A talk I gave to an undergraduate computer science class on how to create good presentations.

1. Creating Good
Presentations
Kevin Regan

2. A Good
Presentation
Can ...

3. Save the Environment
3

4. Iraq Is Hiding Dangerous Weapons
After inspectors revealed his Instructions relayed to an
earlier biological program, officer in the field,
Saddam built biological January 2003
weapons factories on wheels A: Capt. Ibrahim?
B: I am with you, sir.
A: Remove.. the expression…
nerve agents… whenever it
comes up.. in the wireless
instructions.
B: Consider it done, sir.
Start a War
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5. Prevent a Disaster
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6. • The structure of your presetation is an extremely
important because even if you spend
extremely
long time creating a presentation no one will be able
The to understand what you are saying unless you
placement structure your presentation well.
• The design of a good presentation begins with good structure, the next step is to take care to
of text on design each individual slide to maximize the effect of your presentation.
• On each individidual slide you should take care to think about :
a slide can • font size you are using, because if you do not pay
also be attention to font size it can be hard to read
important • Think about the colours you are using: colours
are important in a presentation!
• Properly used graphs and images can only
enhance your presentation, so be careful in your
Effectiveness use of graphs and images.
200
•And be sure to be careful about your spelling and
150 grammar because to clearly communicate your ideas
100 your need good speling and grammer!
• Can you still read this??? Perhaps using an extremely small font will encourage your audience to sit at the front!
50
0
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7. Outline
Structure
Animation
Fonts
Colour
Data
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8. Structure
Less is One Idea
More! per Slide
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9. Structure
Presentation Speech
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing Slide
elit. Donec ipsum. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et
magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Nulla bibendum. Nulla eleifend, est at sollicitudin
sodales, arcu tellus mattis erat, in tempor lorem tellus
quis leo.
Mauris luctus. Vivamus in arcu interdum nunc
molestie tincidunt. Quisque nibh. Vestibulum vel dui
quis tortor malesuada tristique. Donec tincidunt. Sed
urna. Phasellus dictum. Proin laoreet, urna sit amet
auctor sagittis, orci pede aliquam eros, non pharetra Slide
odio augue vel erat. Aenean ac purus quis diam
eleifend accumsan. Curabitur magna. Curabitur
consequat accumsan lorem. Aliquam velit augue,
suscipit et, luctus et, accumsan ullamcorper, enim.
Proin rhoncus. Quisque venenatis.
Pellentesque dolor tellus, fringilla a, pretium in,
elementum ac, justo. Integer sodales nunc id urna.
Phasellus id felis. Fusce id pede vitae lacus bibendum

10. Structure
Make
Sandwiches
Simplicity
&
Repetition
(Don!t just take orders)
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11. Animation
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12. Animation
• The danger in too much animation is
that your audience will be distracted
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13. Animation
• The danger in too much animation is
that your audience will be distracted
• Each time something in your slide
moves your audiences attention will
be drawn to it and away from what
you are speaking about
11

14. Animation
Sparingly
Use it Consistently
11

15. Fonts
• Keep it simple
• Keep it BIG
12

16. Fonts
Keep it
Simple
13
& BIG

17. Colour
• Use a small number of
contrasting colours
• Use them consistently
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18. Colour
• Use a small number of
contrasting colours
• Use them consistently
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19. Colour
Results of a survey by Dr. Lauren Sharff
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20. Colour
• There are lots of
tools out there
• Use them!
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21. Images
CREATE SOME
EXAMPLES
• Can be extremely helpful
• Should express a simple idea
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22. Check the room
and equipment.
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23. It will never work completely
for the first time. Trust me.
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24. All this leads to...
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25. Wow*
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* great presentations

26. Data
2004 2005 2006 2007
AMZN 100 90 80 60
MSFT 100 50 25 10
GOOG 100 20 40 80
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27. Data
Yearly Stock Price
100
75
$ Billions
AMZN
50 MSFT
GOOG
25
0
2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
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28. Data
Add a slide or t wo to
illustrate more of his
ideas
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29. Data
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30. Proofing
• Use parallel
structure in
lists
• Poofread
your slides • Your audience
carefully will find any
mistakes
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31. Proofing
• Use parallel
structure in
lists
• Proofread
your slides • Your audience
carefully will find any
mistakes
28

32. Proofing
• Use parallel
structure in
lists
• Proofread • Find any
your slides
mistakes,
carefully
before your
audience does
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33. Delivery
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34. Delivery
•Practice
• Practice
• Practice
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35. 32

36. Conclusion
Make
Sandwiches
Simplicity
&
Repetition
(Don!t just take orders)
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37. Add some appendices
Questions
• Learn to navigate
your slides
• Add appendices
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38. Thank You
Lil Blume
Merlin Mann
Alexei Kapterev
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