COMP 208/214/215/216 – Lecture 5

Presentation Skills

Aims “To introduce the skills needed to

present and defend your work effectively in oral form.”

Dawson’s Chapter 9

Different types

– Formal Presentation• large audience• small audience

– Informal Presentation• as a group• as an individual

– Demonstration

Not done on this course:part of the 3rd yearproject

Project Reviews

Reports at project meetings

Project Demo in week 11

General Tips

• Prepare what you want to say • Time

– Appropriate balance between topics– Appropriate level of detail

• Audience– What background do they need?– What do they want to know?

• Show enthusiasm

Formal Presentations: Content Planning• Clarify your objectives:

– What are you required to mention?– What do you want to say about it?

• Order your main points– Chronological: e.g. requirements, design,

implementation, evaluation– General to specific: e.g. artificial

intelligence, natural language, your project.

Formal Presentations

• Content– Try to have a beginning

(intro/ToC), middle (main points) and end (summary)

– Detail for each will depend on time available and relative importance of the various points.

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Formal Presentations

• Allocate time to topics: make sure you have time for all your main points;– How much background is necessary or

possible?– Equal time for each point or more time

for a particular point?• E.g. if you are talking about a specific

project in natural language, keep the general material brief, or you won’t have time for your stuff.

Formal Presentations

• Timing– Never over-run your time

• This will cause problems for those following you

– Have enough material• Perhaps have some optional material if you

look like under running

– Rehearse your talk• So you have a good idea of how long it is.

Formal Presentations

• Audience– Who are they?

• Assessors, peers, clients, colleagues

– What do they already know?• How many? Same/different backgrounds?

– What do they want to know?– What do you want to tell them?

Slides

• No more than 1 slide for every 2 minutes of talk

• Which tool? Any that – Provides uniform look - consistency is

good– Makes it easy to incorporate external

material– Imposes some discipline.

Don’t put Too Much on a Slide• The slide should not write down everything you

want to say, otherwise it will just be a jumble of words that will be difficult to understand. Certainly, you should not include long rambling sentences, or photocopies of whole book paragraphs. The best idea is to capture some– Key phrases– As bullet points.

• Make sure only the main points are mentioned in a clear concise way and add details as you talk through the slides! Too many pictures or diagrams may be distracting too.

» According to what I just said this slide is RUBBISH!

Fonts

• This is Tahoma• This is Times Roman• This is Courier• This is avant garde• This is Palatino• This is Ariel• This is Comic Sans Ms A matter of taste - but be consistent.

Useful for programcode listings

Font Size (44 point)

• This is 32 point– This is 28 point

• This is 24 point– This is 20 point

» This is 16 point

• This is 28 point– This is 24 point

• This is 18 point– This is 16 point

» This is 12 point

Depends on the size of room, to some extent.

I think 20 point is theminimum useful size

If the font size becomes too small there is too muchon the slide.

Backgrounds

• Matter of taste• Some people like a textured

background• Some people prefer plain• Personally, I prefer plain.

Light Background

• Dark Text

• Some people like this, some do not

• But important to have contrast.

Delivery

• Make sure your slides are organised before you start• Face the audience• Try to make eye contact with the audience -

everyone - don’t pick on an individual• Speak loudly enough to be heard all over the room• Don’t speak too fast• Don’t gesticulate widely - but controlled gestures are

good• Don’t fidget, or walk around too much• Don’t be afraid to pause.

Use of Notes

• Reading from full text is not advised– It is better to have some key word prompts to remind

you of what to say and in what order to say it

• You can use – cards; notes on backing sheets; a piece of paper with

key words

• Don’t get lost in your notes– Write large; use different colours to separate points.

If you prepare your text well, and rehearse it several times, you shouldn’t need your notes too much.

Dealing With Questions

• Try to anticipate what you will be asked• Answer confidently• Answer briefly - and keep to the point• Don’t argue with your questioner• Speak to the whole audience, not just the

questioner• If you don’t have an answer, admit it:

don’t bluster.

Are you still THERE???

Different types

– Formal Presentation• large audience• small audience

– Informal Presentation•as a group• as an individual

– Demonstration

Presenting as a Group

• Think as a group about – what you need to say– who is going to say it– who will take the lead on answering

questions

• If everyone knows what is happening, things run smoothly and there are no conflicts and interruptions.

Review Meetings

• Decide who will introduce each item• Keep your introduction short and to

the point• Be familiar with the material you are

introducing• Be ready to explain, clarify and

answer questions.

Reporting to a Meeting

• Know the agenda: identify what you will speak to

• Know what you are going to say• Keep it short• Stick to the point• Be prepared to back up what you say

- make sure you have the detail to answer questions if they are asked.

Demonstrating Software - I• Know your software - what it can (and cannot)

do; how to access its functions• Decide what you want to demonstrate

– Don’t try to show more than the time allows

• Try to use a running example or case study to work through the functions you want to show in a logical sequence. – Try this out beforehand

• Be prepared to answer questions as you are running the software

• Be prepared to deviate from your script if the audience requests it – But only do things if you know what will happen.

Demonstrating Software - II• Don’t just show the user interface -

show the implementation view as well

• Be prepared to talk about how it works as well as what it does

• Try to make it interesting• Be enthusiastic about it.

Demonstrating Software - III• Make sure the audience can see

– Can be a problem if there are more than 3 people round a machine

• Who will do what?– Maybe one person will operate the

system, while another describes it.

• As always, the best advice is: prepare.

Summary

• Planning is the key to success in all presentations– Think about what you want to say, and

what you can say in the time– Rehearse formal presentations and

demonstrations– Identify possible problems beforehand