Using notes, transparencies, charts, and displays

Oral reports are not the best nor the easiest way to present technical information, because the information is difficult to assimilate, often full of statistics, numbers, equations, and so forth, which are hard to follow when given verbally. Therefore, using transparencies, charts, tables, graphs, diagrams, and illustrations can help a great deal. Don't hesitate to use them.

Overhead projector transparencies are commonest in computer science and computer engineering for giving presentations to audiences with fewer than 100 people. There will be an overhead projector available in the classroom for your use.

Here are some tips on using visual aids and notes:

• When using transparencies, don't leave a blank screen, don't flip back and forth between transparencies, and don't cover up substantial parts of your transparency with opaque objects.
• You can point to important things either on the screen (by standing to one side and pointing with your arm or a long stick), or on the transparency (by standing beside the projector and using a thin opaque object, such as a pencil). In either case, be careful that you do not block the image on the screen.
• You may hand-write your transparencies, or photocopy a black-and-white original onto plastic. In either case, you should not have more than 10 lines of text on a transparency. You should use 24-point fonts (1/3'' high or larger if you are writing by hand) for standard text, and 18-point fonts for ``fine-print''. Anything smaller will not be readable in the back of the room. A handy guide is that the unenlarged transparency should be readable from ten feet away. If you are using 35mm slides, the equivalent rule of thumb is that the slide should be readable at arm's length. Use the most readable fonts you can find, not fancy, decorative fonts.
• Many speakers like to write on their transparencies as they talk, highlighting the points dynamically. If you plan to write on a transparency produced by photocopying, wipe it off with a damp rag first. This wipes off any oily residue from the photocopying process, and eliminates the static that can cause transparencies to be difficult to separate.
• The usual rule of thumb for transparencies is that you should talk about each one for one to two minutes. That means that you should have from five to ten transparencies for a 10-minute talk, not counting the title-page transparency (if you have one).
• You may use notes to talk from, but don't stand up, bury your face in your notes, and read them verbatim. Write your notes in outline form, with just the major points you want to cover listed. If you're afraid of forgetting major topics, have something on your transparencies for each one, and use them as your mnemonic device. Using your transparencies as the notes for your talk reduces your reliance on hand-held notes and increases the eye contact you have with your audience. It looks much more professional to know your material well enough not to need a sheaf of notes.
• It often helps to have a transparency near the beginning that amounts to an outline of your presentation. This will not only help you stay on track, but it will help your audience follow what you are doing and see where you are going.
• This assignment is a speech, not an exercise in reading aloud. You should be somewhat spontaneous in your delivery--the audience will be much more with you if you are. If you're shy about looking out into the audience, pick one person to look at. It's important not to speak to the blackboard, or the door, or the ceiling. If you look out into the audience, people will feel as if you are really speaking to them, and they will be much more receptive to what you have to say.
• You aren't expected to present a lot of data. If someone wants all the data, he or she can read your written report. You are to give an idea, an overview, of what your project is about in your oral presentation. Be prepared to answer questions regarding specific data either with a pre-prepared transparency, or with an offer of a specific time and place when you will provide the data.
• If your report involves interpreting some complex set of data that your audience needs to see, have it ready on a handout that you may distribute, rather than writing it on the board, or expecting your audience to read it from a displayed table. Graphs are much easier to comprehend at a glance than tables, so you can usually present them on transparencies without hardcopy.