Lecture Overview

Effective Technical Speaking for Computer Engineers(Adapted from material from Roger Kieckhafer & Sharad Seth)

Lecture 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Preliminary 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! CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Audience 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? CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Objectives • 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? CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Identify 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Slide 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

General 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Fonts • 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Use 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

A 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 metricof 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

A Better Slide • Each concept cis 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 X1 negative X2 negative X3 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Use 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Match 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! CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Pay 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

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! CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Connecting 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Handling 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Group 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Summary • 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 CSCE 488: Technical Speaking

Lecture Overview