After yet another terrible presentation (in a world top university), here some ideas about how not to be that boring:
- Skip the outline. Nobody cares about what you are going to say. Just charm the audience and bring your auditors straight into the topic
- Nobody cares about you, skip those slides about "your background"
- Skip also the "motivation" slide. Again, who cares? Just tell us "the thing".
- Don't use a laser pointer, it's so old-fashioned. Animate things and keep it live (animations could also be old-fashioned.. just make them right)
- If you show something, it's for people to understand something. Maybe you have the most important plot in the world, but if people can't read the legend, the axis, the numbers.. you might as well not have them. Show effective plots and simplify them if necessary. The purpose is to pass a message, not to show a plot.
- Use images whenever it's possible, nobody likes to read. A legend for a plot? Just use some clip-art.
- Don't even think about wasting a slide to present the title of a paper (by print-screening the paper itself). What's the point? Do you think I will remember the title of the article? Use the slides to prove me why I should send you an email begging you to send me that paper, instead.
- Again, nobody is going to read that table with 20 numbers. Just use graphical indicators (bars, round indicators, whatever). It has to be direct, visual, instantaneous. If people are supposed to listen to you, they can't focus on numbers and text.
End of part 1. I'm sure there will be many more occasions to add tips to the list :)
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