Guide for VIVA Presentation

1. Guide for VIVA Presentation

2. Why I think this lecture part is important? “In most of viva sessions that I have attended for the past 3 years, I found that …. the viva examiners were not interested to listen the candidates’ presentation (including me). There must be a reason!”

3. STOP BORING PRESENTATIONs!!

4. Possible reasons of bad presentation • Bad story telling. • Poor slides visual. • Too many insignificant details. • Poor body language. • Not well prepared, and it is very obvious. • Just read from slides. • No eye-contact.

5. Understand the purpose of viva examination Basically, is to • Approve it is your own work • Make sure you understand what you did • Look for contribution to knowledge – worthy of Master/PhD

6. Let’s think positively that… The Viva . . . An Opportunity • To discuss your work with experts • To improve your arguments and thesis • Have free consultations

7. General procedure of Viva Examination in UTM

8. Effective presentation skills • Good introduction to engage the audience • Not more than 2 mins per slides • Systematic flow. • Clear message.

9. General tips • Choose a number of message to excite people. • Start with catchy phrase/picture/story to engage with audience. • Know your audience (expert/non-expert) • Plan/write what you want to say on a paper not on slides. • Practice a lots!

10. Good slides • Minimum words-only keywords to help remember the points. • Good visually. • Just show the most important graph/table/ schematic diagram. • Animations when necessary. • Appropriate number of slides.

11. General flow

12. Structure of your presentation

13. Presentation in general Never enough time to talk about everything (in 30 minutes time) All of them reflect on you & need practice/polish Focus on a clear goal and message.

14. Tips to Prepare Presentation Slides Be neat, as 1st appearances is very important, boost up your confidence level too Avoid trying to cram too much into one slide Be brief Use a large font Use color to emphasize Use illustrations to get across key concepts (may use limited animation)

15. Slide layout - Bad • This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. It looks much more complicated when the sentences are grouped in into a paragraph instead of in point forms. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you. Hence, this should be AVOIDED in your presentation slides.

16. Slide layout – Good • Show one point at a time: • Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying • Will prevent audience from reading ahead • Will help you keep your presentation focused

17. Fonts - Good • Use a decent font size • Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points • this font is 24-point, the main point font is 32-point, and the title font is 44-point • Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial

18. Fonts - Bad • If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written • CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ!! • Don’t use a complicated font

19. Color - Good • Use font color that contrasts sharply with the background • Dark Blue font on white background • Use color to reinforce the logic of your structure • Ex: light blue title and dark blue text • Use color to emphasize a point • But only use this occasionally

20. Color - Bad • Using a font color that does not contrast with the background color is hard to read • Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying. • Using a different color for each point is unnecessary • Same for secondary points • Trying tobe creativecan alsobe bad

21. Background - Good • Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple • Use backgrounds which are light • Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation

22. Background – Bad • Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from • Always be consistent with the background that you use

23. Graphs - Good • Use graphs rather than just charts and words • Data in graphs is easier to comprehend & retain than is raw data • Trends are easier to visualize in graph form • Always title your graphs

24. Graphs - Good

25. Statistic chart - Good

26. Figure-Good (CO2 sequestration)

27. Graphs - Bad Minor gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colors are illogical Title is missing Shading is distracting

28. Figure - Poor Poor image resolution

29. Figure - Poor Too complicated to be understood

30. Preparation for Q&A • Anticipate questions and prepare sample answers. • Common Q for viva • In one sentence, what is your thesis? • Why did you choose this topic? • What is novelty of your work? • Why didn't do the other ways? • What have you achieved/want to achieve?

31. Viva strategies & skills • Defining • Define & illustrate • Define & defend • Being specific • Being explicit • Elaborating • Highlights • Deflecting criticism Murray (2003) pp.90-97

32. Handling Questions • Take some times to understand the question. • Think before answer the question. • Answer with reliable facts. • Be calm. • Do not too deffensive or give in, depend on situation.

33. Prepare Closing • Summarize • highlight important points • Contribution/achievement • Recommendation • suggest how your work can be improved

34. Preparation for VIVA presentation • Read through your thesis once again (theories, formulas, calculations, vocabulary) • If you spot errors in your thesis, prepare an error list and the replacement pages • Write down the questions the examiners are likely to ask in each chapter • Seek comments from friends and supervisors (mock viva) • Practice!!!

35. While doing your presentation… • Remember that you know more about your work that the examiners • Memorise your first few sentences so you don’t stammer at the start • Make eye contact • Speak clearly and loudly, try not to sound bored! • Be ready to skip slides if time is short • Understand the question fully before answering • Don’t defend very strongly for something not sure

36. After all…….

37. ASSIGNMENT (30marks) • Prepare Presentation Slide • Submission deadline: 7th December 2015 • Presentation will be done on 7th and 14th Dec 2015 • 15 minutes presentation

38. Assesment Criteria