour article;you are tryingtoget peoplefamiliar withyouandyour work. 

2.5.  Repetition 

Over the courseof thetalk, repetition isnot onlyacceptable, itis to somedegree mandatory, to highlight important points at the beginningand end. Beginwith enough of apreviewof presentationcontent so that the audiencewillunderstand howthe logic will unfold. That which is most important inyour talkshould berepeated at theconclusion, although not necessarilyword-for-word. 

2.6.  Length ofpresentation 

It is not arequirement tofill upyourtimeslotanymorethanyouarerequiredto fillup your dinner plateatthe conference buffet. Useonlythe time ittakes to communicatethe main ideas ofyour work. Further, it can becounted inyour favor ifyou finish early. 

This is because

·         almosteveryoneintheaudiencehas somethingto do immediately after

·         your talk will be considered wellorganized ifyougo through everythingyou intended to sayat a comfortable pace

·         youwillhave additional time for questions and discussion, which willreflect positivelyon thefact thatyour talk wasunderstood and appreciated. 

2.7.  Content-with slides 

Yourslides serveto illustrateyour speaking. As such, theyareintended forthose who attend the talk. Given their role asside show to thetalk, theslides should be sparingof words. In fact,slides arenon-essential to effectivepublicspeaking. Thinkof aminister who addresses hiscongregantswithoutanyvisualsexcept perhaps ahandgesturefor emphasis. In the caseofaprojectorfailure,youmight need togiveyourtalk without slides. 

2.8.  Numberofslides 

Usingfewer slides freesyou to spend moretime explainingeach particularslide. Besides, slideflipping can bemind-numbingforthe audienceunlessyou flip so fast that you create animation. Assumethatyou willtakeat least 2 minutes per slide, and determineyour slide limitaccordingtothe time slot. Circumstances in which it is fine to include extraslides include helpingto proveapointor addinghumor.

2.9.  Designofslides 

Unifyslidesin thedeckwith respect to color,font type andfont size. Forthe slidebody, useafont sizeno smallerthan 20 points so that thosein theback of theroom can see clearly. Do not useall capitals, which can beharder to read. Composetext and images asymmetrically, althoughwith balance, becausevisual symmetrytends to beboring. As forlists, bulletdotsthemselves areunnecessary. Theblack dots draw the eyetoward themselves and awayfrom thewords, saying“theseitems comprisealist.” But almost everyonewho canread also can recognizeimmediatelythat words stackedverticallywith aheadingarealist(seefigures below). EdwardTufterails againstthis sort oflist and the compressed languageof presentations: “Bulletoutlines dilute thought” [4].

Throughout theslidedeck, alternate slidelayoutsso that thedesign does not become monotonous [5].Ifyou havea comparisonside-by-side, forexample,the next slide could be singlegraphic. 

2.10.           Slide content 

Slidesshould contain graphics orresults thatillustrate major points inyourtalk. When tryingto determinewhether to include aslide,think of whetheryouwould bothertowrite the commentwhileyou arespeakingonablackboard orpad of paper. Thatrules out slides such as “Anyquestions?”or “Thankyou.” Ifyou thinkyou might forget to ask whethertherearequestions, writeyourself notesand speak from them. Sharingsuch visuals with the audienceis unnecessary.

 Ifthe slidedeck iscompletelycomprehensiblebyitself, theslides might beeffectivefora trainingseminar or class, butas aslideshow to accompany your speech, theslides will draw attention awayfromyou, and hence,willmakeitharder for people to understand whatyouaresaying. 

Everymarkingthat doesnot supportyourargument is apotential distraction. Generally, the less “apparatus” on theslide, the better-no runninglogos, although some organizations requirethem. Avoid decorated backgroundtemplates whichdraw attention to aspects of the slides and talk that aremeaningless. Savesuch decorativetemplates for partyinvitations. 

2.11.           Slidetitle 

Theslidetitle should havethe take-awaypointof theslide. Short topicheadings forslide titlesdo not take advantageof thishigh-value sliderealestate. Research has shown that a complete title sentence and graphic is moreeffective than the short topic headingwith subtopic bullet list that istypical of PowerPoint [5,6]. 

2.12.           Slidemain area 

Complement whatyou aresaying with a relevant image, chart, ordiagram, or video. It has been found that bullet listsareless effectivethan an imagewhen itcomes to retention of what was said [6]. A fortiori, aparagraph on the slideinstead of alist willbevastlyless effective. This is becausesomein the audiencewillreadtheslides instead of listening toyou; others might start to read and belulledto sleep, or evendive into their email. 

2.13.           Beginning and ending slidesin thepresentatio 

At the beginningofyourtalk, saywhatyou aregoingto talk about, elevator-speech style. Do not sayhowyou willproceedwith abstractions, as in theoverview slidebelow(Figure 1& Figure 2). Yourlast slide should have amain pointor summary: whateverthoughtyou would like the audienceto beleft with. Usingthelast slide for a non-essential pointinyour presentation suchas alist of referenceswastesyourfinal opportunityto helpyouraudiencerememberyourcoremessageand perhapsyour e-mail address. 

2.14.           Checkthe finishedslidedeck 

Read the titles: the progression ofthe argumentshould be clearfrom thetitlesalone. Remove mostslides that do not advanceyour argument. That is because,at best,such slides willgobble timethatyoucould be spending reinforcingwhatyou hopethe audiencewillremember. At worst,such slides might lead people to askquestionsabout points onlytangential to yourargument, whichwillside-track otherpeoplein the audienceand makethemless likelyto remember ideas that are core.

 2.15.           Howto present theslides? 

Read the wordsand describe anygraphics beforeyou interpret thewords or thegraphics. This is rarelydone, andat least one presenterdismisses readingwords onaslideto the audienceas “annoying.”[7]. However, it becomes annoyingonlywhen the slidehas too manywords!So, this isactuallyan instruction more about what makes slide content annoying and less about the act ofreading. Ifyoudo not read the words, and insteadtalk about somethingelse on theslide, then the audiencewillmiss someof what you aresayingwhile theyread the words on theslide. 

Similarly, describetheimageor chart orvideo briefly. Donot assume that the audience willget thepointof eachchart and image. Each person potentiallycould summon 1000 different words for thesame picture: so,specifythewordsyou wantforyour picture. Then goon to interpret thepicture.

2.16.           Practice 

Rehearsingthepresentation even when no oneis available to comment is extremely useful becauseitforcesyou to think through howyou willelaborate on theslides, and how to smooth thetransitions between slides. Timeyourself asyou speak,andagain,cut out slides if necessary.

 2.17.           Will thisslidedecksubstituteforyourtalk forthose who cannot attend? 

No. Ifyou have madeslides with thegoal of using them as the sideillustrations forthe main act -your talk -then the slide deck willnot be too valuableto thosewho missedthe talk. Better ifyoudistribute atalk abstract.