DT&L Conference Give a Rock Star Presentation Slides with Notes - - PDF document

DT&L Conference – Give a Rock Star Presentation

Slides with Notes Version Slide 1

Give a Rock-Star Presentation

(leather pants sold separately)

DT&L Conference

Hi! This is Tom Tobin from the University

• f Wisconsin-Madison, with four quick but

powerful tips for how to give a “rock star” conference presentation. Make sure you have a sheet of paper and a pen handy, because this is an interactive presentation. Slide 2 We’ve all been to that presentation, where the facilitator reads a series of bullet points to us right off the screen. Ugh. There is a better way. Slide 3

Time Technology Thoroughness Body Language Visuals Overview Research Eye Contact Detail Level Expertise Interaction References

Quiz! 4 Biggest Success Factors?

But first, a quick quiz. There are many factors that influence how audiences perceive conference presentations. Some are listed on the screen. Four of these, though, have a much, much greater impact than the others. Care to guess? Go ahead, pause the video here, write down your picks, and then un-pause. Slide 4

Time Technology Thoroughness Body Language Visuals Overview Research Eye Contact Detail Level Expertise Interaction References

Quiz! 4 Biggest Success Factors?

Did you pause and write down your ideas? Well, if you said “Time,” “Visuals,” “Detail Level,” and “Interaction.” you are correct. The other factors do help, but not as much as these top four. Slide 5 1. TIME The first thing that sets rock stars apart is their time management. Most presenters just plow right in with data and narratives. But rock stars? They do four things differently.

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Slide 6 Engage First, engage your audience, and do it right away. Ask them a question, get them to do a poll, ask for comments, get two brave volunteers to help you with a task— anything to get people with you, instead of just being in the same room. Slide 7 Tell stories Second, tell stories. Sure, having impressive research data sets to support your new theory is methodologically

• sound. But pick one story that exemplifies

your topic, trend, or idea, and your audience will listen better and remember it longer. Slide 8 Get to the point Have you ever gone to a presentation where the first ten minutes were all about the presenter’s institution? “We are a small private college in a wooded area, and we have 2,356 students and 1,805 faculty members. We were founded in 1877 when two prospectors got lost and though they had reached California.” Yeah, none of that. Get right into what you want people to think about and remember. Unless it has to do directly with your topic,

• mit it.

Slide 9 Plan for 2/3 This fourth one is the real rock-star time

• secret. Plan only enough presentation for

2/3 of your allotted time. For a 45-minute session, plan 30 minutes of material. Two good things will happen. When you go longer than you had planned (and you will), you’re still good. And you’ll actually have time for questions and conversation at the end. Bonus!

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Slide 10

Write it! Best time strategy for you?

Okay, grab that piece of paper and think about your specific topic. Write down one thing that you will do to engage, tell stories, get to the point, or leave 1/3 of the time “empty.” Pause the video here, and un-pause when you have some ideas written down. Slide 11 2. VISUALS The second thing that rock stars do is use

• visuals. Big, huge, un-mistakable images.

Every concert venue has a giant screen. Every conference presentation room has

• ne, too. Coincidence? Nope.

Slide 12 Few words PowerPoint and other slide-deck software are designed to make you want to put lots

• f words on the screen. Resist this
• temptation. Words should be cues for

what to say, not a script you’re reading from. Slide 13 Dark backgrounds Light text Sans-serif fonts Big text (this is 54 pt) Make your text big, use sans-serif fonts, and make the contrast clear between a darker background and lighter text. This gets in the way of readability at a small scale (like on your laptop screen or on a handout), but it enhances readability at a distance and on a big screen. Slide 14 Fill the frame Got pictures? Don’t relegate them to just a part of your slides.

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Slide 15 Fill the frame Whatever you’ve got, whether images or text, use all of the space you have

• available. If granny in the back row can

read your slide and see the image without her glasses, you’re a rock star. Slide 16 The unexpected Visuals do not need to be representations

• f exactly what you are saying. Find

images that are close to, but not quite the same, or find unexpected images to set a tone or get people thinking. We remember what is unexpected. Also, chocolate. Slide 17

Write it! Your visual strategy?

