How to Give a Good Presentation?

Yi Ma

Visual Computing, MSRA

(with inputs from Lidong, Moshe, and Shipeng)

• Why do we want to give presentations?

• What is a presentation all about?

• How to improve presentation?

Reasons:Obligation for publication

Obligation for job report

Obligation for work review

Obligation for communication

Why do we want to give presentations?

Every presentation creates an opportunity for self-advancement!

Real reasons:Opportunity to advertise your work

Opportunity to demonstrate yourself

Opportunity to improve self-understanding

Opportunity to influence others

Motivation: What the problem is.

Justification: What the approach is.

Reward: What the solution is.

What a presentation is about?

Public want to know what; intellectuals need to know why.（外行看热闹，内行看门道！）

The truth is:Why is the problem worth researching?

Why is your approach the best possible?

Why is the solution generalizable or limited?

Symptoms:

The same talk for all audiences

Assume audience know

Diminish work by others

Describe all details flatly

How to improve your presentation content:

Your talk is as good as the most valuable message got crossed.

Prescriptions:

A different talk for each audience

Put yourself in the shoes of the audience

Stand on the shoulder of giants

Select one or two essential messages

( 凸凹有致，重点突出！ )

Symptoms:

Two many words on each slide

Slides are summary of the paper

Read slides as notes

Speak from memorized notes

How to improve your presentation form:

Practice with scripts, perform without!（练时有招，用时无招 !)

Prescriptions:

One punch line per slide

Enhance with additional visual aids

Slides entirely for the audience

Tell your story from the slides

Symptoms:

Not well prepared

Blaming English

Lack interest in the content

Nervous gestures or voices

Bad answers and arguments

How to improve presentation skills?

Prescriptions:

Never too much time and practice

Design in your native language

Better preparation (or better research)

Pay attention to yourself

You have the podium!

• Know how good or bad your presentations are. (take and watch videos of your own presentation!)

• Ask your colleagues to criticize. (train and improve through practice talks.)

• Learn from both bad and good presentations. (go to every talk you can attend!)

• Learning from doing. (get every chance to design(自编 ), direct(自导 ), and perform(自演 )!)

Dexterity comes from practice. （ 勤能补拙，熟能生巧！）

How to start to improve?

Exert your influence through great presentations!