Delivering Effective Team Presentations

Short Term:– To make a good grade– To teach us something– To avoid embarrassment

Long Term:-- To impress recruiters-- To share important engineering work

inside or outside of your company-- To bring attention to your design-- To get noticed as a leader with ideas: promotions, etc.

Why should you work on this skill?

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[Beal,2007]

Critical needs for this presentation assignment:

• Prepare 11 minutes total (time it during practice!)

• Share responsibility for content, assembly, and delivery

• Use reliable sources and cite them appropriately• Provide a References slide with full bibliographic information

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Critical needs of technical presentations in CoE

• Practice so that you can speak naturally– Don’t bring note cards– Don’t memorize it word for word

• Use slides that balance graphics and text.– Don’t overload the slides with text– Choose relevant, useful images

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Agenda: 4 keys to a strong presentation

1. Know your audience

2. Develop your technical content

3. Prepare effective slides

4. Practice your delivery

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Part 1. Know Your Audience

• Who are they?• What might their needs or interests be?• What do they already know?• What do you want them to know?• What might they have trouble understanding?

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Part 2. Technical content.Structure content around assignment needs.

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Prepare content by creating a story about your project

• Make team decisions – for each key section – Motivation? – Current status of the problem?

• Prioritize to make it memorable+ Best examples?+ Absolutely critical definitions?+ Foundational explanations of processes?

• Organize the story -- the assignment is a good guide

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Plan the opening carefully

• Don’t memorize your talk, but know exactly how you want to start.

• What works best?• An unusual screening question?• A specific and memorable example?• Relevant and startling statistics?

Motivation9

Provide useful and specific slide headings that emphasize parts of the assignment:

Current status of the problem with wastewater treatment in El Salvador

Limitations of a decentralized wastewater system

Social and economic constraints on this solution

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Plan strong transitions between speakers

• Don’t say, “Now I’ll hand it off to Rob for the next part.”

• Do give us a content-oriented transition:

Sum up your part

Connect it logicallyWith the next part

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A sample transition between speakers:

• Alice: “Because existing wastewater sanitation methods contribute to such high infant mortality rates, new technologies for wastewater drainage and treatment must be devised. Rob will describe one possible solution and the obstacles facing its implementation in rural communities of El Salvador.”

• Rob: “Thanks Alice, and yes, one of the potential solutions to wastewater treatment in these communities is called a cluster system, where wastewater is collected and treated from at least two households or buildings in close proximity to each other . . . .”

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Make your talk highly credible and give credit where it is due:

• Use results from studies, interesting statistics, concrete examples

• Cite research on the slide [author’s last name, date]

• Cite graphics, images, etc.: use a text box and insert the author’s last name and date, in brackets.

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Plan a strong conclusion

• Audiences remember openings and closings

• Don’t say, “Well, I guess that’s about it. Any questions?”

What is a thought-provoking end to your story?• Overview of which engineering disciplines contribute to

the solution? • Non-technical issues/constraints on the engr.

solutions?

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Verbal strategies to be sure your audience gets your point:• Use well-placed pauses along with tonal emphasis

• Provide a list or sequence to emphasize logical connections.

• Repeat key ideas for emphasis and transitions

• Anticipate questions the audience might have; consider asking the question as a transition.

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Part 3. Creating effective visuals

• Writing headings and bullets• Choosing memorable graphics • Taking us through the graphics• Using non-distracting formats, colors

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Try to think of your slides as something more than notes for the talk.

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Choose meaningful words for headings and bullets

– Favor the concrete and specific over the abstract – Vague heading: “Issues”– Positive example: “Current problems with the ice coring method”

– Beware of the pitfalls of Powerpoint

Edward Tufte: “Powerpoint is Evil.” [Wired, 2007]

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Outline

• Background • Definitions• Body• Conclusions• Q & A

Negative Example: Vaguely Worded Outline for a Talk

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Overview

• Big Picture• Definition of Waste• Our Position • Transportation• Demographics• Geological Aspect• Budget

Negative Example: Vaguely Worded Outline (Slightly Improved)

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Overview

• Intro: Current Radioactive Waste Storage Crisis• Characteristics of Radioactive Waste• Reasons for Supporting Yucca Mtn. site

– Site Geology– Area Demographics

• Potential Obstacles for Yucca site– Local resistance– Environmental concerns– Vulnerable transport of Waste to Site

• Conclusions and Recommendations

Positive Example: Precisely Worded Outline

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Composing and organizing bullets

• Make bullets very concise (<one line long)

• Limit the number of bullets (<6 per slide)

• Surround bullets with space for readability

• Use phrases that are grammatically consistent

• Balance bullets with images when possible

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Good images can help you communicate in memorable ways.

