Welcometothislittleintroductiononhowtogivetechnicalpresentations.Ihopeyouwillfindituseful.

Thepresentationismeantforrelativebeginnerseventhoughevenseasonedpresentersmayfindsomethingnewinit.Naturally,wedon'ttouchalltopicsandsomeonlysuperficially.Butonceyouareawareofsomebasicideasyoucanstartaspiralofselfimprovement.

Notethatnoneofthebasicideasintheseslidesarenovelorinventedbyme.Rathertheyareextractedfromasetofexcellentbookslistedattheveryend.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 1

Hereonthetitlepagewealreadyseetwoprinciplesinaction.

Alignment isparticularlyimportant;itgivesstructureandordertoaslide(oranygraphicaldesign).Interestingly,centeraligmentusuallylooksweakandunsophisticated.AsabasicruleIsuggestthatyoualignleftifindoubt(alsoappliestotablesBTW).Tryit!Beyondthattrytoalignmostelementsonaslidetosomethingelse.

Contrastmeansthatiftwoelementsaremeanttolookdifferent,makethemreallydifferent.Forexample,lookatthetitleandmyname.Thefontsdifferinbothweightandsizewhichmakesitlookvisuallyappealing.Trythesamewithonlysizeoronlyweightchanged;itwilllookworse.Asageneralrule,contrastinfontsisachievedbychangingatleasttwoattributesamongweight,size,color,andfonttype.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 2

Ilikethisproverbanditfitswell.AppliedtothetopicofthispresentationIwanttomotivateyoutostriveforquality.

Thephotoisfromistockphoto.com.ThecolorforthetextisextractedfromthebrighterpartsofthisphotousingPhotoshop'scolorpicker(usefultrick).

Theslidealsogoesalongwithoneofmymajorrules:startyourtalkwithaninterestingslideandcertainlyavoidatextslide.

Unfortunately,allslidesintheremainingtalkwilllookworsethanthisone.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 3

Hereisacoupleofbulletsexpressingthemotivationforthistalk.Thetextseemsreasonableenoughbuttherearesomevisualshortcomings.Canyoutell?

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 4

Here,theshortcomingsarelisted.Notehowweviolatedtosomeextenttheprinciplesfromthebeginning:alignmentandcontrast.Let'sfixthese.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 5

Muchbetter,no?Thealignmentandthecontrastbetweenbulletsandsub‐bulletscreatesstructure.Asatextslideitlooksgood,butdowereallywantorneedatextslide?(Theanswerisnoasyoumayimagine.)

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 6

Thisisamorevisualslidedesignedtoconveythesamecontent.

Thedisadvantageisthatnowyouhavetorememberwhattosay.However,ifyoudon't,youarebadlypreparedanyway.

Thebigadvantageisthatpeoplewillhavemoretimelisteningsincetheyarenotbusyreading(thereisabiologicalreasonforthis,explainedlater).Equallyimportant,thevisualsmaketheslidemuchmoreinteresting.Sopeoplearelesslikelytoreturntotheirlaptops.Thisisanimportantgoal,inparticularonthefirstfewslides.

Onthecontent:Presentationsareauniquechancetoconnectyourworkwithyourperson.Ifyoudoagoodjob,peoplemayrememberyou,whichisparticularlyimportantinanytypeofjob(academia:atonepointyouneedreferenceletters;industry:atonepointajobuptheladderwillopenupandtheywillonlyconsiderthepeopletheyremember).Unfortunately,mostpresentationsfallfarshortofthisgoalandareratherawasteoftimeformostoftheaudience.Thisisyourchance:learnhowtodoitwellandyouhaveanedge!

