In this lesson, we deal with “tools”, that is, anything that may support a presentation. Nowadays, slides are probably the most used form of support, but there are others, like index cards, flipcharts, blackboards (that in turn need chalks or markers), notes on papers, laser pointers, etc. Using supports is fine, but there are three things that need to be done. Number 1: carefully plan what you mean to use. And in deciding what to use, do not make the mistake of considering the most advanced “technology”, let’s say, as the “best”. I will make a personal example. Some years ago, I was meant to show a website during a presentation. I did check in advance that internet connection would be available and was reassured that yes, connection would be available. But when the day of the presentation came, I discovered I would be presenting in a quite nice hall... in the basement of a medieval castle (I was in Italy, of course) where the walls were something like 6 meters thick. Connection was available, but extremely poor. So, showing the website turned out to be impossible. And from that time on, when I need to show something online, I usually take a video or a sequence of screenshots and use them instead of going online. The message is: generally speaking, never despise “old” technologies, they can really come in handy, do a wonderful job and be much more faithful with respect to “new” ones. If I drop this book and pick it up, can I still read it? Of course yes. Now I drop my PC. Can I still use it? Number 2: check that what you mean to use actually works, in the actual situation, if possible. I remember a student presenting a project. He had prepared a quite elaborate presentation, with nice black fonts on a grayish background: a low-contrast combination. Unfortunately, the room in which he presented was dimly lit, and so the fonts were hardly readable. A little mistake like this can have a big impact on the presentation. So the message is: check everything beforehand. That there actually is a flipchart or a blackboard if you need them, that markers work, that there are all the colors you need, that the video-projector is compatible with the videos you want to show, and so on and so forth. Things that look minor can cause huge problems during the delivery of a speech. And… be sure to arrive at least half an hour before, to set up. Number 3 (and final): bring back-ups. Again an example from my own experience. As coordinator of a European project, I was getting set for the final review in Brussels. Together with my partners, we were supposed to give presentations for more than 4 hours. So we prepared: two PCs with all the presentations and additional materials (like videos) on them; 2 USB sticks with a copy of everything; 6 printed copies of everything, to be used as hand-out for the reviewers and the program officer and as extreme backup in case of total technical crash and nuclear war. Nothing online was even considered: all the Youtube videos we had produced were in local. And even so, we still had problems: we were compelled to use another computer that did not support the version of power point in which we had prepared our slides, and the slides got messed up! Let us now focus on one of the most used and most useful tools: slides. I am not going to provide detailed and practical directions, for which a number of tutorials and other materials are available on the internet. I will discuss, instead, the main dimensions involved in the decision of how to style and structure your slides. The first dimension is the context: will you just use the slides during a public speech? Or will they have to live “a life of their own”, uploaded on some websites? While in the first case a few keywords may be fine, in the second you have to consider that, like Plato says, the “son will be without the father”: people will have to understand the content of the slides even without you speaking. It would then be helpful, for example, to include notes. Or to use full sentences instead of just keywords. The second dimension is the purpose: are the slides meant to help the speaker as she presents, reminding her of the main topic she has to cover? And/or are they meant to allow the audience to take notes, as the speaker presents? If so, for example, the design should leave space for taking notes. Or, in the case of a lecture, are students supposed to go through the slides again, when back at home? In this case, you may want to have something more than just a few keywords and you may want to add notes under each slide. The third dimension is the speaker’s confidence. If you are a quite confident speaker, you can afford very visual slides, with just a few key-words. If confidence is low and you are afraid of panicking, then you may want to have full sentences on the slides. Generally speaking, slides should not be verbose, but a verbose slide is better than a freaked out speaker. Eventually, we finish with some tips on technical slides. Tip number 1: do not overcrowd your technical slides with too many graphs, calculations and similar things. Even if you are presenting to a technical audience, still what you show needs to be processed. And as people read and try to understand, they do not listen to you. So do not exaggerate with too much content. Tip number 2: there are two possible uses of, so to speak, “technical slides”. The first one is: you show it quickly, you don’t’ go through details, and thus your message is: hey, I’m a techy guy, I know my math, the work was technically sound, trust me. The second one is: you go through all the details giving time to the audience to digest and appreciate everything, like in a lesson. Take the decision between the two strategies Before the presentation. What I don’t advise is to do a hybrid between the two. The audience may be frustrated: you seem like you want to explain, but you don’t’ give enough time to understand. Tip number 3 (and final): summarize the main assertion of the technical slide in plain words and put it crystal clear on it (at the bottom, on top as a title…). Even a technical audience will appreciate it and you can be sure that the key message is received.
