A presentation about

presentations

Mariana Kersh

January 28, 2009

ME/BME 6XX

Overview

• Introduction• Methods• Results• Discussion• Summary

Topics to be covered

• The slides– General content and layout– Presenting data– Formatting

• The presentation itself– Speaking– Handling mishaps

Layout and content

• Learn the tools

• Use the 1 minute/slide rule

• Modify the default/master slide– Nothing important too low

• Consider a status bar

4/XXLayout SpeakingFormatData Mishaps

Layout and content

• Learn the tools• Use the 1 minute/slide rule• Modify the default/master slide• Consider a status bar• Introduce content as needed

– Animation use sparingly

• Keep it simple– Less words/equations– More pictures/symbols

Formatting

• Be consistent– Avoid changing layout, fonts, animation styles

• Font– Stand 6 feet back from monitor and check the size– Use sans-serif fonts (Arial or Helvetica)

• Use high contrast colors– avoid gradient backgrounds

• Include a thank you/questions/blank slide at the end

…then 1-3 succinct “take-home messages” / conclusions from the slide here see the difference in the next two slides…

…clean graphics here…

Presenting data: Use a descriptive title here…

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Data, continued

The below shows some data we recorded in our laboratory on 11/17/2003. The engine is

operating at an equivalence ratio of 0.16. The humidity seen at early crank angle degrees

is just the ambient humidity, then the water produced near -28 CAD aTDC and near -15

CAD aTDC represents water produced in combustion. These results represent an

important step toward understanding low-temperature chemical reactions:

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Measured evolution of H2O in a piston engine

Simulation under-predicts the H2O content in the engine

= 0.16

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Don’t use legends…

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

… label curves directly!

viewer doesn’t have to spend time matching curves to the legend usually results in less wasted “white space” in plots Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

… label curves directly!

viewer doesn’t have to spend time matching curves to the legend usually results in less wasted “white space” in plots Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Lots of numbers on plot axes are distracting…

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

… this is much better!

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Avoid small plots or plots with small fonts

note that the right plot above has essentially the default setting in Microcal Origin,

maybe OK for a document but unacceptable when projectedSlide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Manage the units on your plots

use a consistent convention beware of [m] x 10-9 consider [atm], [bar], [Pa] Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

Avoid un-framed plots

figures require effort to change so try to get them correct the first time

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

-80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 600

10

20

30

500

1000

1500

2000

0.000.020.040.060.08

1330 1340 1350 1360 1370 1380

Pre

ssu

re [a

tm]

Crank Angle Degrees [aTDC]

Gas Properties

Te

mp

era

ture

[K]

1330

1340

1350

1360

1370

1380

0.050.030

Wa

vele

ng

th [n

m]

0

0.03

0.05

0.07

0.07

Spectrogram

Wavelength [nm]

Ab

sorb

an

ce TDC50o aTDC

Spectra

conditions: uniform n-heptane / air charge, = 0.35, 600 rpm, optical engine gas spectra measured every 5 s = 0.09 CAD @ 600 rpm gas temperature history inferred from the spectrogram

What’s wrong with this slide?

Slide courtesy of Scott Sanders

The Presentation

• Slides = outline– Avoid reading the slides or your notes

• Speak slowly– Remember ~ 1 min/slide

• Make eye contact

• Have confidence!– “I don’t know” is an acceptable answer

Preventing mishaps

• Keep the file size down– Compress pictures, e.g.

• Use the existing tools– Draw arrows,boxes, etc. in PPT

• Save as power point show (.pps)• Test it

– on another computer– on another operating system

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getworkdone/presentations.mspx

References/Tips• http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getworkdo

ne/presentations.mspx– Use align/distribute tools– Use grids and guides to align and space objects

• http://www.pcworld.com/article/9084/powerpoint_layout_tips.html

– Use the alt key to align objects– You can make a perfect circle or square in

PowerPoint by selecting the appropriate tool, then holding down Shift while you draw the object. But what do you do if you've already made the drawing, and now you want to make it perfect? Select the object and hold down Ctrl while you double-click the corner sizing handles.

• http://cit.information.unl.edu/tips/ppt-creating.htm– All images must be inserted directly into

PowerPoint through the Insert > Picture command. If you use copy-and-paste to add an image, you may corrupt your file. The corruption may not be seen immediately.

– If you have two or more slides that will look very similar (same kind of graph but different data points, same table but different numbers, etc.), make one exactly how you want it to look. In the Slide Sorter view, select the slide and choose Edit > Duplicate from the menu. Next edit the new slide to change the information while the “look” remains the same.