Thebottompartconveysthatcontentandvisualqualityareequallyimportant.Andtheyare.Notethatslidesthatcommunicatewellarealsobeautiful.Thisimplies(everhadalogicsclass?)thatuglyslideswillnotcommunicatewell.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 7

NotethatIhadaddedanacknowledgment,sincetheplotwassuggestedtomebyacolleagueinmydepartment.Acknowledgingisgoodstyleasmuchasnotacknowledgingisbadstyle.Imagineyoucreateafabulousdatagraphic,giveittosomebodywhousesitandshedoesnotmentionyou.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 8

Hereyouseethenaturalenemyofthepresenter:theaddictivecommunicationdeviceofourtimes.Whenyoudesignyourtalkkeepthisinmind!Ifyouareboringfor2or3minutes,peoplewillstartcheckingemailandallyourworkwasinvain.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 9

Hereistheoverviewofthispresentation.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 10

Naturally,westartwiththefirstpoint.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 11

Likemanyotherthings,qualityrequiressufficienttimeforpreparation.Weareallbusy,butpreparationisamatterofpriority.And,untilyourarefamous,presentingshouldbeapriorityforyou.Onceyouarefamousyoucanhiregraphicsdesignertodothemforyou.

Itishardtogiveagoodruleforthenumberofslides.Fortechnicalpresentations,Ifoundthat2/3timesminutesisagoodruleofthumb.Andthisincludesallslides.Yes,all.Don’tconvinceyourselfthatsomearejustoverviewslidesandsomesortofempty.Doesnotmatter.2/3,notmore.Leaveroomforyoutotalkaboutyourslides.Inparticularaboutyourresults(oftentowardstheend).

Bootupyourlaptopinthemorningofyourpresentation,YoudowantthelatestOStoinstallitselfoneminutebeforeyourtalk.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 12

Knowyourlaptop!Howoftenhaveyouseenpeopletryingtofigureouthowtogettheimageontothescreen.Youlosevaluableminutes!

Absolutelygetaremotemouse.Thisallowsyoutoroamaroundfreely,standwhereyouwant,andnaturallyblendtheadvancingofyourslidesandanimationswithyourspeech.

Sneakersandshabbyshortsatamajorconference?Areyoufamousyet?

Superimportant:acknowledgeyourco‐authors.Notdoingthisisacrime.Notkidding.Usuallytheyworkedashardasyou(ortriedtheirbesttoadviseyou).Sotheirnameshavetobeverballymentioned.Imaginewhatyouwoulddoifhalfofthetalkiscreatedfromyourbloodandsweatandyouwatchyourcolleaguetalkingaboutitandnevermentioningyou.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 13

Nowlet'stalkaboutthecontent.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 14

Youhavetostartyourtalkwiththemotivation.Whatareyoudoing,whyareyoudoingitandwhyisitimportant?(Thelasttwoquestionsareoftenconnected.)Makesureyoureallyanswerthesequestions.

Don'tstartwithatext‐onlyslide(rememberthenaturalenemy?)butwithaninterestingvisual.Thefirstslideisyourbestchancetodrawtheaudiencein.

Ifatallpossiblegiveapreciseproblemstatement.Ideallyvisualizeit.Ifpeopledon'tknowwhatareyoudoing,whywouldtheycareabouthowyouaredoingit?

Showothercoolthingsifappropriate.Hintofthesolution?Coolexampleresult?Coolconclusionofyourwork?Everythingthatcatchesattentionandmakespeoplewanttolistentoyou.

Inlongpresentations(let'ssay>25minutes),theoverviewslidehelpstoreinitializepeople.Youshouldhelpwiththatbysayingsomethinglike"Ijustexplained…..,nextIwillshow.”Maybesomepeoplewillcomebackfromplayingwithyournaturalenemy.Shorttalksdon'tneedrepeatedoverviewslides.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 15

Hereisaverystandardorganizationforatechnicalpresentation.Useitifyoucannotthinkofanythingbetter.

Putslidenumbersifoneofyouraudienceisnotintheroom(butconnectedoverphoneetc.).Thisway,youcannameaparticularslideifthingsgetmessedup.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 16

Herecomesabigone.Ijustlearnedthisrecently.Textandspeechisprocessedinthebrainbythesame"channels."Thismeansyoucannotreadand(really)listenatthesametime.Incontrast,imagesandspeechcanbeprocessedinparallel.Theconsequenceiseasy,right?

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 17

Thepreviousslidetellsustominimizetext.Ideallythevisualsareontheslideandthetextisproducedbyyou.Again,thisrequirespreparationbutit'sworthit.

Honestly,whendidyourememberthelasttimeatextonlyslide?

