A short presentation to our chapter of the Society of Physics Students about how to give good technical presentations.

1. Name
School
Department
Effective Technical
Presentations
@ SPS Colloquium
January 29th, 2016
Dr. Jeff Loats

3. Outline
3
1. Before you start creating your talk
2. Anatomy of a good talk
3. Slide & content design guidelines
4. Other tips

4. Before You Start Creating Your
Talk
4
Know your audience
• Background? Expectations?
Know your 1-5 take-home points
• Focus the whole talk on these
Know your time limit
• Think “How much can they absorb in that
time?”
(vs. “How much can I say in that time?”)
• Ending “early” without rushing is impressive

5. Presentation Anatomy
5
Title slide
• Clear, but not distracting
Talk outline: May seem silly, actually helpful.
• Gives general arc and helps them track progress
Main body:
• Includes motivation, methods and results
Conclusions:
• Reiterate what you have done and the main thread
of the talk.

6. Slide & Content Design (1 of 3)
6
Make it consistent!
• Chose a clean color/font scheme and stick to it
Make it big!
• 8-to-1: Viewable from 8 times the screen size
Sample sizes:
32 point 28 point 26 point 24 point (min)
• Diagrams/figures large and uncluttered

7. Slide & Content Design (2 of 3)
7
Make it concise!
• 3(ish) “bits” per slide. Not sentences.
• Show equations if crucial to your main points,
then talk about it extensively.
• Plots trump equations and/or tables for
showing relationships.
• Plots should be used to make specific points.
Explain axes, legend and it is important. Then
give some silence for digestion.

8. Slide & Content Design (3 of 3)
8
Make it even more concise!
• No raw data unless you’re demonstrating
resolution, or signal/noise ratios, etc.
• Data tables can have 6-8 entries (total!)
• Define new or unusual quantities carefully.
• No derivations, unless that is your purpose.
How many slides? My rule of thumb…
An average of ~2 minutes per slide.

9. General Tips
9
Slow down, focus on people at the back,
relaxed pauses are fine (or great)
Identify yourself at both ends (if not introduced)
Roving eye contact → don’t read your material
Explain as if it were to a friend (avoid jargon)
Relax… vary volume, tempo, body language, etc.
(watch standup comedians… really)
Practice, practice, practice…

10. In Conclusion…
10
1. Prepare before you start creating the talk.
• Know your audience, your major points
and your time limit
2. Follow the anatomy of a good talk
• Title, outline, body, conclusions.
3. Use good slide and content design
• Make it concise, consistent, and big

11. Your Summary
11
For yourself… or to share?
What presentation “sin” bothers you the most?
What part of presentations do you struggle with the
most?
Also, check out http://speaking.io/