by Christophe Basso

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slides Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making the Speech a Success – Key

Points

Conclusion

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slides Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making the Speech a Success – Key

Points

Conclusion

Communicate a message, show/comment data, an idea etc.

People should see your professionalism in what you show

Perception will depend on different factors:

ease of expression, message clarity, compactness…

tailor the message to the audience: engineers, finance etc. ?

mesmerize the audience and maintain contact with it

make each slide with care, nice drawings, well-commented

curves…

You are a professional engineer in your field, the documents you present must reflect this!

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slides Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making the Speech a Success – Key

Points

Conclusion

You may have foreigners in your audience, "polish" your

language!

A lot of people, including myself, learn British English at school

Most of us do not understand the meaning of sports

expressions:

o Full-court press (maintain pressure), home run (complete

success), to be on par with (meet similar standard, results etc.),

ballpark (base-ball field): don't use too many of them!

o Slang is also a limiting factor when you speak. Avoid colloquial

expressions. In other terms…

Chase and get rid of "euh, eem..."  

o insert a pause, a blank instead

Keep It Simple Sweet heart!

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slides Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making the Speech a Success – Key

Points

Conclusion

Write soberly, do not overload slides with long sentences

If you put a long text, you will end-up reading the content

NEVER read the slides: disastrous and soporific effect

guaranteed!

Good Too heavy!

When you present technical data, be rigorous in your style

Respect standards such as IEEE's:

Insert a space between the value and the unit: 3 µF not 3uF, 1

mA…

You write: dc-dc or ac-dc converters. Not DC/DC or AC/DC

Zener and Schottky are proper nouns, capitalize!

Keep lowercases for rms, k (kV or kHz), ac analysis

Insert an hyphen: a capacitor of 3 µF a 3-µF capacitor, a 2-

mA current

Avoid abbreviations : A or amperes not "amps", "scope", "puff"

Unit names are not to be capitalized: ampere, volt…

Use International System units: no ounces, inches or circular

mills!

"I own the heaviest dog in the world: 10 stones"

or

(63.5 kg)

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slides Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making the Speech a Success – Key

Points

Conclusion

Do you include equations? Use the right tool:

R1=-b+/-sqrt(b^2-4ac)/2a

In equations, respect standards :

2

1

4

2

b b acR

a

1

1 2 3 1 0

3 1 0

1

1 2 3

1 1 3 1 1

out

R R

Vout V

R R R R R R R

sC R sR C s

http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/

1 3kΩR

italic normal space normal

Do you present electrical schematics: don't use PPT to draw!

There is a plethora of free schematic capture demos you can

use

OrCAD (Cadence), SpiceNET (Intusoft), LTSpice (LTC) etc.A quality schematic strengthens your credibility

VcbIe

Vbeon

CBVEI 1Q,onBEV

What do You Present?

Do I Really Speak English?

Slide Content

Shapes and Electrical Diagrams

Making Your Speech a Success –

Key Points

Conclusion

A few points to respect in order to succeed

1. Put an agenda in place and briefly explain what you will cover

2. Rehearse your presentation and respect your time slot

3. PPT illustrates your speech and not the opposite: do not read!

• Work the transitions to make the presentation fluid

4. Draw transparencies soberly, do not overload them

5. Keep visual contact with the audience:

• Identify "friendly" people in the room and look at them regularly. Move in the room while you speak. Keep people awake!

Don't turn your back!

6. Personalize your presentation depending on the audience

• Insert known people pictures, local references - Paul Hogan in Australia, Benny Hill UK, some funny guys in the US: )

7. Breathe, force yourself to speak slowly, insist on key words

8. Engage with the audience, ask questions, make it a living presentation

9. During the presentation, no bubble-gum, hand(s) in the pocket…

10. Watch the laser pointer, do not play in another swashbuckler

11. Keep time for questions/answers, roughly 5-10 mn

12. Before answering a question, repeat it for the back of the room

Always end the speech with a conclusion:

• come back on key points

• reinforce an idea or salient points of your speech

• thank people for their presence

• wave your hand to initiate the Q&A session and smile!

Pardon my French!