Further,fortextusebulletsandbeshort(noneedforcompletesentences).Remember,everywordontheslidecompeteswithyoufortheaudience'sattention.

Ifyouneedtohavemanybulletsconsiderlettingthemappearasyouspeak(here,theremotemouseisamustunlessyoustandrightinfrontofyourlaptop).

Defineeveryacronymandusethemsparingly.

Usethefollowingruletoforceyourselftogetridoftext.Goto"ViewSlideSorter"andmakesurenotwoconsecutiveslidesaretextonly.Onceyoumasteredthatonaregularbasis,takeittothenextstepandavoidtext‐onlyslides(exceptmaybeoverviewslides)altogether.

Sinceitissoimportant,Iputtheslideinred.Asanaside,theniceshadingeffectisstandardintheppt2007menu(Shapefill→ Gradient).

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 18

Ofcourse,onofthemaingoalsofyourtalkistogetthetechnicalcontentacross.Thisincludesthemotivation,theexactproblemstatement,themainideabehindyoursolution,andyourmainresult.

Donottrytogeteverydetailofyourworkacross.Itissimplytoomuchformostoftheaudience.Thisdoesnotmeanyoushouldtrivializebutratherfocus.Thismayincludegoingdeepforafewslidesbutnottoolong,otherwiseeverybodywillbelost.

Didyouevergiveatalk,presentingallthedetailsofyournicework,andattheendyougetaquestionthatshowsthatnoteventheproblemyouaresolvingcameacross?Certainlyhappenedtomemanytimes.Findtherightbalanceforyouraudience(andthismaydifferbyaudience).

Ifmanypeoplerememberanythingfromyourtalkitwasasuccess.Seriously.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 19

Inparticularifitgetscomplicated.

Orequationheavy.

Thismayincludeproperly usedanimations(don’tfancify).

Notethatthisgoesalongwithminimizingtextbutissomewhatdifferent.HereIwanttoemphasizethatcomplicatedtechnicalcontenthastobevisualizedtoatleastsomeextenttogivetheaudiencetherightmentalpictureandatleastabasicideaofwhatyouaretalkingabout.Thisrequirespractice.Let'slookatatypicalsituation.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 20

Iseethissituationveryoften.Astudentgivesatechnicalpresentationwithratherdeeptechnicalcontent.Soontheslidesarefilledwithequationsandthestudentstalksvividlyaboutallkindsofdetails.Theaudienceislonglostsincemostdon'tseetheseexactequationsallthetimesotheyarestrugglingtocreateamentalpicture.

Theinterestingthingisthatthestudentmostlikelydoesnothavethematerialstoredinherbrainin theformofequationsbutprobablydoeshavesomesortofstructureorvisualizationinherhead.Soobviouslythereisamuchbetterwayofdoingit.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 21

Namelylikethis.Anditcommunicatesimmediately.Ofcourse,noteverythingisacircle butanyvisualhelps.Remember:itisextremelyimportantthatpeoplehavetherightmentalpictureofwhatyouaredoingandhowyouaredoingit.Wordsmeandifferentthingstodifferentpeopleandequationscanbequicklyunderstoodonlybytheexpertinexactlythesamearea.

Howdoyouvisualize?Drawfromyourownmentalpictureofthematerial.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 22

Hereareafewsimpleexamplesofvisualizations.Blockdiagramsareparticularlyusefultoidentifycomponents,howtheyinteract,inputandoutputetc.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 23

Asimplefigureasontheleftcanbeusedtogiveaproblemspecification(whichyouhavetoinclude:mentionedinearlierslides).Inthisexample,theauthorsbuilttheredblockcalledSpiral.

