CS 702 - Advice on giving oral presentations

Developed by the CS faculty

Useful info online:

How to Give a Bad Talk, by David Patterson (part of Oral presentation advice, by Mark Hill).
How to give a talk, by Bruce Donald.
How to give a good research talk by Simon Peyton Jones.
Pointers on giving a talk by David Messerschmitt.

Not about presentations, but useful nevertheless:

Dave Patterson's Writing Advice

Tips from the CS faculty:

Practice your talk!
Be sure not to go over the allotted time (see also tip #1).
Use PowerPoint, not transparencies. These days, professional presentations are done in PowerPoint, and it is a skill you need to have. Exception: handwritten slides are sometimes appropriate IF you have very neat handwriting, and you want to convey a personal tone or if a professional feel is not called for (e.g., in a teaching situation). If you must use slides, read Bruce Donald's tips above.
A pure math talk can (should) be given on the blackboard. However, you can cover much less material, and you don't have much time. One approach is to give a PowerPoint talk and then develop some of the math on the board. Note that giving a good blackboard talk is HARDER than giving a good PowerPoint talk, and requires even MORE practicing.

Do's and Dont's in PowerPoint presentations

PowerPoint is a great tool. However, bad (flashy, contentless) PowerPoint presentations are prevalent. Don't fall victim to the many ways PowerPoint lures you into making a bad presentation (from distracting backgrounds to noisy animations), but think of it simply as a tool to make clean, easy-to-read transparencies with large, colorful fonts, and as many as you want at no cost. Here are the most important points:

Use a simple background and high-contrast writing (e.g., black on white, or white on dark blue).
Use the default font sizes (large!), and don't put more than a few lines of text on one slide.
Avoid text animation, unless it serves a purpose.
Use illustrations whenever you can, but don't use meaningless illustrations (e.g., clip art).
Don't use full sentences, and don't read your slides in your talk:
- either say more than what's on the slide (use the keywords on the slide to remind you what you want to say);
- or have lots of text on a slide but don't read it, and don't expect the audience to read it either (e.g., a list of related work)
Have an outline and a conclusion slide.
To get math equations into PowerPoint, you can either use the equation editor, or, if you know LaTex, TexPoint (which we hear is good but haven't tried).
PRACTICE your talk!
Check out the Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation