As a first year uni student (starting the second year this September), simply describing what's happening in a figure has been so simple and I love doing it. All the professors I've presented to (we practice it a lot) have told me that my presentation style is very clear and I explain results very well.
"On the X axis we see this, on the Y axis we see that, here's how the data is spread across everything*, and here's what that means." It's a very basic structure that can be used for pretty much any figure.
*: by spread, I'm talking about if we're seeing any defined "shapes" in the data, or any denser spots in the figure. Pretty much anything about where the data points are that could be relevant.
I am obsessed with giving better presentations having sat through thousands of awful student presentations - it is one of my huge pet peeves that kids are given so many projects but seldom taught how to present. There are many, many books on this topic but this is GREAT advice. Personally, I am not a huge fan of speakers simply reading the text on the slide (otherwise, wouldn't all I need is the slide show?) but the Pinker demo is instructive. If they are really thoughtfully put together - as opposed to the way most slides are put together - then text can work. People forget how much the tech industry looked forward to those Steve Jobs Apple presentations which were a Masterclass in how to present well in synch with your slides.
Text on slides has a sordid history. Most of it got there because the speaker had not yet internalized their remarks, so the text on the slides is there as a mnemonic for them, not as an aid to understanding for the audience. Slides can be useful to display key points, images, or data, but very few presentations are improved by making better slides, as opposed to focusing on the speaker's remarks. Especially in corporate or government office settings, too many speakers just run through slide decks mechanically, without ever giving any thought to what this particular audience wants to hear in the current context.
Perhaps an exception to this is where the presentation package (the “deck”) is intended as formal documentation of something, standing in for what might have been a technical report or memo in the past. IN this case, one might have very information and word dense slides, that if one is presenting, one might say “and here we have the 35 requirements we are verifying, along with their status and closure dates”
This was a great post, Claus. I really appreciated the ideas here. Thank you!
This is going in the list of resources I share with my students about how to give a great talk. Also want to experiment with some more text in my own talks (I often am also, like you, quite image heavy in my style).
As a first year uni student (starting the second year this September), simply describing what's happening in a figure has been so simple and I love doing it. All the professors I've presented to (we practice it a lot) have told me that my presentation style is very clear and I explain results very well.
"On the X axis we see this, on the Y axis we see that, here's how the data is spread across everything*, and here's what that means." It's a very basic structure that can be used for pretty much any figure.
*: by spread, I'm talking about if we're seeing any defined "shapes" in the data, or any denser spots in the figure. Pretty much anything about where the data points are that could be relevant.
I am obsessed with giving better presentations having sat through thousands of awful student presentations - it is one of my huge pet peeves that kids are given so many projects but seldom taught how to present. There are many, many books on this topic but this is GREAT advice. Personally, I am not a huge fan of speakers simply reading the text on the slide (otherwise, wouldn't all I need is the slide show?) but the Pinker demo is instructive. If they are really thoughtfully put together - as opposed to the way most slides are put together - then text can work. People forget how much the tech industry looked forward to those Steve Jobs Apple presentations which were a Masterclass in how to present well in synch with your slides.
Nothing worse than a slide full of text you're trying to read while listening to the presenter talking about something entirely different!
Look up Assertion-Evidence style slides by Michael Alley, Penn State. I’ve taught his concept for some years now and require students to use it.
I know it very well. See e.g. my comment here: https://substack.com/profile/64064132-claus-wilke/note/c-137321422?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=125478
Text on slides has a sordid history. Most of it got there because the speaker had not yet internalized their remarks, so the text on the slides is there as a mnemonic for them, not as an aid to understanding for the audience. Slides can be useful to display key points, images, or data, but very few presentations are improved by making better slides, as opposed to focusing on the speaker's remarks. Especially in corporate or government office settings, too many speakers just run through slide decks mechanically, without ever giving any thought to what this particular audience wants to hear in the current context.
Perhaps an exception to this is where the presentation package (the “deck”) is intended as formal documentation of something, standing in for what might have been a technical report or memo in the past. IN this case, one might have very information and word dense slides, that if one is presenting, one might say “and here we have the 35 requirements we are verifying, along with their status and closure dates”
This was a great post, Claus. I really appreciated the ideas here. Thank you!
This is going in the list of resources I share with my students about how to give a great talk. Also want to experiment with some more text in my own talks (I often am also, like you, quite image heavy in my style).
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I have a whole series of posts planned about public speaking. I'll roll them out over the next few months.