Problem Solving, Communication

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Problem Solving, Communication
InnovationPresentations
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Contents

• In today's lecture well discuss giving good
  presentations
• Presentation PMI
• Edward Tuftes Tips
• Death by PowerPoint?
• How to use PowerPoint well
• Other presentation tips
• Presentation assignment

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Presentation PMI

• Lets do a quick PMI on presentations that you
  have been at
• P What things have people done in presentations
  that have worked well?
• M What things have people done in presentations
  that have worked badly?
• I What interesting things have you seen people
  do in presentations?

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Edward Tuftes Presentation Tips

• Edward Tufte makes the following suggestions for
  giving presentations
• Show up early
• Have a strong opening
• What's the problem?
• Who cares?
• What's your solution?
• On every subtopic move from the particular to the
  general and back to the particular
• Give everyone at least one piece of paper
• Know your audience

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Edward Tuftes Presentation Tips (cont)

• Rethink the overhead
• The audience is sacred
• Humour is good
• Avoid masculine (or even feminine!) pronouns as
  universals
• They has been accepted by the Oxford English
  Dictionary for years
• Take care with questions
• Let people know you believe your material
• Finish early
• Drink lots of water

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Edward Tuftes Presentation Tips (cont)

• Have a strong conclusion
• Think about all presentation possibilities
• Practice, practice, practice
• Film your presentation
• Play it back and watch yourself
• Watch it without the sound
• Listen to it without the picture
• Watch it at twice the normal speed
• Have your first couple of lines rehearsed

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Rethinking The Overhead
PowerPoint presentations too often resemble a
school play very loud, very slow, and very
simple -Edward Tufte
The Cognitive Style Of Power-Point Pitching Out
Corrupts Within, Edward Tufte, 2006 Edward Tufte
is an analytical design (who would rail against
being on this slide!)
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NASA PowerPoint

• After the Columbia space shuttle crashed in
  2003 the Columbia Accident Investigation Board
  fingered PowerPoint as a culprit
• NASA, had become too reliant on presenting
  complex information via PowerPoint

New York Times Article PowerPoint Makes You Dumb
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(No Transcript)
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Should We Abandon PowerPoint?

• ?

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Lets Assume We Dont!

• Tips for good PowerPoint presentations
• Include only necessary information
• Avoid long paragraphs of text
• Dont overcrowd the presentation
• Dont forget to spell check
• Dont be afraid to use pictures but be careful
  of overused clip-art
• Be consistent with formatting
• Have a backup plan
• Remember slides are not the same as notes

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PowerPoint Tips Colours Fonts

• Colours
• Limit the number of colours
• Use contrasting colours for background and text
• Try to think about accessibility
• Font
• Always use size 20 or bigger
• Larger font may be used for emphasis

Somebody who is colour blind wont be able to
read this!
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PowerPoint Tips Colours Fonts (cont)

• Using too small font is impossible to read
• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY
• Dont use complicated fonts
• Using a font colour that does not contrast with
  the background colour is hard to read
• Using a different colour for each point is
  unnecessary
• Using a different colour for secondary points is
  also unnecessary
• Trying to be creative can also be bad

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PowerPoint Colours Fonts (cont)

• Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
  difficult to read from
• Always be consistent with the background that you
  use

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PowerPoint Tips Animation

• Using animation in PowerPoint is almost always a
  bad idea!

It just confuses people and makes your slides
take forever to appear
Also you spend all of your time pressing the next
slide button
So dont do it!
Except when it adds to the clarity of your
presentation
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Oral Presentation Tips

• Some tips for oral presentations
• Body language is important
• Speak loudly and clearly
• Try to put some feeling into your voice
• Do not read from notes
• Maintain eye contact with your audience
• Speak to your audience
• Dont be afraid to take a pause
• Dont be afraid to correct yourself

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Handling Questions

• Questions at the end are just about the most
  important part of a presentation
• Repeat the question to the audience
• Restate or ask for clarification if necessary
• Request that questions are asked during the talk
  or afterwards
• Avoid prolonged one-to-one discussions
• If you cant answer a question, just say so
• Have a dedicated questions slide

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Conclusion

• The most important things to remember when giving
  presentations are
• Think about your audience
• Think about your objective
• Think carefully about visual aides (slides)
• Speak confidently, clearly and to the audience
• PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

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Questions?

• ?

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Presentation Assignment

• I would like you all to give a short presentation
  in class
• Day Course In the penultimate week of the course
  Wednesday, 6th December
• Night Course In the last week of the course
  Wednesday, 13th December
• Each presentation should be 10 minutes long
  including questions
• Feel free to use any presentation tools/aides
  that you like

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Presentation Assignment (cont)

• The presentation can be on any topic that you
  like, as long as it is related to the course
• How you did your assignment
• Problem solving techniques from the course that
  you have used at work/home
• Other problem solving techniques that you have
  come in contact with