Problem Solving,
Communication
& Innovation:
Presentations
Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee
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Contents
In today's lecture we’ll discuss giving good
presentations
– Presentation PMI
– Edward Tufte’s Tips
– Death by PowerPoint?
– How to use PowerPoint well
– Other presentation tips
– Presentation assignment
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Presentation PMI
Let’s do a quick PMI on presentations that
you have been at
– P: What things have people done in
presentations that have worked well?
– M: What things have people done in
presentations that have worked badly?
– I: What interesting things have you seen
people do in presentations?
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Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips
Edward Tufte makes the following
suggestions for giving presentations:
– Show up early
– Have a strong opening
• What's the problem?
• Who cares?
• What's your solution?
– On every subtopic move from the particular to
the general and back to the particular
– Give everyone at least one piece of paper
– Know your audience
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Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips
(cont…)
– Rethink the overhead
– The audience is sacred
– Humour is good
– Avoid masculine (or even feminine!)
pronouns as universals
• They has been accepted by the Oxford English
Dictionary for years
– Take care with questions
– Let people know you believe your material
– Finish early
– Drink lots of water
Edward Tufte’s Presentation Tips
(cont…)
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– Have a strong conclusion
– Think about all presentation possibilities
– Practice, practice, practice
•
•
•
•
•
Film your presentation
Play it back and watch yourself
Watch it without the sound
Listen to it without the picture
Watch it at twice the normal speed
– Have your first couple of lines rehearsed
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Rethinking The Overhead
“PowerPoint presentations too often resemble a
school play – very loud, very slow, and very
simple”
-Edward Tufte
“The Cognitive Style Of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts
Within”, Edward Tufte, 2006
Edward Tufte is an analytical
design (who would rail against
being on this slide!)
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NASA & PowerPoint
After the Columbia space
shuttle crashed in 2003 the
Columbia Accident
Investigation Board fingered
PowerPoint as a culprit
NASA, had become too reliant on presenting
complex information via PowerPoint
New York Times Article: PowerPoint Makes You Dumb
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Should We Abandon PowerPoint?
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Let’s Assume We Don’t!
Tips for good PowerPoint presentations
– Include only necessary information
– Avoid long paragraphs of text
– Don’t overcrowd the presentation
– Don’t forget to spell check
– Don’t be afraid to use pictures – but be careful
of overused clip-art
– Be consistent with formatting
– Have a backup plan
– Remember slides are not the same as notes
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PowerPoint Tips: Colours & Fonts
Colours:
– Limit the number of colours
– Use contrasting colours for background and
text
– Try to think about accessibility
Somebody who is colour blind won’t be
able to read this!
Font:
– Always use size 20 or bigger
– Larger font may be used for emphasis
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PowerPoint Tips: Colours & Fonts
(cont…)
Using too small font is impossible to read
CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY
Don’t use complicated fonts
Using a font colour that does not contrast with
the background colour is hard to read
Using a different colour for each point is
unnecessary
– Using a different colour for secondary points is also
unnecessary
Trying to be creative can also be bad
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PowerPoint: Colours & Fonts (cont…)
Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
difficult to read from
Always be consistent with the background
that you use
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PowerPoint Tips: Animation
Using animation in PowerPoint is almost
always a bad idea!
It just confuses people and makes your
slides take forever to appear
Also you spend all of your time pressing the
next slide button
So don’t do it!
Except when it adds to
the clarity of your
presentation
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Oral Presentation Tips
Some tips for oral presentations:
– Body language is important
– Speak loudly and clearly
– Try to put some feeling into your voice
– Do not read from notes
– Maintain eye contact with your audience
– Speak to your audience
– Don’t be afraid to take a pause
– Don’t be afraid to correct yourself
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Handling Questions
Questions at the end are just about the most
important part of a presentation
– Repeat the question to the audience
– Restate or ask for clarification if necessary
– Request that questions are asked during the
talk or afterwards
– Avoid prolonged one-to-one discussions
– If you can’t answer a question, just say so
– Have a dedicated questions slide
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Conclusion
The most important things to remember
when giving presentations are:
– Think about your audience
– Think about your objective
– Think carefully about visual aides (slides)
– Speak confidently, clearly and to the
audience
– PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
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Questions?
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Presentation Assignment
I would like you all to give a short
presentation in class
– Day Course: In the penultimate week of the
course – Wednesday, 6th December
– Night Course: In the last week of the course –
Wednesday, 13th December
Each presentation should be 10 minutes
long including questions
Feel free to use any presentation tools/aides
that you like
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Presentation Assignment (cont…)
The presentation can be on any topic that
you like, as long as it is related to the course
– How you did your assignment
– Problem solving techniques from the course
that you have used at work/home
– Other problem solving techniques that you
have come in contact with