Developing & Delivering Effective Presentations

1. Developing & Delivering Effective Presentations Instructor: Karen Ramorino Ed.D. Manager, Berkeley Lab Institute

2. Introduction:What is so challenging about presentations… What is most difficult about developing and delivering presentations? What is most difficult about being in the audience?

3. Introduction:This course has three primary learning objectives… • To identify what makes an effective presentation • To improve understanding of how todevelop and prepare for a presentation • Tips for presentation delivery

4. Introduction:What’s needed for participation... Idea or draft of your next presentation Course Material: Presentation Planning Worksheet This presentation can be downloaded at www.lbl.gov/BLI so don’t worry about writing down details

5. Introduction:What is the purpose of presentations… Why do we give presentations? What is the purpose?

6. Introduction:Types of presentations Scientific • University scientific colloquium • Scientific conference presentation • Talk to funding agency (asking for funding) • Job talk Non-scientific • Division / program review talk • Interviews • Outreach presentation (e.g. association meetings or conferences, after dinner speech) • Presentation to management, discussion with staff

7. Introduction:Poor presentationscan have serious consequences… 1986 explosion of theChallenger spacecraft shortly after takeoff. Morton Thiokol engineers made a weak and unsuccessful presentation to convince NASA to delay the launch. The explosion killed all seven crew members on board.

8. Introduction:Some consequences are only embarrassing… J. Robert Oppenheimer in his first semester teaching at UC Berkeley (1929): By mid-semester all but one student had dropped out. Students couldn’t understand what he was saying.

9. Agenda:Four considerations shape the presentation… Audience Structure Delivery Visual Aids

10. Audience: What is effective about this presentation start? Speech on Energy Crisis: Director Steve Chu At Lab’s 2005 Summer Lecture Series • How does he engage the mixed audience? • Do we know what he plans on talking about? • What kind of delivery style does he use?

11. Audience:Essential for success… Target your speech to your audience Why is this so important?

12. Audience:Know your audience… • What are their roles in relation to your topic? • Scientific expert in sub-field - Laboratory executives • Senior scientists - Division management • Decision-maker - Division / group peers • Collaborators - Staff • Competitor - Committee • What do they expect from your presentation / do with your information? • What do Division or Laboratory management, or funding sources care about?

13. Audience:When presentingto management... • What were the findings • What are you going to do about it • How will this support or contribute to progress on strategic goals

14. Audience:Conveying purpose to multiple audiences… First Major Topic Second Major Topic Intro Ending Management/ Non-technical / Funding sources time Middle Management / General Technical Line staff / Technical Specialist depth

15. Audience:Summary of Considerations… • Know your audience • Know your message for the audience • Know how you will deliver the presentation given the situation

16. Audience:Developing the presentation… Practice: Complete Section I - Audience Considerations In Presentation Planning Worksheet

17. Structure:The importance of structure… The success of a presentation hinges on its structure.

18. Structure:The importance of structure… What is presentation structure?

19. Structure:Make it clear… • Beginning – shows the big picture • focus audience attention on the topic (the why) • introduction: Summarize key facts and conclusions • “sound bite” - answers what you want people to know or do • Middle – discusses the topic in a logical fashion • subcategories or supporting points

20. Structure:Make it clear… • End – analyzes work from an overall perspective • summarizes most important details • offers recommendations • Explains how work affects big picture • Conclusion: 1 slide on conclusion, 1 slide on future actions or scientific work

21. Structure:Themes unify the presentation… • Principal theme is your main message: • If we solve this, then we should be able to… • It is urgent that we…. • Highlight themes at the beginning to shape audience expectations • Create audience interest in the main theme • Highlight what distinguishes your work

22. Structure: Visualize your transitions… 1st level transition 1st level transition Beginning Middle End Point 2 Point 1 Point 3 2nd level transitions

23. Structure:Avoid too much content… • Select details that allow the audience to understand the work. Leave out unnecessary or overly complex details • Give a hierarchy of details so the audience knows which details to hang onto and which to let go of in case they are overwhelmed • Audiences remember lists of two, threes and fours • To have more is overwhelming for listeners • For longer lists, break into smaller lists with two or three overarching topics • Create a hierarchy of details • At the beginning, show summary of essentials points • Repetition indicates essential points • Place key results/images onto slides, leave less important details to speech • Pause before an important point, raise/lower the voice, step closer to audience

24. Structure: Summary of Considerations • Organization of Presentation • Beginning, middle and end • Identify single main point or message • Define some distinguishing aspect of your work • Planning the Content • Develop outline, transitions, graphic locations • Are you drowning the audience with details?

