EFFECTIVE ORAL PRESENTATIONS

General hints

• Use appropriate style. Being too zany or informal will keep you from being taken seriously (disastrous on a job interview), but being too stodgy and dry will detract from your effectiveness as well. It's probably best to err on the side of conservatism, though.

• Rehearse! There's no substitute for advance planning and preparation. Rehearse your presentation, adjust the timing, check your equipment, enlist the aid of an assistant to handle any technical glitches, and maintain your sense of humor.

• Eliminate distractions. Erase the blackboard of any previous material, don't play with the pointer or other materials, make movements of the pointer or light pen crisp and succinct, don't have visual material on screen that isn't relevant to the immediate point you're making, avoid nervous or adolescent speech mannerisms.

• Speak to your audience. Try not to turn your back to your audience. You should be familiar enough with each visual to maintain eye contact with members of the audience at all times. Speak slowly, clearly, and in a loud enough voice to be heard by the people sitting in the last row.

• Remove the lectern or podium if practical. Effective presenters never hide behind a lectern or podium. Don't let anything come between you and your audience.

• Lose your script. A script can sometimes make you sound monotonous or wooden. So, if possible, don't use one. Instead try note cards. Your visuals will help remind you of the key points you want to make and the order in which you wish to make them.

• Remember your audience probably knows how to read, too. Never read from your visuals verbatim; it makes audiences crazy.

• Don't block your visuals. Point to the screen, not the transparency. Don't try to point with the shadow of the pointer. Make sure the audience can see the screen. Be careful not to block the audience's view of the screen, or the light path from the projector. You'll usually want to avoid writing on the transparency during your talk.

• Don't cover part of your visuals. Many speakers do this, uncovering points as they work down the sheet. But it tends to offend the audience, and I recommend you avoid doing it.

• Slow down. Don't advance your slides too quickly or go from one overhead to the next in a hurry. Keep each image on the screen for at least 12 seconds. With more detailed images, leave the image up a little longer. If you change images too rapidly, your audience won't have time to absorb the information.

• Be enthusiastic! You may have given the same presentation to six different groups in four days, but for the audience, it's "opening night" and you're the star of the show. Enthusiasm is contagious.

Making Visuals (transparencies and slides)

• Two rules of eight: Check to make sure you can read the original artwork from a distance of eight times its width. Make sure audience members in the back of the room will be no further from the screen than eight times the width of the projected image.

• Get creative: Use different kinds of images and readable color combinations. Mix text, charts, and photographic images to keep your presentation interesting. Too much of the same kind of image is tedious on the eye and boring. And make sure to fill the image frame, leaving only a narrow border around the edges.

• Artwork: Some people have the artistic talent to make terrific visuals by hand, and it's easier to use color that way as well. But for most of us, it's better to use the computer; software such as Word or LaTeX can make very good visuals.

• Dumb and overdone graphics: Most technical audiences understand numbers and are suspicious of hype, so "business-type" visuals such as exploded pie charts against gradient-color backgrounds might not be appropriate; a simple table might be better.

• Avoid errors: Spell-check your visuals before you make transparencies or slides. Typographical errors are very distracting, and can ruin the impression you're trying to create of yourself.

• Don't use too many visuals. Too many images will distract your audience from the content of your presentation. Use only enough visuals to illustrate your main points and try to keep to one idea per visual. Having too many visuals will also get you into real time problems (this should be obvious during rehearsals.)

• Three questions to ask about your visuals: Is this information important? Is this information accurate? Is this information understandable to your audience?