powerpoint presentation in technical writing

Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, effective use of powerpoint in professional & technical presentations.

• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 by Anna Lee

Regardless whether you are an engineer or a writer, a professional or a student, a business person or a scientist, you will be expected to communicate effectively with your supervisors, colleagues, clients, and the public. For most, that communication includes at least an occasional formal presentation.

Formal presentations in the workplace usually take one of three forms:

• Informational
• Instructional

Informational presentations are useful for reporting on research or giving a project update. Persuasive presentations can be used to make pitches to clients or supervisors. Instructional presentations, or “how-to” presentations, are formatted to teach, explain, or train.

In technical presentations, like most other genres of technical communication, good visual information design is essential. Visual aids are useful for increasing audience understanding of both the subject and the organization of a presentation.

Presenters should remember they have an array of options for visual aids from live demonstrations to interactive activities to old fashioned white boards; however, presentation software is the most commonly used option. Among the presentation software choices, PowerPoint is widely available and widely used in the workplace and in educational settings. Other software like Presi or Google Slides are becoming more popular and present may of the same opportunities and challenges that PowerPoint does.

PowerPoint can be a very effective tool for students and professionals if it is used appropriately for the purposes of a technical presentation. Unfortunately, effective use of this tool is not as intuitive as one would think considering its prevalence. To more effectively use PowerPoint often requires unlearning many of the common techniques displayed in the typical college class or even in the workplace.

Pitfalls of PowerPoint

Unfortunately, PowerPoint is controversial. Most students have experienced an ineffective PowerPoint presentation. In fact, a 2015 article on the website The Conversation claims PowerPoint “makes students more stupid and professors more boring” (Sorensen). Although this author and others make good points on the ineffectiveness of PowerPoint, others (Horvath & Lodge, 2015) contend that a tool is only as effective as the person using it. PowerPoint does not make students stupid and professors boring; rather, poor use of this tool makes for ineffective presentations and can lead to laziness in both the audience and the presenter.

One issue with PowerPoint is the preset templates and layouts Microsoft provides. These can guide a novice user to make inappropriate design choices that affect usability. For example, reversed text on a dark background can be challenging for audiences to read. Bullet points do not take advantage of the program’s visual potential. Purely decorative designs can distract from functional visuals and text.

Many of the problems with PowerPoint presentations are the result of a tool that is readily accessible being used by individuals untrained in rhetorical and visual design. Fortunately, students of technical communication can implement a change of strategy and follow a few guidelines to use PowerPoint more effectively.

Rethinking Bullet Points

The key to improving your use of PowerPoint as a presentation tool for technical or professional communication is to rethink the usual layout of presentations you have seen. Most poorly constructed PowerPoints have far too much text, usually in the form of bullet points covering, albeit in shortened form, everything the speaker is going to share. Your purpose should not be a mystery to your audience, but the audience cannot both read and listen to what you are saying at the same time. Rather you should treat your slides as true visual aids that primarily use something other than text to support your points.

Every substantive slide should present a visual that illustrates or supports the point you are making orally rather than summarizing or reiterating that point in text form. In other words, instead of the typical topic and bullet point slide layout, a more effective strategy for PowerPoint presentations slides can be to offer a claim and a visual support in the form of a photo, graph, illustration, chart, etc. (Alley & Neeley, 2005; Markel, 2009).

Sample slide with claim/visual support layout

This claim/support strategy accompanied by various orientation features creates a presentation that is free from visual noise, complimentary to the oral presentation, and easy for the audience to follow. Creating a PowerPoint presentation of this type requires significantly more thought and effort than a traditional summarizing bullet point format, but the payoff is worth the time spent.

Designing a Claim/Support Style Presentation

Although no one size fits all prescription exists for building an effective PowerPoint slide set for a professional or technical presentation, students can use the following steps and stratagems to guide their process.

1. Plan your presentation before making your slide set.

Rather than sitting down at the computer and opening PowerPoint to begin preparing for a presentation, you should start with your topic—the information you need share, the points you need to make, or the process you wish to teach—and determine what types of visual aids will best support your purpose. PowerPoint may not be the right fit for every purpose. If it is the best tool to employ, remember that the slide set is notyour presentation in and of itself but rather a way to visually support your claims and guide your audience through the organization of your presentation.

Follow the same process you would for any piece of academic or professional writing. Research your subject, narrow your scope to fit the constraints of the assignment, analyze your audience, and draft your presentation around your main points. Once you have a strong, organized case to make in support of your purpose, you can begin creating the visuals that will most effectively enhance your claims.

2. Design your template.

When you are ready to build your slide set, first prepare a slide template. This step will save you time formatting each slide and create consistency. Although PowerPoint provides many predesigned themes, avoid them. Creating your own template will give you more control and help you avoid some of the poor design choices represented in many of the preset templates. Using the “Master Slide” feature is a good way to design once and apply your choices throughout your presentation.

