Presenting your proposal

Damian Gordon

Introduction

Communication is key to sell the merits of your project

Communication skills required Oral presentations Written proposals

Oral Presentation

Potential Outline

Introduction Domain – in general Domain – specific bit Organisation / Experiment What I will measure and how What I think this will tell me Other bits

Oral Presentation: Know your audience

Clearly identify the audience’s depth of knowledge Do not derive semiconductor physics to

investment bankers Do show fundamental understanding of KM

to whoever is giving the grades ! Clearly identify the audience’s interests

Your lecturers want to make sure you understand KM

Everyone likes to be entertained!

FOCUS

What is the point? Why am I here? oral presentations

For long talk, can lose audience easy Avoid lengthy text/notation A picture is worth a

thousand words NOT, a picture with a

thousand words

Too Many Details for most talks

Focus

Remind audience of important points.

Detailed Technical figures may be unavoidable in some presentations

If a detailed picture is absolutely necessary, emphasize important details visually

Conditions Important!

T=25C

Organization

Easy for audience to lose big picture

Get lost in details Useful tip: redisplay

the talk outline for each topic

Highlight present topic

Remind audience the organization of the talk

Organization: Basic Structure

Start with Introduction Motivations Why is this interesting

Provide outline of the talk Can be redisplayed to show topic progression

Background material as needed Your new ideas

New and better ways to do …….ship2ship communications, make $$$$, lose weight, etc

Defend your ideas Examples are helpful

Conclusion

Organization

Powerpoint Rules Keep it simple

Cut clutter At the most two font families No more than one or two charts or figures per slide

666 rule 6 words per bullet 6 bullets per page 6 word slides in a row

Be consistent

Organization

Powerpoint Sins (Joseph Sommerville, http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/marketing/a/7sinsofppt.htm) Slide Transitions and Sound Effects Standard clipart Presentation templates Text-Heavy slides Text and images are too small Reading the slides Faith in technology

Organization

Powerpoint Sins (Joseph Sommerville, http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/marketing/a/7sinsofppt.htm) Slide Transitions and Sound Effects Standard clipart Presentation templates Text-Heavy slides Text and images are too small Reading the slides Faith in technology

Faith in Technology

If you are showing software working, please do screen captures of it working and have it ready on PPT as a backup

Make backups regularly Have a camera with you a lot to take

pictures of interesting things – paper-based designs, signs you have hung up around the office, people interacting with your software.

Talk to the audience

Obtain and maintain interest Make eye contact with people in different

parts of the room

Practice with your teddy bear collection at home

or Post-its on the wall with eyes to look at

Talk to the audience

Obtain and maintain interest Use examples “We will build an optical communication network using dense

wavelength division multiplexing with polarization division multiplexing to transmit Terabit bandwidth telecommunication signals”

BORING! “Doesn’t it drive you nuts when it takes you 20 minutes to

download the Lord of the Rings box set torrent ? We will build a

network that will download it in 10 seconds using optical fiber!”

Humour

• Be appropriate!

• People are more awake if they’re laughing

• BUT humour maybe misconstrued as not taking the task seriously

Time Management

First rule of presentations KNOW HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE!!! Nothing irritates an audience more than a presentation that runs

long - especially if its boring

Keep a watch or clock easily visible Know ahead of time which slides you can skip

if you are running long Skip implementation details Show results - that’s what impresses people

Good rule of thumb - 1 to 2 minutes per slide

Answering Questions

Don’t panic if people ask you questions Try an listen to it, and ask for clarification if you are

unsure. If you still can’t figure it out, ask them nicely to give

you an example please Explain your position clearly, but don’t be

argumentative If someone is insisting that you should think about

Topic X, they probably have a good reason, so accept their advice and say “I’ll definitely add that in”.

Answering Questions

If they point out an area of research that they feel that should be incorporated into your proposal, please Don’t say “well that’s not relevant because…” Do say “thank you for that I’ll certainly look into

that and see to what extent it can be incorporated into my research.

Answering Questions

You will be asked; “So where’s the domain element in this

experiment? e.g. KM”

So please have an answer ready. First explain what aspect of experiment you see this project is covering and then be specific about how it is relevant

Conclusion

Oral presentations; know your audience, organize and focus, and talk to your audience.