Tom Pendergrass,
MD��s Presentation Tips
An introduction
to our Session on
COMPUTER
CREATED PRESENTATIONS for educators
Effective presentations
are based on the following 5 key principles:
- Understanding the audience
and their needs
- Defining the message and its
content
- Employing presentation technology
to enhance rather than detract from the message
- Using techniques to engage
the audience.
- Connecting to the audience
with the message made clear
1. Understanding the audience
and their needs
- What is the composition and
level of training of the audience (physicians, residents, students,
nurses, practitioners, experts, administrators, lay public, others)?
- What is the anticipated size
of the audience?
- Why is the audience attending?
Is attendance required for CME hours? Is it a mandatory educational
lecture?
2. Defining the message
and its content
Determining the parameters for
the presentation
- How long is my session? How
long should I speak? Is it a lecture, workshop or interactive session?
- What presentation equipment
will be available (computer (mine or theirs), projector (have I had
experience with connecting to it), laser pointer, overhead projector,
flip charts)
- Do I have the presentation
on at least two types of media?
- Clear Purpose. An effective
presentation should have a main point and several minor points. It is
not just be a collection of available data. If the central theme of
the presentation cannot be readily identified, revise it.
- Readily Understood.
The main point should catch the attention of the audience immediately
and should be understood soon thereafter. Start and finish with the
main point. While trying to figure out what the point is, the audience
is not paying full attention to what the speaker is saying.
- Clear Train of Thought.
Ideas developed in the presentation and supported by the images should
flow smoothly in a logical sequence, without wandering to irrelevant
asides or bogging down in detail. Everything presented verbally or visually
should have a clear role in support of the central thesis of the presentation.
3. Employing presentation
technology to enhance rather than detract from the message
- Changing knowledge can be
done by lecture or workshop.
- People remember 10-20% of
what they hear, 30% of what they see and over 50% of what they see and
hear.
- Improving knowledge can be
enhanced with repetition.
- People remember over 70% of
what they see, hear and say and that can be increased to over 90% of
when they see, hear, say and do.
- Each slide should illustrate
a single point or idea.
- Use large, LEGIBLE letters
– Message slides should contain no more than 7 lines with 7 or fewer
words per line. The slide will occupy about one ninth (1/9) of the total
surface of a 17 inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.
Make sure your smallest font is readable at this resolution.
- Use two, or at the most,
three font sizes per slide. Use common fonts such as Arial, Helvetica,
or Times Roman. Be sure that all images are embedded in the file (and
not just links to a file on your hard disk), otherwise they may not
be displayed correctly.
- Do not use any animation
effect or sound (if you chose to violate this rule, you must
practice with the presentation at the site using the equipment be used
there. The effectiveness of the animation or sound can change depending
on computer, projector and room size.
- Use different slides to
have objects appearing progressively. Having points appear on a
single slide can present technical problems during the presentation
and does not allow for reinforcement of the points.
- Have at least two different
media with you. CD-ROM and USB memory device are currently preferred.
Few computers now have floppy drives.
Authors wishing to use their own
laptops may do so, but should be aware that the additional setup
time can effect your presentation. You must know your computer and its
interaction with a variety of projectors. If you use your own laptop,
keep the following in mind:
- You MUST have a VGA 15 pin
HD Female VGA output. Note: some mini laptop computers have a special
interface cable that attaches to their video output to hook up external
monitors or data/video projectors. If this cable is not with the laptop
computer being used, there is no way to connect it to the session room
data/video projector.
- Insure that you know how to
get the image to the external port of the laptop. Instructions are in
each laptop operator's manual. (If the external port is not always "on,"
it is usually a Function Key, or combination of Shift plus a Function
Key, that may turn on the external port, or possible cycle through laptop
screen, external port, or both.)
- If possible, set the maximum
output resolution to XGA (1024 x 768). Many older projectors prefer
800 x 600. The use of a higher resolution will force the data projector
into a compression mode and information could be lost at the edges or
the higher resolution images may not show.
- Use a screen refresh rate
of at least 75 hz (and know how to set it on your laptop).
- Understand the difference
between 16 bit and 32 bit color and its impact on your presentation
and on the projector being used.
- Use horizontal images.
Vertical images should be avoided.
- Do not overdo "cute"
cartoons, complicated graphics or elaborate backgrounds.
- A blue background and white
text are recommended. White background with black letters
may be preferred, especially if the room will not be completely darkened,
to permit the viewers to take notes. In any case, clear contrasts are
necessary. Color combinations that increase visibility include white
letters on medium blue or black letters on yellow.
- Choose a consistent background
and keep it throughout the presentation. IF you want a different background
it should be used to bring attention to ONE slide
- General Rules of Thumb
- Title slides should contain
five or fewer words
- Spaces between lines should
be at least the height of an upper case letter
- Use graphs rather than tables
if possible
- Keep tabular slides as brief
as possible
- Two or more simple slides
are better than one complicated slide
- Do not crowd the slide
- Make the type as large as
possible – but be consistent across slides. Fonts that are changing
can be distracting to the audience. For projection, the point size should
usually be at least 20, and if the room is large, you may want to consider
24 as the smallest point size you will use.