When designing a slide template for the body slides of your presentation, keep in mind these suggestions:

• Opt for a white (or very light) background. Although, many presentation slide sets use a dark background with light text, a more audience friendly choice is a light background and dark text. This combination is universally easier to read especially on a screen. Another benefit of a white background is that you can use a wider variety of image files and types without dealing with the white boxes that often appear in JPEG image files.
• Prefer a san serif font. As is true for reading on computer screens, san serif fonts are also easier to read on the large screens of PowerPoint slides. This is not to say that all serif fonts are unacceptable but rather a good rule of thumb is to prefer a san serif font.
• Include an orienting footer. Be sure to design a footer on your slides that includes the title (or abbreviated title) of your presentation, the date of the presentation, and particularly the slide number. This information is helpful for you in archiving the slide set or changing it for future presentations, but it is especially helpful in orienting the audience. It is much easier to ask a specific question at the end of a presentation if one can refer to specific slide number rather than trying to describe the visual after a single viewing.
• Avoid visual “noise.” In Presentation Zen, Reynolds explains the principle of signal-to-noise ratio and the effects of cluttering a slide with too much visual information that is unrelated to a point being made. He says, “There is simply a limit to a person’s ability to process new information efficiently and effectively” (2012, p. 134). In other words, avoid unnecessary design elements and visuals on slide in a technical presentation. This means eliminating meaningless clip art, images, or even an organizational logo on every slide in order to focus the audience’s attention on the visual that supports your claim. In most cases, less is truly more on a slide.

3. Create your orienting slides.

In addition to acting a visual aid to support the claims of presentation, the purpose of a slide set is also to help the audience understand the organization and follow the speaker’s thoughts more coherently. Many slide sets miss this opportunity. First, be sure to create a title slide that introduces your presentation and you to the audience. Next, slide sets, even for short presentations, should include an outline. The audience wants to know where a talk is going and when they can anticipate its conclusion. Your point in making a technical presentation should not be a mystery; tell the audience what you are about and show them in the form of an outline slide. Revisit this slide to reorient you audience in the middle of the presentation or even before each major point in a long presentation.

Sample of an outline slide

Another orientation feature that you should consider adding is borrowed from pedagogical theory: the advance organizer . A good presentation should help audience members connect new information to previous knowledge and understand why the information is important to them. This is also the purpose of an advance organizer.

Simply put, the advance organizer in slide set is a slide (or several) dedicated to visually introducing background or introductory material so the audience is prepared to accept the claims of the presentation. An advance organizer may take many different forms depending upon the type and purpose of a presentation. One example is visual “list” of supplies needed to perform a task you are teaching. Another might be a definition of a subject or an image of a finished product that the presentation aims to demonstrate the process of creating. Accompanied by the speaker’s oral explanation or even audience interaction, these slides help orient the audience and prepare them to receive the bulk of the material more effectively.

Sample of an advance organizer slide

4. Lay out your organization.

With a template created and orienting slides in place, you can now deal with the body content of the presentation. Follow the same form you would in presenting information effectively and persuasively in any medium by including the following elements: an introduction, several points (or claims), a conclusion, and a call for questions. The audience is familiar with receiving information in this way and will become confused or fail to recall your purpose if you do not sum up your points in a conclusion, for example.

Another organizational feature on the body slides that can become a missed opportunity is the headers. Many presentation slides employ single word or phrase headers. Research shows (Alley & Neeley, 2005) that this may not be the most effective format to persuade or teach. Alley & Neeley and others (Markel, 2009) advocate for the use of sentence case headers on body slides that make a strong, clear claim in a complete thought. Punctuating and capitalizing them as sentences is also recommended.

Sample of a slide using a sentence case header

Switching to sentence headers can be a challenge for students at first—even the student examples provided below do not fully follow this advice— because it is different from what most of us have experienced. However, using it can be effective when bullet points are eliminated in place of a visual support on each slide.

5. Add your visuals.

The final step, and arguably the most difficult, is adding visuals to the slides to support the your claims. Determining visuals that are effective in emphasizing the points, simple enough to comprehend, within the designer’s ability to create, or available to use without copyright infringement is quite a challenge. The following tips can help you begin to design visually based PowerPoint slides:

