Preparing Effective Oral Presentations in
7.17 Project Lab
What are the qualities of an effective
oral presentation?
• Points clearly elucidated, makes eye contact, avoids fillers (you know, like, um, etc.).
• Speaker builds on points that are on the slides rather than just reading them off.
• A confident speaker (in what he/she knows or doesn’t know).
• Knowledge of the direction of the presentation (a map).
• Don’t assume that we remember what you said two weeks ago--keep reframing
background.
•
1
First thing to do to prepare an oral
presentation is to overcome fear
Public
speaking
41%
Other
40%
Death
19%
On October 7, 1973, the Sunday Times in London published a
survey asking 3,000 Americans: "What is your greatest fear?"
The result: 41% of respondents answered "speaking in public."
Five Canons of Classical Rhetoric or
the art of persuasive speech
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Invention: Generating content and
choosing a type of argumentative
appeal
Arrangement: Organizing the material
Style: Using “proper words in proper
places” (J. Swift).
Memory: Speaking without notes.
Delivery: Controlling voice, gesture,
expression--and graphics!
2
Invention: Classical Rhetoric described
three types of persuasive appeals.
Logos: Appeal to reason, logic, objectivity
Pathos: Appeal to emotion, subjectivity
Ethos: Appeal to the character of the presenter
Effective presentations make use of all three
types of appeals.
Arrangement: Control the story that you want to
tell about your data (in four parts).
1.
2.
Introduction
•
Offer the background for your experimental work.
•
Give the listener reasons to be interested.
•
Consider presenting your work as a problem to be solved.
Methods: Summarize the methods you used in the lab; offer detail
only on novel methods (not routine ones).
3.
Results: Focus on key results (not all of them), which can include
both successful and unsuccessful experiments.
4.
Interpretation/conclusion/summary/next steps: Answer the “sowhat?” and “so-what-else?” questions.
3
Style: Consider your speaker’s persona-even shy people can be very effective
public speakers!
•
•
•
•
•
Think in terms of talking to people
Look at your audience
Observe their reactions
Adjust your style accordingly
Make your enthusiasm for your work infectious
Memory: Memorizing your talk word-forword is not necessary
However, use notes, note cards, or a printed version of
your PPT slides to keep yourself organized and on track.
4
Delivery: The rain in Spain falls mainly on
the plane.
• Avoid filler words and distracting
sounds (um, like, you know, okay).
• Don’t hide from your audience.
• Talk to your audience not to the screen.
• Don’t fix your gaze on only one or two
audience members.
• Don’t read your visual aids verbatim.
• Practice, practice, practice.
You have several choices for how you deliver
your speech
Memorizing the Speech
Reading From a Text
+ allows eye contact
- difficult for long speeches
- room for precision errors
- no room for improvising
+ ensures precision
- does not sound natural
- no room for improvising
- hinders eye contact
Winging It
Speaking From Slides
+ sounds natural
- has much room for error
+ insures organization
+ allows eye contact
+ allows improvising
- some room for error
5
Preparation: Focus Your Thoughts
1. Develop a general goal.
– Inform? Persuade? Brainstorm?
2. Develop a precise objective.
– e.g., After my presentation, the listeners
will be able to identify my three major
conclusions and their implications.
3. Consider the questions your presentation
will answer for your audience.
Type an Outline and Practice from It
• Type your outline in bold print and large font so you can refer to
it easily during your presentation.
• Practice your presentation from this outline but do not
memorize it and do not read from it during your presentation.
• Tape record your presentation and listen to yourself.
– Listen for excessive use of “uh” “like” “you know” and failure to pause
occasionally.
• Make sure you are within the time limit.
6
Tips for Effective Visual Aids
Audiences remember more when you
use well-designed slides
Hear
See
Hear
and See
10
20
30
40
50
60
Recall (%)
7
Choose a format that is easily read
Choose legible type
Arial
BOOK ANTIQUA
Choose a helpful layout
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
Color can distinguish
a presentation
8
Color affects how fast
the audience can read
The color combination that is read most
quickly is black on yellow.
Color affects how fast
the audience can read
What is important is that the combination has
contrast—the one on this slide fails to do so.
9
Color affects how fast
the audience can read
Combinations of red, green, and brown
are difficult for many people to read
Color affects the emotions
of the audience
Avoid having a hot color such as red or
orange as your background color.