- Both upper-case and lower-case
letters should be used for each point to increase readability.
- Use phrases, not complete
sentences
- Use only two different types
of fonts per slide (i.e. one for title and one for body).
- Round off figures
- Limit the number of captions;
- Use line graphs to show trends
or changing relationships. Label all axes on graphs.
- Use bar graphs to compare
volumes. Bar graphs should contain < 6 wide bars per slide.
- Simplify charts to keep them
legible
- Limit tables to 5 rows and
6 columns.
- Break up complex charts into
a series of slides.
- Keep slides of radiographs
light. Dense or dark slides project poorly in large rooms. Enlarging
the significant areas and using arrows to point out the specific area
or lesion often help.
- Patient confidentiality
must be protected. No names should appear on the slides.
- Avoid commercial reference
unless mandatory. A logo or institutional identification should appear
only on the first title slide. Do not use such identification as a header
on each slide.
- Limit the number of
slides to no more than one (1) for each minute of your presentation.
The slides should not contain your entire presentation. Their
purpose is to support your talk and to emphasize the important points.
4. Using techniques to
engage the audience
- Your slides should be organized
like an outline--a few main points, with sub points under each one.
Your slides are a guide for your talk not a word-for-word copy of your
talk. List specific points that you want to talk about as sub-topics
of each main topic. If there are particular details that you want to
discuss, outline them on the slide and keep written notes for you to
refer to in your talk rather than writing all the details on the slide.
- It is okay to not read
every thing on every slide. Add just enough prose to present the
main points and highlight the main parts of each point. Use acronyms
and abbreviations sparingly, however you should say the complete name
when you talk about them.
- A picture is worth a thousand
words Use figures and graphs to explain implementation and results.
It is very hard to describe a system implementation without having a
picture of the components of the system.
- Number of Slides
As a general rule, it should take 2-3 minutes to talk through the material
on one slide. The absolute maximum is one slide for each minute
of the presentation.
- Repeat Your Point There
is a rule that says you have to tell your audience something three times
before they really hear it: Tell them what you are going to say. Say
it. Summarize what you said.
- Contrary to popular opinion
questions at the end of your presentation are a good thing. This means
that people paid attention to you and understood at least a portion
of what you had to say.
- Naturally, the better prepared
you are, the easier this part of the presentation will be.
- If you don't know the answer,
say so. Chances are that others in the audience don't either or there
may be someone who does and will volunteer the answer.
- Gauge the number of questions
to be asked (hands up, those at the microphones, the number of cards
in the moderator��s hand). If there are lots of questions, simplify
and shorten your answers. Give everyone a chance to learn from your
presentation.
- There has never been a time
the audience got upset because you finished five or ten minutes early.
5. Connecting to the audience
with the message made clear
- Smile
- Be sincere
- Be prepared
- Be enthusiastic
- Admit if you do not know something
- Always stop before the audience
is planned for you to stop - or at least on time
- Speak loudly and clearly
- Blue is a universally accepted
color for background slides
- Start off the presentation
with an apology ("whining")
- Annoying habits��"uh",
"um", "okay", "you know what I mean",
etc.
- Annoying gestures or one repeated
too often
- Rocking back and forth
- Jingling change
- Talking to your slides
- Bizarre appearances
- Red slides or odd colors
- Playing with things (pointer,
etc.). Remember when
the mouse is moved the arrow appears on the screen and everyone in the
audience will be looking at it and not paying attention to you.
- About 70% of people have a
fear of giving presentations - many use beta-blockers.
- For problems with dry mouth,
put a thin layer of Vaseline on your teeth or use one of the ��sheet��
breath strips (I like Eclipse Flash) or place a small mint or even a
pebble or coin in your mouth before the talk to cause salivation (remember
to remove the pebble or coin before you start).
- Do not drink milk before a
presentation, it makes your voice gurgle.
- Do not drink ice water or
carbonated beverages before a presentation, it makes your voice strained.
- Drink room temperature water
before and during presentations.
- BREATHE - many people get
so caught up in the presentation, they forget to breathe and it sounds
like it.
- Do jumping jacks beforehand
to loosen up.
- You can memorize a little
of the introduction and conclusion, but nothing else - it sounds fake.
- Stand straight up and bring
the microphone to you - don't go to the microphone.
- Put the microphone to the
side of your mouth. Speaking or breathing directly into the microphone
creates puffs of air that make popping sounds through the speaker system.
- Never speak with your back
to an open window - the glare is irritating and more interesting things
might be occurring outside.
- Orient your presentation so
that the door is in the back of the room so if people need to exit it
is not so distracting.
- Always know where the emergency
exits are in the room - you have the microphone to direct people.
- Don't use humor if you aren't
any good at it and don't use old jokes. Instead consider telling a story
about yourself.
- Try not to respond to audience
distractions such as pagers going off, people coming in or leaving or
whispering in the audience, but know what to do if someone in your audience
becomes ill or if you get abrupt questions in the middle of your presentation.
