How to prepare and deliver a presentation

, Tiankui Zhang, tkzhang@gmail.com

School of Information and Engineering
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the presentation

Visual aids and Slides

Practice and Delivery

Summary

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The Aims of Communication

What do you want to achieve?

Educate and inform

Inspire/interest and persuade
Entertain
Public speaking

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Fear of public speaking
Public Speaking
Heights
Insects
Financial Problems
Deep Water
Sickness
Death
Flying
Loneliness
Dogs
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 How to Effective Communication
1. The problem?

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How to Effective Communication

Reinforce with Visualization

Audience retain more if hear and see

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How to Effective Communication
Reinforce with Visualization

Audience retain more if hear and see

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 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the presentation

Visual aids and slides

Practice and delivery

Summary

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 Planning
Purpose - why and what?
Audience - who and where?

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 Planning

Know your subject

Develop a theme
List the key concepts and points to convey
Begin to think about ways of illustrating the key points
Max of 1 slide per minute, 4 key points in 45 minute
presentation

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 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the Presentation

Visual aids and Slides

Practice and Delivery

Summary

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 The Structure
Opening
Tell them what you are going to tell them
Body
Tell them
Summary
Tell them what you told them

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Structure - opening

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 Structure - opening
Need a strong beginning
Few seconds to convince audience:
I will not waste your time
I am well organized
I know who you are
I know my subject

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 Structure - opening

Introduce problem to be addressed and context

State purpose, scope and main message
Give outline of presentation

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Structure main body
Make a story board
Break up with each section
making a key point
Present incrementally, concisely
and in logical order
Illustrate with clear examples
and visual aids

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Structure main body

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 Structure - closing

Must have a clear end to talk

Brief and simple summary of main points
Reinforce the main message
Put in context of the big picture

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 TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS
Quick 1-minute what I do talk
15~25 minute conference paper presentation
Project presentation
Thesis defense
Never enough time to
Job talk talk about everything
All of them reflect on you
What they have in common: & need practice/polish
Focus on a clear goal
and message
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 A TYPICAL PROJECT TALK OUTLINE
Title/author/affiliation (1 slide) Who am I?
Forecast (1 slide)
Give gist of problem attacked and What is the problem?
insight found
Outline (1 slide)
Background
Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2 slides) Why is it important?
Related Work (0-1 slides) What have others done?
Methods (1-3 slides)
Explain your approach; illustrate algorithm What is my approach?

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 A TYPICAL PROJECT TALK OUTLINE
Results (2-6 slides)
Present key results and key insights. This is main body of the talk,
but dont try to show ALL results.

Summary (1 slide) 3 Things to Remember!

Future Work (0-1 slides)

Backup Slides (0-3 slides)
Optionally have a few slides ready to answer expected questions.

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 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the presentation

Visual Aids and Slides

Practice and Delivery

Summary

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 4. Visual Aids

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 Slides

Header headline for main point

Body
- one point, keep it simple
- dont overcrowd with bullets and details

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 Slides - tell story with pictures
Illustrate with images and animations to explain difficult points and
generate interest.

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Example multiview stereo

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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 Example

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Slides - fonts and colours
Choose legible type and size (8H rule)

Arial and 32 pt Edwardianand32pt

Arial and 28 pt Edwardianand28pt
Arial and 20 pt Edwardianand20pt

Colour combinations

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 Slides use equations sparingly

If you must use mathematics in your presentation slow down,

and talk the audience through each equation.
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 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the Presentation

Visual Aids and Slides

Practice and Delivery

Summary

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Talk, dont read!
You have several choices for how you deliver
your speech

Memorizing the Speech Reading From a Text

+ allows eye contact + ensures precision
- difficult for long speeches - does not sound natural
- room for precision errors - no room for improvising
- no room for improvising - hinders eye contact

Winging It Speaking From Slides

+ sounds natural + insures organization
- has much room for error + allows eye contact
+ allows improvising
- some room for error

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 How to practice?
Practice by yourself
Practice in front of friends
Practice in front of a webcam
Take note of effective speakers and adopt their successful
habits

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 Dont lose audience
Keep audience informed about what you are doing and why?

Summarize points you would like them to go away with

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 Dont lose audience
Oral communication is different from written communication
Keep it simple and focus on a few key points
Repeat key insights

Be sensitive to your audience

The same talk may need to be adjusted
for a different audience

Make the audience want to learn more

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 Delivering the Presentation
Smile at your audience
When it comes time to present, there's
nothing that draws your audience into your
presentation than a good old fashioned
smile.

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 Delivering the Presentation
Make eye contact
Have the goal of looking at every person in
the classroom at least once. That way,
everyone will feel like you've engaged with
them.

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Delivering the Presentation

Use hand motions

Move your hands along as you talk,
using them to emphasize points and
keep the audience interested. It will
also channel your nervous energy
into a better place.

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 Dealing with nervousness
All accomplished public speakers feel
Feel confident about
nervous before talks adrenalin helps!
Be well-prepared: your presentation
Rehearse with friends
Make sure presentation is well structured
Arrive and set up early
During presentation:
Memorize opening
Smile, breath deeply, slow down and pause
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Always finish with summary

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 Questions

Handling Q&A is as important as the formal talk itself

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 Outline
Problem of Presentation

Planning and Preparation

Structure of the presentation

Visual aids and slides

Practice and delivery

Summary

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 Summary
Before you start preparing your talk
Know your audience and select the message
Structure and preparation of slides
Select key points
Organize content - Keep story simple
Use visual aids
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Giving the talk
Grab and hold audiences attention
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 TOP 10 POINTERS FOR A GOOD TALK
1. Be neat
2. Avoid trying to cram too much into one slide
Dont be a slave to your slides

3. Be brief
use keywords rather than long sentences

4. Avoid covering up slides

5. Use a large font

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 TOP 10 POINTERS FOR A GOOD TALK
6. Use color to emphasize
7. Use illustrations to get across key concepts
May include limited animation

8. Make eye contact

9. Be ready to skip slides if time is short
10.Practice !!

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It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good
impromptu speech.

Mark Twain

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 References
Good talks motivate audience to investigate further. Give links to more
information.
http://www.canberra.edu/studyskills/
Simon Peyton-Jones
How to prepare and deliver a presentation, http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~cipolla

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 Q&A

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