• Consider your options. Although challenging to think through whether an idea can be represented graphically, you have many possibilities available that work well in PowerPoint. Good options for visuals include graphs or charts for presenting data, tables for displaying lists (an alternative to bullet points), photographs or screen shots for showing steps in a process, illustrations or line drawings for simplifying complex images or showing internal workings, and PowerPoint SmartArt graphics for demonstrating relationships and processes. These are only a few of the choices available and a few potential uses for each. Once you have an idea of the type of visual to use, you will need to create or find it.
• Create your own visual. It is always best to create a visual yourself—if you have the programs and skills to do it—because it gives you complete control of the visual and avoids copyright issues. Although some programs for creating visuals are expensive or require specialized skills, others are readily available and easy to use. Consider screenshots, for example. These are simple to create and excellent for demonstrating a digital process. Likewise, most students can take their own photographs at a quality acceptable for presentations. Graphs are easy to make in Word or Excel and transfer into PowerPoint.
• Use the drawing tools in the presentation software. PowerPoint supplies easy to use tools, such as SmartArt, for creating visuals. You will find these tools intuitive to use, but you must be careful to select diagrams or graphs that accurately match the concept you are attempting to represent. Markel correctly notes, “Microsoft has always done a better job creating drawing tools than explaining how to choose the appropriate one” (2009, p. 126). You must also be careful to avoid design features on these graphics that make them difficult to read and understand. For example, a three-dimensional pie chart can be not only hard to read on the screen but also misleading, particularly if you use color inappropriately. Again, less is usually more; basic designs and simple color schemes are best.
• Find an existing visual. Sometimes you will not be readily capable of creating your own visual, and will need to find one somewhere else. If you work for an organization, check with the marketing department for photographs and logo files. (They can also supply you branded fonts and colors and perhaps even predesigned company slide templates.) Subject matter experts within your organization may be able to provide technical diagrams, line drawings, cross sections, etc. As a student, you can glean from the Internet helpful images of this kind, but should use them for educational purposes only. Be careful to credit borrowed images, and do not use images without permission for anything intended for a professional setting or for which you or anyone else will gain a profit.

Pulling It All Together

Shifting your thinking about the purpose and design of presentation slides and using the processes and tips provided is not rocket science, but pulling everything together will require careful thought and planning. The following examples show many of the elements discussed here in action. These are presentations created by real undergraduate students. They are not perfect cases, but they offer creative, real-life solutions to the same challenges you will face in implementing this new style of PowerPoint construction.

Powerpoint sample #1

Powerpoint sample #2

In addition to the strategy discussed in this article, students creating formal presentations using presentation software should study principles of good visual design. Also, study of graphic design tools for creating visual images would benefit students who need to present technical information frequently. This article certainly does not encompass everything you need to know about using PowerPoint effectively, but implementing the strategies advocated should dramatically improve your presentations.

Alley, M., & Neeley, K. A. (November 2005). Rethinking the design of presentation slides: A case for sentence headlines and visual evidence. Technical Communication, 4(52), 417-426.

Horvath, J. C., & Lodge, J. M. (2015, June 26). It’s not PowerPoint’s fault, you’re just using it wrong. Retrieved February 5, 2016, from https://theconversation.com/its-not-powerpoints-fault-youre-just-using-it-wrong-43783

Markel, M. (May 2009). Exploiting verbal–visual synergy in presentation slides. Technical Communication, 56(2), 122-131.

Reynolds, G. (2012). Presentation Zen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. Berkeley, CA: New Riders Pub.

Sorensen, B. M. (2015, April 29). Let’s ban PowerPoint in lectures – it makes students more stupid and professors more boring. Retrieved February 5, 2016, from https://theconversation.com/lets-ban-powerpoint-in-lectures-it-makes-students-more-stupid-and-professors-more-boring-36183.

Brevity – Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence – How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow – How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity – Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style – The DNA of Powerful Writing

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11.5 Slides and PowerPoint presentations

To powerpoint or not to powerpoint.

Microsoft introduced PowerPoint in 1990, and the conference room has never been the same. Millions were amazed by the speed with which a marketing professional or an academic could put together a consistent, professional-looking slide presentation. And then…

At some point, somebody with critical thinking skills asked a great question: “Do we really need all these slide shows?” The stock images of arrows, businesspeople in suits, stick figures scratching their heads, and the glowing, jewel-toned backgrounds eventually looked tired and failed to evoke the “wow” reaction presenters desired.

Microsoft is attempting to refresh the design options for PowerPoint, and there are dozens of good alternatives, some of them free (Keynote, Slide Bureau, Prezi, SlideRocket, Easel.ly, Emaze, Slidedog). But the fundamental problem remains—text-heavy, unfocused, overlong presentations are the problem, not the software. If you are sure that a visual presentation will provide something necessary to your audience, keep the number of slides and the amount of text on each slide to a bare minimum. Think of a slide presentation as a way of supporting or augmenting the content in your talk; don’t let the slides replace your content.

If you had planned to read your slides to the audience, don’t. It’s considered one of the single most annoying things a presenter can do. Excessively small text and complex visuals (including distracting animations) are frequently cited as annoyances.

