Monica Bulger's presentation skills workshop for SDP 2010.

1. Presentation Literacy:
Skills for Effective Communication
Monica Bulger, Oxford Internet Institute
Summer Doctoral Programme July 2010

2. Presentations are not about perfection,
theyʼre about communication

3. “ This is not the time to be
perfect. Be brave.”
-- Vicki Nash

4. Be interesting, compelling, provocative

5. Overview
Purpose
Audience
Data story
Slide design
Delivery
Q&A

6. why are we here?

7. what do you hope to gain from
listening to the presentations
over the next two weeks?

8. what do you hope to gain from presenting?

9. advocate
clarify
test
confirm
challenge
question
experiment
practice
Purpose

10. persuade
inform
advocate
clarify
test
confirm
Purpose challenge
question
experiment
practice

11. BIG
idea

12. if you only had one sentence to say the main idea of your research, what is it?

13. understand your topic yet?

14. next, find your message

16. What surprised you in your discussions?

17. Get to know your audience

18. why are they here?
what are they passionate about?
what do they hope to gain?
adapted from Duarte’s slide:ology

19. how can you address their needs?

20. clearly explain your
purpose/rationale
define your scope
provide context
use vivid examples
and, most importantly...

21. the toughest challenge of
interdisciplinary dialogue...

22. address the so what?
of your research

23. how?

24. Consider your role in information
delivery: what unique expertise and
experience do you contribute?
adapted from Duarte’s slide:ology

25. what is your purpose for
communicating information?
adapted from Duarte’s slide:ology

26. Identify desired outcomes
adapted from Duarte’s slide:ology

27. before they leave the room...
what do you want your audience to
know?

28. presentation vs. story

29. talking at vs. talking to

30. stories = understanding

31. move audience from point A
to point B

32. not a dump of what you know,
but why itʼs important

33. so what?

34. find the story in your data

35. think visually

36. Sample student data visualizations
--images from “Pathway to Self-Funding,” “Cumulative Impacts of Large-Scale Renewable Energy Development in the West Mojave,” “Management
Recommendations for Piute Ponds, EAB,” and “Post-Fire Sedimentation and Flood Risk Potential in the Mission Creek Watershed of Santa Barbara,” available
at http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/gp2009.htm

37. Think differently: not
what the data has to say, but
what you have to say about
the data

38. Acknowledgment: from
this point on, the beautiful,
well-designed slides were
either created or co-designed
by Aaron Sobel, my
colleague at the Bren School
of Environmental Science and
Management

39. Think visually
--image from visualcomplexity.com

40. What is your data story?
--image from Design & the Elastic Mind exhibition, “The Million Dollar Blocks Project” available at http://www.moma.org

41. “Data slides arenʼt really about data.
They are about the meaning of data.”
--Duarte (2008)

42. Barack Obama Personal Visits by State
Jan 2007 - Feb 2008
--Image created by graduate students in UCSBʼs Geography Department using data from IGERT “Issue Browser” project (2009)

43. 3-D allows for visualizing complex data
-- Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/where_we_live/

44. Visualizing the distance to the nearest McDonaldʼs
--Image from infosthetics, available at http://www.infosthetics.com

45. turn your attention --->

46. What does the pie chart tell us?
What information is important?
--Adlerman, D., Maciejowski, N., Randall, J., Shirley, R. (2009). Management Recommendations for Piute Ponds Edwards Air Force Base, California (Project
Poster). Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara. Available at http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/
gp2009.htm

48. Draw the viewerʼs
attention

49. Focus on key points
-- image from Duarteʼs (2008) slide:ology, p. 69

51. Find the best fit for
representing your
data visually

52. Pie charts vs. bar graphs
proportion
comparison
-- image from Dutton, W.J. & Helsper, E.J. (2007). Oxford Internet Survey 2007 Report: The Internet in Britain. Oxford Internet Institute, UK.

53. tips for slide design

54. Purpose of the Methodology
• Tracking key environmental issues across their
product supply chains.
• Provide Patagonia decision-makers with a
condensed metric that indicates impact of product
water use through a rigorous, repeatable, and
transparent process.
• Product water footprints are influenced by the
production methods, production locations and
water productivities of the supply chain.

55. Tracking key environmental
issues across their product
supply chains.
PROJECT
PURPOSE OF THE METHODOLOGY
DATE CLIENT
MAY 19, 2009 PATAGONIA

56. Tracking key environmental
issues across their product
supply chains.
Product water footprints are influenced by the
production methods, production locations and
water productivities of the supply chain.
PROJECT
PURPOSE OF THE METHODOLOGY
DATE CLIENT
MAY 19, 2009 PATAGONIA

57. Tracking key environmental
issues across their product Provide Patagonia decision-makers with a
supply chains. condensed metric that indicates impact of
product water use through a rigorous,
repeatable, and transparent process.
Product water footprints are influenced by the
production methods, production locations and
water productivities of the supply chain.
PROJECT
PURPOSE OF THE METHODOLOGY
DATE CLIENT
MAY 19, 2009 PATAGONIA

59. Know your presentation constraints and equipment

60. Know your presentation constraints and equipment
Avoid cheesy clipart

62. CONTRAST

64. YELLOW
BLUE

65. COLOR WHEEL
Complementary Colors
Analogous Colors

66. Create white space

67. Draw the viewer’s
-- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

68. Draw the viewer’s attention
-- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

69. -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

70. -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

71. -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

72. why is this
better?
-- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

73. Split complex ideas across slides

74. Images are absorbed easier than text
-- Architecture 2030: http://www.architecture2030.org

75. Forms of Energy
Types:
• Energy of motion (translation, rotation, vibration, oscillation)
• Energy of position (in force fields)
1 Mechanical Energy:
a) Gravitational potential energy
b) Kinetic energy
2 Internal Energy (Heat)
3 Electromagnetic Energy:
a) Electricity
b) Electromagnetic radiation
4 Chemical potential energy (molecular bonds)
5 Nuclear potential energy (nuclear bonds)
Energy, Technology & the Environment – Winter 2010 – Session 1

76. -- Architecture 2030: http://www.architecture2030.org

77. -- Yes! A Journal of Positive Future, Summer 2006, p. 39

78. The Forms of Energy
mechanical energy
internal energy
electromagnetic energy
chemical potential energy
nuclear potential energy

80. Use Your Photos

81. Use Your Photos
Consider a Theme
(think simple™)

83. OPACITY

84. OPACITY

86. Sketch Your Presentation

87. Sketch Your Presentation
Spell Check

88. Sketch Your Presentation
Spell Check
Print a copy with notes

89. TED Commandments
Rehearse, but act spontaneous
Provide revelations
Show vulnerability
Donʼt be tedious
Change the world
Donʼt use bullet points

90. have a plan for what to do if youʼre nervous
or forget

91. sustaining attention: the importance of
spare words & blank screens

92. STAR moment

93. what is the purpose of a Q&A?

94. words to remember:
-- thank you
-- I donʼt know

96. additional tips: ask a colleague to take notes
of questions asked during Q & A