[Adapted from Alley and Neeley, 2005;Stull and Mayer, 2007]

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Madison, WI

Vietnam

[Tran, 2007]][Tran, 2007]]

Maps can help you provide context at the beginning of a talk

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Soft soils in South Vietnam

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Soft soils in Ho Chi Minh city

The Gulf of Thailand

The East Sea

[Tran, 2007]]

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Unstable abutment to a bridge in South Vietnam

The rotation and movement of the

abutment

Use images to provide context:Location of Tacoma Narrows Bridge

• Tacoma, Washington

• Puget Sound

• November 7, 1940

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[MPA, 2008]

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Construction of the bridge

DesignDesignTwo main piersTwo main piers

Two towersTwo towers

AnchorsAnchors

CablesCables

BridgedeckBridgedeck

(www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/tnb)

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Construction of the bridge

DesignDesignTwo main piersTwo main piers

Two towersTwo towers

AnchorsAnchors

CablesCables

BridgedeckBridgedeck

(www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/tnb)

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Construction of the piers

• Reinforced concrete anchors – 600 tons each– 30 per pier

• False bottom caissons – 225 ft below mean tide

(www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/tnb)

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Verbally orient the audience -- even with simple graphs

[Campanello, 2003][Campanello, 2003]

Over-complicated: cut some data points, or explain key point within context, X and Y axes

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Types of wasteHigh

Spent fuelReprocessing

ShieldingExtreme Care

3% volume95% radioactivity

Intermediate

SludgeReactor Parts

May require special shielding

7% volume4% radioactivity

Low

ClothingTools

Short-lived radioactivity

90% volume1 % radioactivity

Negative Example: Poorly Designed Table

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Hours of driver delay

Annual Delay % Change

per Driver 1992 to 1997

Los Angeles 82 2

Washington, DC 76 14

Dallas 58 41

Minneapolis 34 100

Chicago 44 19

Milwaukee 25 17

Average 34 16

Positive Example: Well-Organized Table

[Adapted from Texas Transportation Mobility Institute, 2003]

Draw our eyes to key points in a table

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How to lose an audience in 10 seconds

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Bad heading, too

An effective flow chart for steps in a dredging process

37[Wisconsin DNR, 2005]

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Choose font and typestyle carefully

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• Don’t use shocking colors (avoid reds, especially)• Consider using graduated color for the background• Check contrast in the room -- always

If you don’t want a white background, be careful with what you choose

Graduated color is appealing

Graduated color is appealing

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Color can distinguish a presentationColor can distinguish a presentation

Red can affect theemotions of your audience.

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Color can distinguish a presentationColor can distinguish a presentation

Color affects readability of the slides

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Contrast is not always the same in this room

Busy backgrounds can be distracting

• See how the picture obscures the text?

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Theories for collapse

• Resonance• Vortex-Induced Vibration

• Non-linear “Self-Excitation”

Negative Example: Silliness can be distracting

Social obstacles for using roundabout intersections

Negative example: Challenge your own assumptions about society. . . .

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Part. 4. Practice your delivery!

– Going over it silently is most common– In front of a mirror works for some– Taping yourself is even better– In front of a small audience is best

Develop a flexible memory

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Your delivery will affect how much we listen.

Voice volume (must be loud enough)

Pace of speech (150-160 wpm is good)

Voice quality– Avoid monotone– Avoid tentative tone: “This one time, at band camp. . . ”

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Bring some energy and enthusiasm!

• Make genuine eye contact with the full audience• Move your eyebrows; use some hand gestures• Nervousness can stiffen your delivery style• Without effort, you’ll seem boring.

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Poor planning can affect delivery• Get a good night’s sleep.

• +

• Bring a bottle of water if necessary.. . . But don’t fiddle with it constantly

=+

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Poor team planning can waste time and make you look disorganized

• Figure out who is going to advance the slides

• Sort out where the team will be sitting/standing

• Look at the speaker while you’re waiting your turn

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Strive for a professional appearance

• Don’t wear a cap or sunglasses

• Dress appropriately – for a mixed audience

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Worried about filler words?

• YES -- Too many fillers can be a bad sign

• Practice not filling in the spaces with ummm

• Make team members aware of “basically,” “actually,” or other common fillers

• Caveat: too much concern about fillers can be self-defeating.

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