10
Include slides that accent important details
Neptune has three moons
Images
The world is warming
1988
1987
1983
1981
Four warmest
years of century
Results
Include slides that show organization
Three classes of methods exist for
reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide
Methods to Reduce
Sulfur Dioxide Emissions
From Coal-Fueled Utilities
Beginning
g
pin
p
Ma
pre-combustion methods
le
Tit
combustion
methods
Cynthia Schmidt
Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Texas
post-combustion
methods
The most effective combustion method
is an atmospheric fluidized bed
Coal switching and coal cleaning
are two pre-combustion methods
Middle
1
le
d
d
Mi
Coal Switching
High Sulfur Mine
cleaned
exhaust
Coal Cleaning
2
le
d
d
Mi
90% removal capability
separator
Low capital cost—can use
in existing equipment
Low Sulfur Mine
High operating cost
Ability to use different
grades of coal
grid
air
inlet
By using these methods, coal utilities
can greatly reduce SO2 emissions
ion
s
u
l
nc
o
C
coal cleaning
Ending
40%
40%
coal switching
80%
fluidized bed
90%
95%
absorption
80%
adsorption
25
50
75
Percentage Reduction of SO2
11
Exclude details that the audience
does not need or cannot remember
Avoid filler information
Avoid long lists
• Corrosion
• Acid rain
• Toxic materials
• Pulsed combustion
• Energetic materials
• Pyrogenic materials
• Smog
Roentgen discovered x-rays
in 1895. He found that a
cathode-ray tube produced
fluorescence in a distant platinum-barium-cyanide screen.
Avoid complex images
DEARATOR
B
A
RGF
HOT
WELL
Slide Template for
Scientific Presentations:
Light Background
The headline succinctly states the main point
of the slide (bold sans serif, 28 points)
Michael Alley
The body supports
with images
College of Engineering
Virginia Tech
February 15, 2003
Sample Image
The body supports
with words
First-level info (24 points)
Second-level info (18 points)
Logo
12
Title of Presentation
(36 Points, Arial,
Bold)
Name
Name
Name
Department
Institution
Key
Image
Date
Logo
Evaluation of Novel and Low-Cost
Materials for Bipolar Plates
in PEM Fuel Cells
Kevin Desrosiers
Holly Grammer
Dr. D. J. Nelson
Fuel Cell Group
Virginia Tech
April 23, 2002
13
This presentation focuses on… (complete
sentence, but go no more than two lines)
Image for
Topic 1
Topic 1
Image for
Topic 2
Topic 2
Image for
Topic 3
Topic 3
Logo
This presentation evaluates composite materials
for the bipolar plates of fuel cells
Role of bipolar plates
in fuel cells
Comparison of bipolar
plate materials
Evaluation of bipolar
plate performance
14
This sentence headline introduces the first topic
(28 points, left justified, no more than two lines)
Image(s)
about
first topic
Subordinate point (keep point to no more than
two lines)
Logo
Fuel cells are devices for energy conversion
[Breakthrough Technologies Institute/Fuel Cells 2000]
15
This sentence headline introduces the 2nd topic
(28 points, left justified, no more than two lines)
First point (keep points to
no more than two lines)
Second point (parallel in
structure to the others)
Image
about
second topic
Third point (parallel in
structure to the others)
Logo
Composite materials are ideal for bipolar plates
Advantages
Easy to shape
Light in weight
Resistant to corrosion
Disadvantages
Low conductivity
High cost (at present)
16
This sentence headline introduces the third topic
(28 points, left justified, no more than two lines)
First point (keep points to no
more than two lines)
Image
about
third topic
Second point (parallel in
structure to the others)
Third point (parallel in
structure to the others)
Logo
Three methods exist for evaluating bipolar plates
1
1.2
0.9
1
0.8
0.7
0.8
Power (W)
Cell Voltage (v)
0.6
0.5
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0
0
0
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Day
Current Density (A/cm2)
Polarization Curves
Power Curves
Visual Inspection
17
In summary,… (here, you state your most important
conclusion of the work)
Supporting point (no
more than two lines)
Another supporting point
(parallel to the first)
A third supporting point
(parallel to the first)
Image that
supports
conclusion
Questions?
Logo
In summary, composite bipolar plates
show promise for fuel cells
Composite materials function well,
while under operating conditions
Minimal corrosion was observed
Conductivity difficulties need to be
addressed
Questions?
18
Workshop overview: Our histories and
values as writers and researchers shape
the ways we use writing in the classroom.
In your discipline, what does the
process of research look like?
What is your writing process
for a typical academic task?
What are your expectations
for the introduction to
a research article?
What do we mean by Context, Focus,
and Justification?
• Context: Orient your reader to the published literature
related to the study you are presenting.
• Focus: Define your research space, stake out territory.
What question are you addressing? What is your
hypothesis?
• Justification: Show how your work fits into and extends
previous work. Argue for the importance of your work.
• Your introduction sets up the direction you’ll take in the
Discussion Section.
19
Introductions across disciplines contain
the essential elements of context, focus,
and justification.
Context: Orient your
reader to the published
literature related to the
topic and to essential
background information
Focus: Define the research
space, stake out territory.
What questions are you
addressing? What is your
hypothesis?
Swales (1990)
Justification: Show how
your work fits into and
extends previous work.
Argue for the importance
of your work.
20