Now, add some ideas to your plan on that piece of paper. Write down how you will reduce text, increase readability, fill the frame, and find unexpected visuals. Pause the video here, and un-pause when you have some more ideas written down. Slide 18 3. DETAIL Congratulations! You are half way to being a conference rock star. The third thing that rock stars do differently is in the level of detail that they share—and where they do it. Slide 19 Take-aways Your research is complex. Your presentation should not be. Give your audience an overview of your idea, process, or conclusion—and give them a simple set of take-aways to remember. Four or fewer is ideal. They’re not your

• conclusions. They are reminders that point

to your conclusions. This presentation itself only has four: time, visuals, details, and interactions.

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Slide 20 Handouts Your research is complex. So all that detail that you might want to share in your presentation should get shared—in your

• handouts. Put in the charts, graphs,

tables, dense white-paper theory stuff. The real point of a rock-star presentation is to get people interested in learning more about your ideas. That “more” should be in your handouts. Oh, and give them to your audience after your

• presentation. Otherwise, they’ll just start

reading during your session. Slide 21 Data sets Sometimes your point is your information. When you share data, show patterns that can be discerned without looking at the

• labels. Don’t provide more than two or

three trends in the same data set, like you see here. Slide 22 Present one idea or comparison at a time and be sure to explain verbally what people see on the screen, such as this clear graphic showing the difference that sea-level rise makes when storms strike the coast. Your data visualizations are the place to take your time, speak about the details, and really tell your audience what they should take away. Slide 23

Write it! How will you share?

You are almost finished with your presentation plan. Head back to your piece of paper and write your four (or fewer) take-aways, what kind of information you’ll put into your handouts, and what ideas require data visualization. Pause the video here, and un-pause when you are ready for the last rock-star technique.

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Slide 24 4. INTERACTION No concert is complete without the singer talking with the audience, whether it’s call- and-response, or just “hey, Cleveland, how’re you doing tonight?” Interaction between you and your audience is so important, it was the very first technique under “Time:” engage with the audience right away. There are three more rock-star moves for interacting with your participants. Slide 25 10 & 2 The first one is “10 and 2.” In driver’s ed, they used to tell us to keep our hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel. Even though they teach “9 and 3” to 16-year-

• lds today (because of airbags, if you’re

wondering), the concept of 10 and 2 is a great one for presentations. If you give information for 10 minutes, make sure to have 2 minutes of some kind of action for participants to take. Don’t cheat on this ratio, either: for every 10 minutes of you talking, allow for 2 minute of audience interaction: writing ideas, talking with a neighbor, playing a game, doing a scavenger hunt on their phones: just not you talking. The act of taking a break is what makes information stick from the presentation. Slide 26 QQQ To get better interactions, remember QQQ: Qualitative versus Quantitative

• Questions. Instead of asking, say, “how

many of you have encountered student dishonesty in online courses,” re-frame it

• qualitatively. “How often do you encounter
• nline cheating?” “What happened the last

time you identified dishonesty online?” Just shifting away from closed-ended to

• pen-ended questions increases

interaction!

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Slide 27 Quizzes

Which is cuter?

Use short quizzes to keep people’s

• attention. Here’s a one-question quiz:

which of these clouded-leopard kittens is cuter? Of course, make the questions fit your take-aways. This one reminds you to use the unexpected in your presentations. See what we did, there? Oh, and it’s the

• ne on the right.

Slide 28

Write it! Your interactions?

Okay, this is the last part of your plan. Jot down your ideas for chunking up your material with breaks for interaction, shifting to qualitative questions, and using quizzes to keep your audience engaged. Pause the video now, and when you un- pause, you’ll be well prepared—rock star! Slide 29 REVIEW Oh, yeah . . . One last thing. Literally, one last thing. We remember the ends of our experiences more clearly than any other

• parts. So be sure to include a succinct

recap of your ideas at the end of your presentation. Slide 30 TIME VISUALS DETAIL INTERACTION That’s it! When you incorporate these time-management, visual-design, detail- selection, and interaction strategies into your session, you will be a conference rock star! Slide 31

disted@dcs.wisc.edu

Rock on!

The whole DT&L team is here to help you to be a rock star. Share your ideas, questions, and suggestions at the e-mail address on your screen. Thanks for watching, and happy designing!