25. Structure: Summary of Considerations… Practice: Section II – Structure Considerations On Presentation Planning Worksheet

26. Visual Aids: Visual supportto main messages and themes… Visual aids help make key points, but emphasis should remain on speaker

27. Visual Aids:Consider usingother visual aids… Types Advantages (+) and Disadvantages (-)

28. Visual Aids:Powerpoint has advantages & pitfalls… What are some of the pitfalls you’ve seen with Powerpoint?

29. Visual Aids:Powerpoint has some pitfalls… - Can be boring with no images - Becomes overwhelming with too many details -Speaker can become irrelevant if doesn’t add value

30. Visual Aids:Slides must be readable and clear… • Type • Use a sans serif typeface such as Arial • Use boldface for emphasis • Use type sizes at least 18 points • Avoid all capital letters • Don’t use too many typefaces on one slide • Color • Use contrasting background and type color • Light type on dark background projects well, but reproduces poorly • Use consistent in colors in all slides • Avoid red-green combinations

31. Visual Aids: Makeslides readable and clear… Title:Makes the key point of slide; the set of titles tells your story • Layout: • Slide answers one question…makes one point, • Limit lists to four items; make listed items parallel; avoid sub-lists • Be generous with the white space, minimize number of words • Don’t overuse “special effects” • Style: • Include images wherever possible, helps audience listen v. read • Make the mapping memorable; example, use icon to couple section • Limit the number of slides - dedicate at least one minute to each

32. Visual Aids:Memorable slides contain key information… • Show key plots / equations / numbers / financials • title slide & ending slide are more memorable with a key image • show integration and relationships verses words • Show key results or solutions • Include only most important results – increases recall from audience • Avoid too many numerical results • Make audience feel like they understand

33. Visual Aid: Does this communicate the right message? Temperature Concern on SRM Joints 27 Jan 1986

34. Visual Aid:Does this communicate the right message? Temperature Concern on SRM Joints 27 Jan 1986 Does not convey main message… delay the launch of the Challenger Does not identify sending entity and therefore the authority of the message

35. Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak slide? New prototype for high powered laser module • Electrical feed-through pin • Copper base • Elastomeric thermal pad • Kovar optical bench • LD Submount • AWG • Kovar lid Uninteresting way to present information No message in the title

36. CAD drawing provides more interesting visual BUT, part labels need to be larger Slide lacks title that makes a point Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak visual aid?

37. Visual Aids:Graphic plots can convey complex points.. • Make graphs clear: • make all type readable • label the axes on graphs • label the curves • no more than ~3 curves/plot • define your symbols • use colors that display well (avoid green)

38. Visual Aids:Numbers convey quantitative relationships… • Most compact way to show data • 1 or 2 numbers can be used to make a point • However, they must be understandable • Keep them simple - Maximum of 1 line • Clearly define all of the variables • For complex equations, consider using a graph

40. AFRD – 26 ALS – 103 OCFO – 175 CHEM SCI – 32 COMP RES – 28 EARTH SCI – 74 EETD – 116 EH&S – 74 ENG – 76 FAC – 262 GENOMICS – 102 HR – 200 INFO TECH – 62 LAB DIR – 60 LIFE SCI – 84 MATERIAL SCI-113 NERSC – 47 OPERATIONS – 9 PHY BIO – 58 PHYSICS - 53

42. Visual Aid:Is this a strong or weak slide? We generalized GLV Opacity Series (NPB594(01)) to MQ and mg > 0 (DG, Nucl.Phys.A 733, 265 (04)) Hard, Gunion-Bertsch, and Cascade ampl. in GLV generalized to finite M

43. gd --> r0 pn (neutron detected in ZDC) Preliminary Mpp (GeV) Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak slide?

44. gd --> r0 pn (neutron detected in ZDC) Preliminary Mpp (GeV) Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak slide? Points and labels are small What looks good in a publication may not look on screen This probably can be fixed

45. Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak visual aid?

46. Visual Aid: Is this a strong or weak visual aid? Clearly conveys information Visually appealing Overly complex graphics may detract from the physics message

47. Experimental data showing results of space-charge-limited emission for Cs+,K+ , Na+, and Li+ Cs+ alumino-silicate, J (Current Density) vs. V (Extraction Voltage), d = 1.011cm (extraction gap) K+ alumino-silicate, J (Current Density) vs. V (Extraction Voltage), d= 1.087cm (extraction gap) Li+ alumino-silicate, J (Current Density) vs. V (Extraction Voltage), d =1.088cm (extraction gap) Na+ alumino-silicate, J (Current Density) vs. V (Extraction Voltage)

48. Nucleotide Excision Repair DNA is damaged Transcription-coupled repair Global excision repair 5’ 3’ 5’ 3’ RNA polymerase stalls XPC/hHR23B (+/- DDB) binds DNA XPE/DDB2 RNA damage is recognized XPC/hHR23B XPG CSB XPG TFIIH (with TTDA) RPA 5’ 3’ XPA, RPA, XPG, and TFIIH bind XPA 3’ 5’ TFIIH unwinds DNA helix XPF/ERCC1 XPG and XPF/ERCC1 cut, lesion excised DNA pol DNA polymerase fills gap, ligase seals nick normal nucleotide sequence restored clean template for transcription clean template for replication Fuss and Cooper (2006) PLoS Biology

49. Visual Aids:Summary… • Create a powerpoint presentation that enhances your speech and your message • - Craft visual aspects of slides carefully • - Have a clear purpose for other types of visual aids • Create slides that the audience remembers • Simplify graph plots, numbers, financials, and diagrams

50. Delivery: Your interaction with audience … Voice, gestures, eye contact, stance, movement – all contribute to your delivery