The secret to effective presentation slides - The art of presenting your research

[Voice-over]
Thursday afternoon. Time for Fred to present his final project. 
Fred planned to get to class early and well-prepared. But that’s not how things are working out.
Because last night, instead of preparing for his presentation, Fred spent his time watching nonsense on YouTube.
And now he’s realized he doesn’t have the right adaptor.
His friend Jules happens to be passing by, so Fred asks to borrow his computer.
But Fred has never used this computer and, when he opens his presentation, he realizes that the font he used isn’t installed and that the computer hasn’t taken the initiative to replace this (Myriad Pro 14 pt.) with that (Comic sans 10pt.).

[Dialogues]
Fred : I will now discuss my first point on…

[Voice-over]
Fred thought he wouldn’t be interrupted during his presentation. But he was. Nice job, Fred! Your audience must have enjoyed it.

Today, whether at the University or in a professional setting, you are expected to know how to summarize in a few minutes the key points of a project that you have worked on for months.  

So what, specifically, do you need to do in order to give an effective oral presentation? To make sure you convey the most important information in the time given? To create and use an effective visual aid that you can look to if you lose your train of thought during the presentation?

Here is a three-step method to help you do just that:
First: Define the purpose of your presentation; what is the main point?
Use your written work, your notes, your teacher’s instructions and course requirements as a base, and start by clearly defining the purpose of your presentation: What is the general idea? The theme? The main point? This purpose will then determine which information you include and how you present it. Keep in mind that the message should be tailored to the audience that you will be addressing.

Second: Identify the information that is the most important to get across.
Start by making a list of the ideas that you want to put forward. Based on the purpose of your presentation and the time allotted, choose the ideas that seem essential to your argument. Always start from the assumption that you won’t be able to say everything. Be selective!

Third: Make an outline of your presentation. 
Once you have identified the main ideas, sketch out an outline of your presentation. Structure your ideas and link them together in a way that is logical given your primary message and the point of view you have chosen to adopt.
A presentation typically unfolds in the following way: 
Introduction – body – conclusion – bibliographical references and, if necessary, a thank you.

Here are some points to keep in mind. Don’t forget that your visual aid is not intended to give your presentation for you. Therefore:
•	Do not overload your slides: stick to a maximum of one or two ideas per slide.
•	Don’t distract your audience by using tacky or unnecessary effects or animations. 
•	Use a muted background color; this will make the text easier to read.
•	Don’t write an essay! If you do, your audience will be reading instead of listening!
•	Use a sans serif font and make the letters big; the font size should be at least 20 point.
•	Use high-contrast colors.
•	Illustrate your presentation with pictures, images and graphics.
•	Make sure your graphics are legible.
•	Do not forget to credit your sources, even for images.

To help you along, we’ve included a list of tips on how to improve your oral presentations in the Key Points section of this module.

[Dialogues]
Jules : So… How did it go?
Fred : Well let’s just say… If I end up on YouTube, I think I'll be a big hit.