Effective Scientific Presentation Skills: Anne Roc'h and Rajeev Roy Telecommunication Engineering University of Twente
Effective Scientific Presentation Skills: Anne Roc'h and Rajeev Roy Telecommunication Engineering University of Twente
Effective Scientific Presentation Skills: Anne Roc'h and Rajeev Roy Telecommunication Engineering University of Twente
Susan McConnell
Department of Biological Sciences
Stanford University
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Contents
• Introduction
• Key points for a presentation
• Structure of a presentation
• Key tips for slides
• Conclusion This is where you list
out the broad range
of topics you will
present
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Introduction
• This presentation is about how to give an
effective scientific presentation !
Start with an
• Why is it important introduction.
This is
– You would like to “sell” your work important to
build up a
• How to do it context to
what you will
– Some ideas and tips on how to do a be presenting
presentation and how not to do it are Start
presented. general, go
to specifics
and then end
general 4
Contents
• Introduction
• Key points for a presentation
• Structure of a presentation
• Key tips for slides Highlight the next topic
you are going to
• Conclusion present. This gives
clarity to the audience
as to where you are in
the presentation
Don’t forget to number your slides !
You might also want to include the total
number of slides that you want to
present 5/50
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Key points for a presentation
• Who is the audience?
– Do not expect every one to be an expert in
the field
– Do not underestimate them either. POTS…
What is
• How much time do you have? that???
Plain Old
Telephone
System
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Key points for a presentation
• Are you prepared for the technical devices
to use: Laptop, Beamer, Pointer ….
– Be comfortable with the devices you need to
use
• Be aware that you are in a public form.
Maintain some decorum.
– Mobile phones (Unless you are a VIP), Instant
chats …..
Hot Sue is online..
The audience might be more
interested in that than your 7
presentation !!
Contents
• Introduction
• Key points for a presentation
• Structure of a presentation
• Key tips for slides
• Conclusion
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Structure of the presentation
• Start General
– This is a car
Build up a a context
to your talk
Depending on your
audience you might
need to present at a
level a bit higher
than “DOS for
Dummies”
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Structure of the presentation
• Go into specifics
– Cars need a suspension
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Structure of the presentation
• Go into more details
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Structure of the presentation
• Go into even more details
Feel free to
use more
slides when
illustrating
details
Do not clutter
one slide…
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Structure of the presentation
• What to do if you are starting with your
work and do not have details?
– Start with the general build up of context
• What is your project about
– Go to specifics… Ooops !!! There are no
specifics
• If you don’t have enough work done to present,
then state your goals and objectives that you
intend to achieve. Discuss with your peers and
seniors. Try to be creative. The audience
wants to know about what work you
will be doing …….. 13
Contents
• Introduction
• Key points for a presentation
• Structure of a presentation
• Key tips for slides
• Conclusion
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Key tips for slides
• Font
– The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
– The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Try to use “Sans Serif” fonts.
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Key tips for slides
• CAPITAL ERROR
– AVOID WRITING WHOLE SENTENCES IN
CAPITALS. IT IS LESS READABLE AND
MORE AGGRESSIVE
– This is already much more readable
– Use capitals for acronyms IMHO
In my humble opinion
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Key tips for slides
• Font Size
– Make sure it is readable to your entire
audience
• 18 point
• 20 point
• 24 point
• 28 point
• 32 point
• 36 point
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Key tips for slides
• There should be contrast in written text
against the background
This is OK This is OK
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Key tips for slides
• Give space in your slides.
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Conclusion
• This concludes a presentation on giving
good presentations
– A bit of talk on key points for a presentation
– And then a bit of structure of the presentation
– And lastly a bit of talk on aesthetics to keep in
mind for a presentation
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