Short guidelines to presentations

Applied Acoustics : Education : Course Pages : Short guidelines to presentations

The following guidelines shall help you to improve your presentation technique and to avoid common mistakes in presentations.

General rules

  • Presentation language is English.
  • Don't forget to run a spell check. Spelling errors in your slides don't give a good impression.
  • You must respect the specified time limit for your presentation. Preferentially, practice your presentation in order to find out how much time you actually need. As a rough rule of thumb schedule one minute per slide. Additionally, allow time for questions at the end.
  • Try to speak freely and don't just read what you have on your slides. Look towards the audience when speaking.
  • Make sure that the file format of your presentation is compatible with the computer you are presenting on (different version of Power Point etc.). It's always good to keep ready a pdf-version of your presentation. This version will run on any computer and avoid bad surprises.
  • Try to be 15 minutes in advance before the presentation in order to test your presentation with the provided projector, if possible.

Structure of the presentation

  • The structure of the presentation should be as clear as possible.
  • The following parts are mandatory:
  • Title page: The title page must at least contain the title of your presentation, your name and the date. Complete with other information as course, institution, etc. Don't forget to shortly present yourself to the audience at the beginning of your presentation.
  • Outline of contents: Before starting the actual presentation give a short outline about what you are going to present and the different parts of your presentation.
  • Introduction: Give a short introduction into your topic and the aim of your work.
  • Main part(s): Split up your presentation into several main parts where applicable. Try to concentrate on the main ideas and do not try to present everything. Less might be more!
  • Summary/Conclusions: At the end, sum up your main ideas and draw your conclusions.

Appearance of your slides

  • Make sure that there is a good contrast between text and background. Usually projectors provide a much worse contrast than you can see on your computer screen.
  • Don't print long complicated sentences on your slides, but use short statements and keywords.
  • Don't use font sizes smaller than 18 pt.
  • Use preferentially sans-serif font types (like Arial). Those are easier to read.
  • Use clear and easy to understand figures with well-labeled axis and thick lines (2pt). Think about that your listeners only have a few seconds to understand your figure. Take your time during the presentation to explain every figure you show.
  • Use special effects in Power Point with care.

Download this document