Beyond PowerPoint: Presentations 101

Jen RiehleDesign, Education & Outreach, OIT

BEYOND POWERPOINT:PRESENTATIONS 101

PRESENTATION GOALS

To convey information and promote understanding

To engage audience and keep them focused

What are we here to learn? Effective Presentations

TO BE MEMORABLE

Moonlightbulb

All the awesome information in the world doesn’t matter if people don’t focus and remember you.

So how do you be memorable?

OK, HOW DO I DO THAT?

1.Preparation

2.Preparation

3.Preparation

Ok, that’s not helpful.

OK, HOW DO I DO THAT?

1.Preparation - CONTENT

2.Preparation - AUDIENCE

3.Preparation - PRESENTATION

Know your content inside and outUnderstand your audience and the likely question; context is also important (type of event, location, time of presentation, etc.)This will help you establish IF you need a slidedeck and if so, 1 and 2 will ensure the best possible presentation

SO WAIT, WE DON’T HAVE TO HAVE SLIDES!?

Nic McPhee

Nope. Not always the time or place. Or maybe it’s a really simple one with only a couple slides with goofy pictures.So why do we have slideshows almost always?

THE RIGHT STUFF

What do you need to present?

Lots of visuals?

Lots of interaction?

Easy access? Reusing the presentation?

Consider both your audience and yourself

What is going to work for you and your audience? How much time do you have? What’s their level of expertise?

So why WOULD use a slideshow?

Yay, Presentation!Presentation tools allow us to better organize and share our content with the audience

Presentation tools allow us to demonstrate the critical concepts of the presentation in visual ways

Presentation tools are more engaging and keep the viewers involved throughout the presentation

Presentation tools allow us to easily share parts of the content with users after-the-fact

People expect presentation tools so we need to have something when we show up!

No contrast; serif fonts are harder to read on screens

Ok, this is better, right?

• Presentation tools allow us to better organize and share our content with the audience

• Presentation tools allow us to demonstrate the critical concepts of the presentation in visual ways

• Presentation tools are more engaging and keep the viewers involved throughout the presentation

• Presentation tools allow us to easily share parts of the content with users after-the-fact

• People expect presentation tools so we need to have something when we show up!

(san-serif, high contrast)No style, bright in dark rooms (better a dark background in a dark room and vice versa), LOTS of text in a small font

Organize presentation content

Use visual aids to convey key messages

Keep participants engaged

Share presentation content easily

Manage participant expectations

WHY DO WE NEED PRESENTATION TOOLS?

Why does this slide work? Good contrast and color, useful heading, san-serif font, short and to-the-point bullets

41%

32%

13%

8%

4% 2%

Speaker reads slidesPoor font choicesBullets too longToo much flying slides and textOverly complex diagram and chartsAnnoying use of sounds

MOST ANNOYING THINGS ABOUT PRESENTATIONS...

“Poor font choices” - illegible fonts, poor color contrast or too small

Others? Which do you hate the most?

MAKING YOUR SLIDES WORK FOR YOU

Using the tools

Presentation interaction

Sharing the slides

If you are going to have slides, use the right tools in the best way

USING THE TOOLS

1.EXPLAINExplain what’sbeing displayed;make sure it’slegible!

2.HIGHLIGHTHighlight the keyconcepts

3.DISCUSSDiscuss the relevance

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

Use colors! Apply borders and shading!

OUTLINE VIEW

Nice for having the content at your fingertips

NOTES VIEW

Nice for keep track of key messages without putting all the content on the slide

HANDOUTS

Slides per page

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9

Outline view

Notes view

Exporting

Don’t forget to check on background color print options!

This can encourage people to stop listening - they have all the info already, right? - makes it that much harder to engage them. Don’t put everything in the slides.

EFFECTIVE IMAGES

StefanGreat way to grab attention and make your point but can be scary to use.- You need to know your content REALLY well. No bullets to fallback on.- No context (without slide notes) on handouts.

PRESENTATION INTERACTION(AKA, “WAKE UP!”)

WHO’S THIS?

Who is this? Stephen Colbert

WHO’S THIS?

And this? Bill Gates

ANNND...

Steve Jobs

Why’d I do that? In this case it’s because they’re all great public speakers. Every now and then it’s good to make sure people are awake.Ask their opinion, get feedback, stop and stretch - whatever you need, depending on length of presentation

SHARING YOUR PRESENTATION

SHARING YOUR PRESENTATION

Think about intellectual property

Include notes. Or don’t. Your call.

Format of the presentation

creative commons!

Are you ok with anyone use this with attribution?One way to mitigate free-for-all usage is not including your notesSharing in a non-editable format (pdf)

SHARING YOUR SLIDES

Formats

As a PDF

As a JPG

As a native file (.PPT, .PPTX, .KEY)

Emailing the presentation

Putting it online

Slideshare.net

PDF means no one can edit it; ppt or key mean other can modifyEmail may be tough if it’s in a proprietary formatOnline is easySharing on something like slideshare is contributing to shared knowledge - awesome!

APPLICATION OPTIONS

PowerPoint

Keynote

Google Docs

Prezi

Beamer

PDF

Beamer- open source for Windows, Mac, Linux- requires knowledge of mark-up languagePrezi- web-based and free, but there is a Pro version

STILL PAYING ATTENTION?

PRESENTATION STRATEGIES

Have notes

Multiple copies of slides, in multiple locations, in multiple formats

Keep a copy of your fonts

Practice!

HATE PUBLIC SPEAKING?

StefanI’m sorry. 1. Practice! You’ll feel better the better you feel about the content2. Make your slides fit your personality so you’re comfortable with them- have fun!Get started - things go more smoothly once you’re in the groove.

PREPARE! PRACTICE!

Use the right tool(s) for your audience

Back-up your presentation; make it available in case of emergency

Consider sharing your presentation

Recap your important messages

IN CONCLUSION

Questions?

Jen Riehlejen_riehle@ncsu.edu

@ncsumarit

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME!