Lecture Overview

CSCECSCE488488

Professional DevelopmentProfessional Development

Effective Technical Speaking Effective Technical Speaking for Computer Engineersfor Computer Engineers

(Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer (Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer & Sharad Seth)& Sharad Seth)

9/5/2001 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking 2

Lecture OverviewLecture Overview Preparation phase

Audience Analysis Objectives and main points

Effective use of slides Format, Fonts & Figures Handouts

Effective verbal presentation Matching verbal and visual parts Keeping the audience interested (awake) Handling Questions


Preliminary ItemsPreliminary Items Choose your Medium (slides, Powerpoint, etc.)

What is necessary?

What is sufficient? What is easiest to execute?

Rehearsal Rehearse for a human critic (teammate) Videotape can be very enlightening

Rehearsal can be a major mitigator of stage fright

Get your timing down pat!


Audience AnalysisAudience Analysis Who are they (demographically)?

Age, gender, culture, educational level?

What are they? Students, colleagues, engineers, executives? Customers?

What is their knowledge level?

What are they looking for? What do they expect to learn? How badly do they want to learn it?


ObjectivesObjectives Three universal objectives

Get the “facts” across

Convince the audience of their validity Keep them awake long enough to do the above

Individual objectives influence the emphasis Should you emphasize “just the facts”? Will you need to do a lot of convincing?


Identify the Main PointsIdentify the Main Points Assumption: a listener can only handle 5 main points Realize that at any time, 20% of audience is thinking of

something else Repeat the main points 3 times

First, them what is coming (Intro/summary) Then, tell it to them (main body of talk) Finally, tell them what you just told them (conclusions)

Distinguish between main points and details Hierarchical levels of bullets on slides Vocal volume, inflection and pauses Summary slides at beginning and end

Use pictures whenever you can


Slide OrganizationSlide Organization Title Page

title

authors affiliation (or course number)

Contact data (at least e-mail)

Date of presentation

Outline or Overview

Main Body of the Slides

Conclusions or Summary


General Slide FormatGeneral Slide Format Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Visual clutter is distracting

Too many special effects are distracting Use animation for illustration, not cosmetics

Want them to remember the substance, not the form

Use short, concise “bullets” Employ hierarchical bullets

Do not use paragraphs or long sentences

Do not cram too much onto one slide


FontsFonts Font Styles

Keep fonts clean and simple e.g. Arial or LaTeX \sf for most text e.g. Times New Roman or LaTeX \rm for titles

Don’t use too many fonts Limit the use of emphasis (e.g. underlining)

Font Sizes Use at least 20 pt. for default text (LaTeX \LARGE) At least 24 pt for televised talks If the audience has to work at it, they just will give up


Use of Figures & ExamplesUse of Figures & Examples A good picture (example) is worth a thousand words

And a bad picture is worth a thousand snores

Take time to talk the audience through each figure

Make sure the image is clearly visible Line size is thick enough

High enough contrast in colors

Make sure fonts on the picture are readable Exception: if you had to borrow a pre-made image Then you really have to talk them through it


A Bad SlideA Bad Slide The instance space Xn consists of all configurations of n

points on R

A concept is a set of all configs. from Xn within unit distance under the Hausdorff metric of some “ideal” configuration of k points, where HD between configs. P and Q is

and d(p,q) is distance from p to q

If P is any configuration of points on R, then concept corresponding to P is

X is a positive example of CP if it’s in CP and is a negative example otherwise

)}}},({min{max,)}},({min{maxmax{),( qpdqpdQPHPpQqQqPp

}1),(:{ XPHXXC nP


A Better SlideA Better Slide Each concept c is a set of fixed-width intervals on R Each example X is a set of points on R Example is positive iff each point in an interval & no

interval empty

concept

positive

negative

negative

X1

X2

X3


Use of HandoutsUse of Handouts Slides must be uniquely numbered (increasing order)

Handout copies of all slides before beginning Include all slides

In the same order and with the same numbering scheme

Stapled or bound

Two slides per handout page is eminently readable

Four to six slides per page may be too many Harder to take notes


Match Verbal & Visual PartsMatch Verbal & Visual Parts Time-per-slide

Rule-of-thumb: 2-3 minutes per slide Figures generally take longer Rehearse with your actual slides

Do not verbally “wander away” from your bullets No one will remember a word you said anything worth remembering must have a bullet

Point to the slides to change context Do not present complex details verbally

formulas, equations, statistics, etc. must be visual But beware of information overload!


Pay Attention to the AudiencePay Attention to the Audience Pick a few people and “talk to them”

Make eye contact (keeps them awake)

Change victims periodically (keeps them guessing) Cover the whole room

There is lots of feedback available Facial expressions & body language Furrowed brows vs. nodding heads

Fidgeting, browsing ahead in the handout, eyes closed

Adjust your talk to these cues


Physical Actions Physical Actions Stand up, don’t sit

Get away from the workstation They can hear you better, Puts you in a physically dominant position

Don’t just stand there, Move! A little motion keeps people awake Use hand gestures BUT: don’t overdo it.

A moving target commands attention Too much motion is a distraction

Face the audience Point to the screen, not the slide!


Speak up!Speak up! Speak loud enough to be heard without effort

Speak with confidence (watch out for arrogance) Improves your credibility Try to use the lower registers of your voice

Vary the pitch, volume, inflection

Develop a rhythm (don’t stumble over each word)

If you have an accent or impediment Slow down! Don’t let your volume drop


Connecting with the AudienceConnecting with the Audience Talk, don’t read!

Take cues from your slides, but do not read them It’s OK to check your notes (occasionally) Having notes on the “backup” papers helps

Write on the slides It gives the audience something to do It strongly reinforces memory It draws their attention to the details Especially good if the details are important Give them time to get caught up


Being “Entertaining”Being “Entertaining” Acknowledge that listening is hard work Entertaining implies keeping them:

interested, focused, awake Using Humor

Need the right amount, of the right type Should be relevant to the topic A little goes a long way

short relevant stories a little irreverent comment

Don’t push your luck


Handling QuestionsHandling Questions Repeat the question: “The question is …”

So, everyone else gets a chance to hear it,

To make sure you understand it

To stall while you formulate the answer

Deferring the question is OK: If you are discussing it later in the talk

If it is too complex & peripheral - offer to discuss later

If you really don’t know - say you will find out for them

Always follow up on a deferred question


Group PresentationsGroup Presentations Should be a single cohesive presentation

visual style

page numbering handout binding

One person should handle intro. & conclusions Introduce other team members Overview what topics they will cover

Hand-off the presentation to others by name


SummarySummary A presentation can make or break a project

Know your audience ahead of time

Identify the main points you want to get across

Use clear, effective slides

Use a loud, clear, non-monotonous voice

Match the verbal to the visual presentation

Pay attention to the audience

Lecture Overview

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