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Technical Presentations

Randy Beard & David Long

Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringBrigham Young University

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Outline

Planning the presentation

General principles

Slides

Making the presentation

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Planning the presentation

What is your purpose? Get money Explain an idea Persuade someone to your point of view

Key: know your audience Tune presentation for your audience!

This is the single most critical point

Length of the presentation

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Outline

Planning the presentation

General principles

Slides

Making the presentation

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

General Principles

Place Yourself In Your Audience's Position The audience wants to learn something.

Be sure you give them a take-away message Don’t assume they will figure it out themselves

Give a talk that is related to the title. Discuss the general principles and context quickly

and move to what is unique about your work. Establish a frame of reference for the audience, Treat the subject broadly enough to encompass

the range of interests of potential attendees.

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

General principles (cont.)

Relate your work to the work of others Explain your work in relation to the work of others Since the authors of work you cite could be in the

audience, drop lots of names and always be complementary -- don’t be negative

Presentations are only summaries Your presentations may summarize months or

years of work You cannot discuss everything Summarize the main points

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

General Principles (cont.)

Allocate the time spent on each topic in direct proportion to its importance

Qualitative insights are more important than quantitative results

Your audience's interest level will be highest at the beginning and the end of your presentation – put key points there A GOOD INTRODUCTION AND A GOOD SUMMARY

OR CONCLUSIONS ARE ESSENTIAL “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them,

tell them what you told them.”

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

General Principles (cont.)

Use Your Slides To Visually Reinforce Your Spoken Words

Have A Good Reason For Showing Each And Every Slide You Use

Space Your Slides Evenly Over Time Slides Must Be Readable. Don't Flout The

Laws Of Optics

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Outline

Planning the presentation

General principles

Slides

Making the presentation

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Preparing good slides

The quality of your slides make a statement about who you are Make sure that they look nice and are well organized

Keep your slides simple: Simplify texts, charts, and concepts Break up complex charts and graphs into simpler ones Keep visual effects to a minimum. The focus should be

on the concepts and not on the presentation style. Be cautious with animations.

Make slides readable: use large font, and only a few bullets

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Preparing good slides (cont.)

Communicate the key ideas Spend time figuring out what the key ideas are

and how to communicate them. Don’t get bogged down in the details! Usually you don’t present the proofs of

theorems, etc., in a talk – give the big picture When you must do a proof, only sketch it. Only outline an algorithm. Describe “what it all means” in simple terms

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Structure of a technical talk

Introduction Define the problem Motivate the audience Discuss earlier work Emphasize contributions of your work Introduce terminology and notation Provide a road map of the talk

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Structure of a technical talk (cont.)

The body Abstract the major results Explain significance of the results Sketch proofs of major results

Technicalities Present a key lemma or results This is primarily for the experts in the audience

and to communicate that there is actually something under the hood.

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Structure of a technical talk (cont.)

The Conclusion Make observations that would have been confusing if

they were introduced earlier. Retell your story and weave all previous slides into a

coherent synopsis. Emphasize the main take home message. Acknowledge co-workers.

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Outline

Planning the presentation

General principles

Slides

Making the presentation

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Making the Presentation

Prepare, prepare, prepare (know your slides) Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse Dress appropriately

It is better to overdress than to under dress Talk to the audience and not to your slides

Face the audience, but Point to the slides

Speak clearly and slowly, enunciate your words

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Making the Presentation (cont.)

Make professional looking slides Check them carefully for typos and spelling errors

Don’t just read your slides Use your slides as a presentation aid, and not as

a self contained presentation Maintain eye contact Don’t make excuses

“I forgot to prepare my talk” “I apologize that you can’t read this data…” These demean your audience

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Show time

When you are making a presentation you are putting on a show and you have an obligation to make it interesting Keep it simple, don’t bury audience in detail Emphasize the forest, not the trees Organize talk into sections, each with a main

point. Emphasize main point at beginning and end of section

Constantly try to regain your audience’s attention Occasionally use personal stories and anecdotes

to emphasize main points.

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Question time

Be sure to leave time for questions. A good rule of thumb is to end 5 minutes early.

Three types of questions:1. Genuine request for knowledge:

These are the easiest to answer (and the type of question that you should ask!)

2. Selfish question, where the questioner is trying to draw attention to themselves. Be polite and try to find a way to complement the questioner.

e.g., that is a good question…

3. Malicious questioner that tries to discredit work. Questioner is usually insecure It is usually best to suggest that you discuss these

questions with the questioner off-line

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Distracting Mannerisms

Walking around a lot Toying with keys in your pocket Talking to the slide with your back to the

audience Avoiding eye contact, looking above the

audience Too much pointing (it takes attention away from

the message)

Technical PresentationsECEn Graduate Writing Class

Acknowledgements

The following material was used to prepare these slides:

Kim Fowler, Giving Good Technical Presentations, IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, March 2000, p.35-38

Tips for Building and Giving Technical Presentations, http://www.udel.edu/chemo/teaching/CHEM465S/C465Tips.htm

Michael Ernst, Giving a Technical presentation,

http://people.csail.mit.edu/mernst/advice/giving-talk.html