1 oral communications: preparing, designing, and delivering effective technical presentations dr....
TRANSCRIPT
1
Oral Communications: Preparing, Designing, and Delivering Effective Technical Presentations
Dr. Nhut Tan HoMechanical Engineering ProfessorMechanical Engineering DepartmentCalifornia State University, Northridge
2
Lecture Objectives and Activities Introduce the process of preparing, designing,
and delivering technical presentations Introduce techniques for handling questions
and answers
Activities: Evaluate presentations and present comments to class
3
Adults Recall … 10% of what one reads 20% of what one hears 30% of what one sees 50% of what one sees and hears 80% of what one says 90% of what one says while doing
Source: Sharpe, C. (Ed.). (1998). The New basic training for trainers. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development.
Typical Lecture!
4
Advance Preparation
Learn the core reason for the presentation and your sponsor’s expectations
Understand your audience and their expectations
Know your material Inspect the room, your equipment,
and other logistics
5
What is Expected of You?
Time limits? Purpose and scope of your
presentation? Focus of program, if more than one
speaker?
6
Who is Your Audience? What does your audience expect from
you? Number of people? Their background? Who are your supporters and
adversaries? What questions would you expect to
be asked?
7
Know Your Material No other person knows your work
better than you Anticipate questions and prepare
answers Read current work of
prominent/powerful audience members and understand its connection to your work
8
Practice, Practice, Practice
Practice out loud in front of a mirror and use a timer
Practice without notes Practice in front of colleagues Practice in the actual presentation room
with all equipment or in one as similar as possible
What would you delete if time was shortened by 1, 5, or 10 minutes? Practice doing so
9
Room and Equipment What presentation equipment and technical
support is available? Computer, CD-ROM, floppy, Zip Disk, overhead,
microphone, pointer, VHS video …? Is it compatible to yours?
Arrange to practice with the equipment well before your presentation
Find out who can help with equipment, information, and administrative tasks – manners matter!
10
Room and Equipment - continued
Bring cables, adapters, and power supplies Turn off screen saver Plan for problems
Bring electronic copies of your presentation in multiple formats, e.g., CD-ROM and floppy diskette
Post presentation on your website for downloading
Bring low tech backups, e.g., transparencies and a paper copy of your presentation
11
Other Logistics Carry a card inscribed with key points
of presentation Know where to point audience to
sources of supplementary information, e.g., website URLs and your business card
12
Your Appearance
You could be making your first impression – be clean and neat and control unmanageable hair
Find out what clothing is appropriate Do not wear dirty, crumpled, or distracting
clothing – revealing, torn, or loud Practice in the clothing you intend to wear -
is it easy to move in and comfortable? If you will wear a microphone you will need
pockets or belt and a place to pin it
13
Organizing Your Presentation
Organize your talk around a story What questions will you answer? Why are you interested? Why should your audience care? What is the context of your work?
Describe the big picture, reduce it to smaller parts, expand each part, and reconstruct the big picture
Focus on content not cliché phrases, graphics, and animation
Remember the three Bs – Be brief, be brilliant, & be gone!
14
A Typical Technical Talk
• Introduction Motivate and define your problem Describe your research contribution Discuss outline of your talk
• Body Outline results and their significance Provide a high-level explanation or
justification of results
15
A Typical Technical Talk - continued
• Technicalities Present one or two important
equations/proofs/data Discuss it in detail and show its depth and
importance• Conclusion
Summarize key points Discuss future research and its
significance
16
Designing Slides
Rule of thumb – 1 slide per minute Keep it simple
Complex concept less dense slide 20 to 50 words per slide Use 20 point font or larger, 12 point is too small
Give attribution to work by others, i.e., quotations and citations
17
Slides Enhance Your Presentation
Start with a title slide with your name, title, and institution
If presentation more than 10 – 15 minutes include an outline slide 3 to 5 major points of presentation Keep each topic to 3 – 12 words
End with a summary slide 1 to 3 take home messages, one sentence
each Assume that this is all that audience will
remember
18
Presenting Your Slides
Do not read from slides Point to important parts with a
pointing device and turn back to face audience
Do not speak more than 1 – 2 minutes without a slide
If a colleague is turning your slides – practice with that person
19
Presenting Data
Include slides with primary data Data gives you credibility Show representative samples of
your data In general, make one point per
data slide Define graph axis’ and units
20
Presentation Basics
Establish credibility – identify your organization Face the audience and make eye contact Speak slowly, loudly, and clearly Try not to “um” and “ah” – practice helps Maintain relaxed body language
No pacing Do not do nervous things with your hands
Define specialized vocabulary Avoid last minute changes
21
Presentation Basics - continued
Speak with conviction and confidence Hydrate but… Use technology sensibly Indicate quotations with voice not fingers Respect your audience and the clock Do not apologize Anticipate and prepare for questions Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, …
rehearse
Germano, W. (2003, November 28). The Scholarly Lecture: How to stand and deliver. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B15
22
The Q & A
Always repeat the question It ensures everyone has heard it It ensures that you understand it It gives you time to think
Take the opportunity to delve deeper into the topic
23
If You Do Not Know the Answer
Do not freeze, apologize, lie, or act flustered Try one of these responses
“That’s an excellent question. We haven’t had the resources to investigate that yet.”
“I don’t have that information here, but I can look it up and get back to you.”
“One possibility might be … (insert your speculation)” “We didn’t address that question, but we did do …
(insert something relevant that you did)” “I am not familiar with that study, but I do know …
(insert something relevant that you do know)”
24
The Hostile Question
Your goal is to disarm loaded questions Do not take it personally Remain calm Disagree but do not disrespect If your answer is challenged, be polite and
maintain your position and control, ask questioner to explain the question and its relevancy to your topic
If questioner continues to push, state that it would be better to continue the discussion after the presentation
25
The Audience Wants to Learn from You!
You are in control and confident You prepare and practice You anticipate problems and mitigate
them
26
Active Learning Activity
Examine the presentation provided in your team folder and make two lists The areas in the presentation that were well
done The areas that need improvement
Present your lists/comments to the class
27
Lecture Recap and Assignment
Preparing, designing, and delivering an effective presentation require Understanding of many logistics: audience,
environment, expectations, equipment, appearance
Careful planning for contents, questions and answers, disruptions
Effective delivery techniques
Assignment: Problem 14.1 for presentation to class