OntherightsideisavisualizationofQuicksort.IntheactualtalkIletitappearinstepscorrespondingtothestepsinthealgorithm.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 24

Complexprocessesalwaysrequireavisualization.Hereisanexamplefrombiology.Notethatwhenitgetsthiscomplex,youneedtimetoexplainitifyouwantto.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 25

Heresomemorethingstoremember.Theredonesarecommonmistakesthatyouhavetolearntoovercome.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 26

Toomanytextslidesalready!InthetalkIletthesebulletsappearoneaftertheother.Thetwokeypointsherearetheuseofoverviewslidestogetpeopleback(fromthenaturalenemy;seeearlierslide)tolisteningtoyou.Forexample,youjustfinishedexplainingyouralgorithminallitstechnicalgloryandnowyoucometotheresults.Emphasizethiswhileyoutalk.Manypeopleareinterestedintheresultseveniftheydidnotcaretoomuchhowyoudidit.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 27

Let'stalkabouttheactualdesignofyourslides.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 28

Wearguedearlierthatthevisualqualityisasimportantasthetechnicalcontent.Thisisnotaboutaddingbeautytogoodtechnicalcontent.Thisisaboutmakingslidescommunicateefficiently.Interestingly,slidesthatachievethatarebeautiful.

AsbasiclayoutIpreferblackonwhitesinceitcanalsobeprintedifneeded.

Awordonlogos:donot,Irepeatnot,stuffsomethingintoeverycornerofyourslides.Keepthebasiclayout(template)emptysoyouhavealotofrealestate.Ifyouwantlogos,putallintoonecornerandmakethemsmalloravoidthemexceptforthefirstandlastslide(whereyoucanmakethemlarger).

Beconsistent throughoutthetalk(samefonts,samecolorsforthesamethings,etc.).Asyougetbetteryoumaywanttobreakconsistencyoccasionallyifithelpswithcommunicating(anexamplearethetworedslidesinthistalk).

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 29

Thereisalotthatcanbesaidaboutfontsbutwespendonlyoneslide.

Seriffonts(likethisoneorTimesNewRoman)havelittleextensionsineverycharacter.Thiseasesthereadingoflargetextblocklikebooks.

Sans‐seriffontsdon'thavetheseextensionsandtendtobeadvantageousinsmallblocksoftext(likeheaders).Henceuseasans‐seriffont.Mysuggestion:useCalibri.ItcomeswithOffice2007butcanalsobedownloadedforusewithOffice2003.Sinceitisfreeitcanprobablyusedwithothersoftwareaswell.

Forcode(e.g.,aCprogram)useCourierNewbold.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 30

ThemathtypesettingabilitiesofOfficeareverylimited.First,onlyverybasicsymbolsareavailable.Second,itdoesnotlookgood.Comparethetopright(Office)tothetopleft(texpoint,discussedbelow).

Ifyouusealotofmath(anddonotuselatextomakeyourslides),gettexpoint,alatexpluginforOffice.Thismeansyoucandoallthemathlatexcandoandtheappearanceisequallygreat.Ifyouhavealreadywrittenapaper,chancesareyouusedlatex,soyoucanjustdocopy‐paste.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 31

Colorsaregreatandyoushouldusecolors.Buthow?

OftenIseetheaboveonesinpresentations.Theyaregarishand,well,horrendous.Occasionallytheremaybeagoodreasontousesuchacolorbutusuallynot.Tolookattheseoneactuallyneeds….

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 32

…glasses.

Soifnotthosethenwhich?

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 33

Powerpointoffersthesecolorsatthefirstlevelinthecolormenu.Nothingwrongwiththeshadesofgray.Butmostofthecolorsarenotreallyuseful,inparticularifyouneedtofillaboxoranyarea.

Thesolutionisinthecustomtabonthetop.Let'sclickit.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 34

Weendupwiththemenuontheright.Firstweneedtounderstandcolormodels.Bydefault,OfficeshowsRGB(red,green,blue),meaningthateverycolorisspecifiedby3valuesbetween0and255.However,itishardtorelatethesenumberstocolor.

Ontherightweshowadifferentmodel:HSL(hue,saturation,lumniosity).Hgivestherainbowspectrum,thex‐axisabove.Sgivesthesturation,they‐axisabove.Thefullysaturatedcolorsareallontop.Allcolorsfromthepreviousslidearefullysaturated.Afullydesaturated colorisgray.Listheluminosityorbrightness,thez‐axissotosayandshownbythesliderontheright.

Ifyouwantacolorchooseitontop(oronthepreviousscreen),sayred,switchtoHSLmode,andthendesaturate it.Thenadjustluminosityandfinetune.

