Key guidelines for project presentations
As evaluation committee members, we often notice some fairly simple aspects of presentations which, if improved upon, could make them far more effective and significantly boost your grades as well! So here are a few tips to make better presentations.
- For a 15-minute presentation (including Q&A), aim for a maximum of 10 slides. If you go over this you will almost certainly run out of time.
- Do a practice run to time your presentation. Sticking to the time limit is often the hardest part, but is also essential. If you run out of time you may not be able to present some of your key results.
- Never put too much text on slides. The thumb rule should be minimal text, maximal visualisations and illustrations.
- Use examples to illustrate concepts wherever possible. Minimise the use of mathematical formulae and equations, as it is hard to explain these in a 10-minute presentation. Focus on getting the key ideas across.
- Make sure all text and figures on your slides are clearly visible and legible! It seems obvious to say, but all too often we find that font sizes are too small, especially in figures/tables.
- Make sure all axes in graphs are labelled. Another common omission! All your graphs and figures need to be self-complete as far as possible, i.e., someone looking at them should be able to basically see what they are conveying without needing to be given extra information.
- Most important, and encompassing all the points above: Remember that your audience has no familiarity with your work. They are seeing it for the first time. They also have a zillion other presentations to sit through. Think about it from their perspective. Make sure you don't leave out any relevant bits of information that you might take for granted, but that will not be obvious to someone not involved with your project. At the same time, don't include too much information or detail that is not necessary. Respect their time. Tell a story that they can understand and appreciate.
Good luck!