Designing and Delivering Technical Presentations. Overview

Designing and Delivering Technical Presentations Eric W. Anderson CHEG 237W September 11, 2006 Overview • • • • • • Motivation The Design Idea Organ...
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Designing and Delivering Technical Presentations Eric W. Anderson CHEG 237W September 11, 2006

Overview • • • • • •

Motivation The Design Idea Organization & Content Support Materials Delivery CHEG 237W talks

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Presentations Matter • Engineering is not a solo activity • You want to influence people to – Fund your project – Hire you – Allow your plant expansion

• A presentation is a special opportunity where you have someone’s time and attention, and can get feedback or inspire action.

Designing Technical Presentations • A talk is an engineered object, something designed and built to achieve a goal • Identify goals • Design within constraints

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Communication Acts •

Communication Acts have 3 parts 1. Sender 2. Message 3. Audience



Tendency is to focus only on message, rather than on what you want to achieve or what your audience wants to learn

Goals of a Talk • Start with your audience: – Who are they? (not all the same!) – What do they know already? – What are their expectations? – What are their goals/interests?

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Identify Your Message • “If you don’t know where you want to go, you probably aren’t going to get there.” • Before starting, clearly identify what you intend to communicate.

Goals of a Talk • For a teaching presentation, know: – What specific facts you want to impart. – What you want the audience to be able to do at the end.

• For a meeting, identify: – What facts you want to teach or learn. – What decisions you want made.

• What action do you want the audience to take?

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Constraints • Designing a chemical plant – Money – Space – Feedstock availability – Utilities – Technology/IP – Environmental protection

Constraints • What might they be? – Time – Space/Facilities – Environment (noise, distractions, side events) – Media (Technology) – Money

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Organization & Content • Content first: – What story do you want to tell? • • • • •

Why should the audience care? How does this fit in with what they already know? What did you do? What does it all mean? What do you want them to do now?

– What specific things support that story?

Structure of a Talk • Introduction (Motivation, BG, Roadmap) • Body – Topic 1 (Why, How, What) – Topic 2, 3, …n

• End Matter – Recap/conclusions – What next? (action recommendations) – Acknowledgements

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Choose Structure that Fits Goals • Sometimes you go – Conclusions (= Motivation) – Support data – How data were acquired

• May give two separate talks in series • Leave opportunity for feedback

Pick the Components of your Talk • When building a refinery, you don’t stick in a compressor just because you happen to have one lying around. • Each part of you presentation has to have a purpose: – it has to relate to your overall message – it has to be relevant for your audience

• For each goal or sub-goal, think about what is the best tool for that job

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Support Materials • Images on a Screen (text, equations, or figures) – PowerPoint – Other CG images/video – Transparencies – 35mm slides

• Handouts • 3-D objects

Slide Design • Large Clear Fonts • Use Backgrounds and FX sparingly • Use Graphics and Figures

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Fonts and Sizes (Arial 44) • Arial 32 – Arial 28 • 24 point – Down to 20 – Sixteen Point – Much too Small!

• More 28-point fonts – CASTELLAR (ALL CAPS) – Blackadder – Times New Roman

Figures that Work 71 15 RAD 24

RADDIST

20 DUPL

FEED

RADFEED 105 18

RADBOT SCFEED

QC=-391022 QR=459410

Temperature (C) Pressure (psi)

70 15

SCDIST SCDIST

Q

Duty (Btu/hr)

99 15

SCBOT QC=112969 QR=176881

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Another Figure 8.5

Sensitivity S-2 Results Summary

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TOPH2O

7.5

BMETH

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

LB/HR 4 4.5

5

5.5

6

6.5

7

BIPA

2

3

4

5 VARY 1 RAD RADFEED FEEDS STAGE

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7

8

A Better Figure 8

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Sensitivity S-2 Results Summary

TOPH2O BMETH

1

2

3

4

5

LB/HR

6

7

BIPA

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

RadFrac Feed Stage

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Legible Labels! 8

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Sensitivity S-2 Results Summary

TOPH2O BMETH 7

BIPA

4

5

LB/HR

3 2 1

Flow, lb/hr

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Top Water

2

3

4

5

6

7

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RadFrac Feed Stage

RadFrac Feed Stage (20 pt)

Mix Graphics and Text • Many Layouts are available • Beware Making Either Words or Pictures too small • Hacksaw here a cartoon, not a technical figure

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Color grabs attention • This talk has so far been almost B&W • A Color photo or graphic really draws the eyes.

Good use of call-outs and color Excel Aspen Plus toolbar in Excel Connect Current Cell to a Defined Variable

Import Variables

=FLOW/DENS

=(-10^-9)*B6^2 Export Variable

November 16, 2000 ®

Introductio n to Aspen Plus

Slide 190 ©1998 Asp enTech . All r ights re se rved.

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Blank Slide

Delivering a Presentation • Voice • Body • Attitude

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Voice • • • •

Volume not too soft or TOO LOUD Enunciation Pace Emphasis

Body • • • • • •

Position Movement Eyes Hands Fidgeting Dress

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Attitude • Project Energy and Enthusiasm. • If you don’t care about the topic, the audience won’t either. • Project a positive attitude. • The audience needs you to get them jazzed up enough to pay attention.

Tools of the Trade • Notes • Microphones • Pointing Devices – On-screen mouse – Pointer – Laser pointer – Hand!

• Timers

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Tips & Tricks • For Nervousness – Practice – Get familiar with location – Breathe

• Sleep, Eat, Relax – It is more important to be thinking clearly than it is to have every possible slide prepared

Tips & Tricks • Prepare well – there is no substitute for knowing your stuff • Arrive early – Check out room & equipment – Meet people – Good things happen!

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CHEG237W Talks • • • • •

Very tight time constraints, esp. short talk Must motivate, guide (1 slide) Must include description of equipment Tell what your group did Tell what it means

Talk Evaluations • Everyone evaluates every talk • Faculty, TA, & Self Evals collected and used for grades • Peer evaluations given directly to each student w/o faculty review – Helpful comments more imp than numbers – Read each evaluation – that is one point of view

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Grading Basis • Organization of talk • Quality of materials • Delivery

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