Seehowthedesaturated colorslooknice.Theydon’tcommandasmuchattention.Moreonthatlater.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 35

Hereareafewboxesthatyoucanconsider.Usually,forlargerareas,chooseapastelcolor=abright,desaturatedcolor.Aboxinsuchacolorwillserveitspurposebutnotdistractattention.Sometimesdarkboxescanbeuseful.Considerputtingwhitetextintoit.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 36

Thebiologicalprocessshownusesonlypastelcolorsasdoespracticallyanymap.Inparticularmapsareagoodexampleofwhatiscalledlayering.Awayofoverlayingdifferentlevelsofinformationinsideonevisual.Theselayerscanbeaccessedbyrefocusing.Forexample,ontheright,youcanfocusontheoceanandrivers,onthestreets,onthecitiesetc.Thisispossibleduetothechoiceofcolors(subdued=pastel).Ifeverycomponentscreamedforattentionatthesametimeonecouldnotlookatit.

Forexample,onslide23,thebottomblockdiagramusessomesimplelayering:theredboxesandthegrayareawithgraytext.Laterwewillseeviewgraphsthatuselayering.BelowonthepageIuselayeringtode‐emphasizethetextandtheslidenumbers.

BTW,doyouknowwhereAveirois?DidyouknowCMUhasajoinedMaster'sandPhDprogramwiththiscountry?

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 37

Ifyouhaveanyquantitativeresult,youshouldshowaviewgraph.Herearesomebasicrules.MostoftenIseethefontsizeruleandthecontrastruleviolated.

Makesuretheplotclearlyshowsexactlythemessagethatyouwanttogetacross(ifany).

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 38

Hereisaviewgraph.Nowitisimportantthatyoupresentitsoitisunderstandable.Don'tforgetthatyouhaveseenitamilliontimesbuttheaudiencehasnot.Sotheyneedguidance.Proceedinthestepsshownabove.I'lldoitfortheplotshown.

• InthisplotwecomparetheperformanceofsingleanddoubleprecisioncodeforthediscreteFouriertransform,namelySpiral‐generatedversustheIPPlibrary.

• Thex‐axisshowsthebase‐2logoftheDFTinputsize,so5means32.

• They‐axisshowtheperformanceinMflop/s(Iknowtheaudienceknowswhatthisis),sohigherisbetter.

• NowIpointtoonedatapointandexplainwhatthismeans.E.g.,fork=4,thetriangleshowsthatSpiral'sdoubleprecisioncoderunsat1300Mflop/s,whichismorethantwiceasfastasIPPscode(500Mflop/s).

Nowyoucanproceedbytalkingabouteverthingyouwant.Thenyoucan conclude.Here:Overall,Spiral‐generatedcodeisabouttwiceasfastasIPP.

Theplotisratherugly.Andseehowthelegendisplacedsomewhatrandomly.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 39

Hereisanattractiveplot.Studyitforabitandtrytoverbalizewhy.Also,trytofinddesigndecisionsthatyoumaybehaveneverthoughtabouttrying.

MostofthedesigndecisionsIstolefromTheEconomist.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 40

Hereisanexplanationofthemainfeatures.Interestingly,mostarebasedonprincipleswealreadylearned.

MostsurprisingtomewhenIlearneditwasthefollowing:

• Thereisnoreasontohavethey‐axislabelvertical.Andifyouthinkforawhileitdoesnotmakesenseatall.Onesimplyhasahardtimereadingaverticallabel.Asdoneabove,itisperfectlyclearthatthey‐axisisthenumberofpeople.

• Youdonotneeday‐axis,atleastnothere.

Besidesthat,notehowcontrastisusetocreatealayeringeffect.Thedataisatthefore(asitshould),andthegridlinesandeverythingelseareintheback.

AsEdwardTuftesays:"Aboveelseshowthedata"(seereferencesonthelastslide).

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 41

Hereisablack&whiteplotsinceitwasusedforprintpublishing(inapresentation,colorwouldbemuchbetter).Wedecidedtoinvertthebackgroundsinceitseparatestheplotclearerfromitssurroundingsinapaper.

