Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation

Development Process Begin by planning your presentation Organize the content using your outline as a guide Prepare the slides Practice SPEAK to the audience

Planning the Presentation Who is the audience? Make the level of the material appropriate to the audience What is the message? Have a clear point that you want to convey

Organize the Content Use the outline developed for your paper as a guide for preparing the slides Leave time for questions Always Tell the audience what you’re going to tell them Tell them the information Tell the audience what you’ve told them

An Introduction vs an Outline presents a list of topics that the presentation will cover does not give the audience a reason to listen to you. An Introduction tells who has done this work, what work preceded this, when the work was done, and why this work is important. gives the audience a reason to listen

Prepare the Slides A presentation is effective when it uses the visual impact to Convey the message Keep the audience’s attention Use no more than 5-6 bullets per slide Avoid clutter but emphasize the points you want to make Present ideas not details

Slide Design Use an appropriate size font Light colors on a dark background are best Avoid including sounds with the presentation prepared for professional use Limit the use of animation – use subtle movements that do not detract from the message

Avoid cluttered and confusing slides Avoid cluttered and confusing slides. The following slides are good examples of what NOT to do.

This is a Bad Slide It’s ugly Hard to read Contains WAY to many bullet points Takes too long to get through Looks unprofessional Will make you look like an idiot Centering with bullet points looks goofy Better yet…don’t use bullet points. Tired of this yet? And demonstrates you have little good taste Finally…for the aforementioned reasons…you’ll look like a dummy.

Keep it Simple A presentation is not effective when slides are verbose and filled with lots of text for the viewer to read.

Things to Remember when Including Graphs: Label Axes, including units Use color and symbol to differentiate plots Include a legend Each graph should be as complete and self-explanatory as possible. An example of a good slide using a graph follows.

Natural Response of a Parallel RLC Circuit Node Voltage (Volts) Time (0.1 msec)

PRACTICE SO THAT YOU DO NOT READ THE SLIDES!!! Practice so that you are comfortable with the equipment Practice so that the timing is correct The first time you try something is never your best performance Practice aloud, standing, with the equipment, before a friend or colleague PRACTICE SO THAT YOU DO NOT READ THE SLIDES!!!

SPEAK to the Audience Three rules Speak to the audience Speak audibly Speak intelligibly

For Your Presentation First slide – research title, your name, mentor’s name Second slide – problem to be studied and purpose of the study Third slide – your interest in the topic, what you hoped to find Clip art sucks

Fourth slide – beginning of literature review Fourth slide – beginning of literature review. Include as many slides as necessary (keeping to the 15 minute limit) Remember to include author’s name and date as you did in the paper text of any works you cite. Next slide after the literature review (if you are completing a research study) – Methods section

Then slides explaining the Results of your research Final slides include discussion, conclusions, implications, and recommendations Still sucks Remember to dress professionally for your presentation.