Theonepossiblysurprisingfeatureisthatthereisnolegend.Infact,ifpossibleavoidalegendandputthedescriptionrightintotheplot.Thinkabouthowlongittakestoparsetheconnectionbetweenlinesandlegend.Eyesgobackandforthandbackandforth…..

Asdonehereitisimmediate.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 42

Thereismuchtobesaidabouttables;andaswithplotsandpresentations,itisnotstraightforwardtomakegoodtables.Butagain,someofthesameprincipleswehavealreadylearnedapply.Seetheaboveguideforashortintroduction.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 43

AbriefnoteaboutPowerpoint.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 44

ImuchpreferPowerpointoveranyothersoftwareformakingpresentations.2007isinmyopinionamajorimprovementandmakesitmucheasiertocreateattractivepresentations.Asamathematician,however,youmaywanttoconsiderlatex.Averynicestyleforslidesisavailableinlatex(myonlymajorcomplaintisthatthetemplateusestoomuchoftherealestate).ButbacktoPowerpoint.

Ifyoufrequentlymakepresentations,learnhowtoreallyusePowerpoint(orwhichevertoolyouuse).Itisworthit.Thisincludestheabovetips.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 45

Assaidabove.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 46

Iintroducedacoupleofbasicprinciplesinthispresentation.Thefirstfourapplytographicdesigningeneral.Thefifthiscrucialinpresentations,sinceitmakesitpossibletocommunicatecomplextechnicalcontentanditminimizestext,whichisoneofthekeygoalsinmakingpresentations.Thelastoneisgenerallygoodpractice.Letmebreifly restatethemainpoints:

Alignment:Don'trandomlyplaceelements.Mostshouldbealignedtosomething.Ifindoubt,tryfirstleftalignment.

Contrast: Ifyouwantthatelementslookdifferentmakethemsufficientlydifferent.Forfontschangeatleasttwoattributes.Withcolorsplayaround.E.g.,warmagainstcold,darkagainstbrightgivesgoodcontrast.

Layeringmeansthatineveryvisualyoudecidewhichelemnts shouldbeintheforground anddesignaccordingly.Lesserimportantelementsyouputinthebackground,e.g.,bymakingthemforexamplegrayorbrightorboth.

Consistencymeansthatsimilarelementsshouldbedesignedsimilarly.Forexample,usethesamefontthroughoutthetalk.Youmaybreaktheprincipleforemphasis.

Visualization: Trytodisplayproblemstatement,yourapproach,youralgorithm,complicatedtechnicalbackground,theorems,etc.Everythingthatworksisallowed.Startfromthewayyouthinkaboutthings.Minimizetextmoreandmoreuntilyoucancreatetalkswithouttext‐onlyslides.

Acknowledge yourco‐authors(saytheirnames),materialborrowedfromothersources,andrelatedwork.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 47

Irepeatthemostimportantpoints.Inyoursummary,considerrepeatingakeyvisualfromyourtalk.

Takeeveryopportunitytopracticepresentationsandalwaysgiveyourbest.

Watchotherpresentationsandtrytoseewhatworksandwhatnot.Thebestexerciseistotrytoverbalizewhysomethinglooksgoodandwhyitdoesnot.Onceyoucanverbalizeit,itisunderyourcontrol.Also,designiseverywhere,solookatit.Lookatviewgraphsinnewspapersandmagazines.Lookatanyformofdesign.E.g.,postersinmuseumsalywas lookgreat.Spendaminutelookingatthedesigndecisions.Doyourecognizesomeoftheprincipleswetalkedabout?

Youcannotbecomeagreatpresenterovernight.Likeeverythingelse,ittakespracticeandthedesiretogetbetter,i.e.,itdoesnothappenautomatically.Ihopethatwiththefewtipsfromthispresentationyoucangetonyourwaytobecomingapresenterthatpeopleremember.Goodluck!

Iamhappytohearaboutanycomments.Emailme(mywebsiteisbelow).

Cheers!

Markus

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 48

AsIsaidinthebeginning,Ididnotinventanythinginthistalk.Everythingiscollectedfrombooks.HereareafewofthemthatIconsiderparticularlyhelpful.Checkthemout.

MarkusPüschel

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~pueschel 49