Try to design your slides so that they contain information that your viewers might want to write down; for example, good presentations often contain data points that speakers can’t just rattle off or quick summaries of key concepts that viewers won’t be able to make up on the fly. If you can’t explain how the slides add value to your presentation, don’t use them.

To get a feel for what may annoy your audience, try Googling “annoying PowerPoint presentations.” You’ll get a million hits containing helpful feedback and good examples of what not to do. And finally, consider designing your presentation to allow for audience participation instead of passive viewing of a slideshow—a good group activity or a two-way discussion is a far better way to keep an audience engaged than a stale, repetitive set of slides.

Tips for good slides

All of the design guidelines in this chapter—CRAP in particular—will help you design consistent, helpful, and visually appealing slides. But all the design skill in the world won’t help you if your content is not tightly focused, smoothly delivered, and visible. Slides overloaded with text and/or images will strain your audience’s capacity to identify important information. Complex, distracting transitions or confusing (or boring) graphics that aren’t consistent with your content are worse than no graphics at all. Here are some general tips:

• Simplicity is best: use a small number of high-quality graphics and limit bullet points and text. Don’t think of a slide as a page that your audience should read.
• Break your information up into small bites for your audience, and make sure your presentation flows well. Think of a slide as a way of reminding you and the audience of the topic at hand.
• Slides should have a consistent visual theme; some pros advise that you avoid using the stock PowerPoint templates, but the Repetition and Alignment aspects of CRAP are so important that if you don’t have considerable design skill, templates are your best bet. You can even buy more original-looking templates online if you don’t like the ones provided with the software.
• Choose your fonts carefully. Make sure the text is readable from a distance in a darkened room. Practice good Repetition (the “R” in CRAP) and keep fonts consistent.
• Practice your presentation as often as you can. Software is only a tool, and the slide projector is not presenting— you Realizing this is half the battle.

CHAPTER ATTRIBUTION INFORMATION

This chapter was written by Jodi Naas, Portland Community College, and is licensed  CC-BY 4.0 .

Technical Writing Copyright © 2017 by Allison Gross, Annemarie Hamlin, Billy Merck, Chris Rubio, Jodi Naas, Megan Savage, and Michele DeSilva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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8. ORAL AND VISUAL PRESENTATIONS

Suzan Last and Monika Smith

Like any kind of advanced communication skill, the art of giving effective presentations is not in-born; it requires deliberate practice — that is, systematic practice that requires focused attention on improving, and making use of feedback from others to help you do so. An excellent way to learn more about delivering effective presentations is to follow a systematic process:

• Observe others
• Study their strategies and reflect on their effectiveness
• Select and practice strategies that will work for you; reflect and get feedback from others.

Step 1: Observation

You can learn a lot simply by observing how successful public speakers “work the room” and engage their audience. Observe what they do. How do they use their voice as a tool of communication? How do they deploy tone, pausing, pacing, and projection? What do they do with their hands? How do they make use of the physical space around them? Take note of how speakers physically operate, either in person or on media: identify what they do, make note of what you think works well and what doesn’t, then put what you’ve learned into practice.

As a student, you might start by observing your professors. Aim to identify what makes one professor a great lecturer and another less engaging. Compare what they do with their voice, their hands, their gestures, their movements. Pay attention to how they pace their talk to draw you in and create emphasis. Reflect on what they do to convey a sense of enthusiasm for what they’re talking about—or fail to do so. You want to know what kinds of things to avoid—a dull monotonous tone, for example—as well as what kinds of things to adopt to ensure your voice comes across as a powerful tool for communicating your ideas clearly and emphatically.

EXERCISE 8.1: Observation in action

Whether observing your favourite professor give a lecture; watching your favourite podcaster, TV or YouTube presenter; or viewing the videos linked below, turn your observations into an active learning experience: create a list of what the speakers do well as speakers , and then use them as role models. The goal is to create a toolkit of practical tips, approaches, and ideas for building confidence, developing your own “spark” as public speaker, and engaging your audience. In short, watch, observe, and learn.

Here are some public speakers on film that you may enjoy watching and learning from:

• Really achieving your childhood dreams by Randy Pausch, [1] computer scientist (Carnegie Mellon). As you watch the video, make note not simply of what he says, but how he says it.
• “The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout” by Rick Rigsby [2]
• “The Joy of Stats” by Hans Rosling [3] offers an engaging and inspiring description of 250,000 data points from over 200 years for 200 countries—in 4 minutes flat!

Step 2: Study and Reflect

Learning from experts who lay out a set of simple techniques is a confidence builder because it shows that great speakers are made, not born. With deliberate practice, anyone can do this. There are no mysteries, just specific, applicable strategies that anyone can adopt to establish rapport with an audience and make a meaningful impact.

Here are some more great online resources to help you develop further:

• Advanced Public Speaking Institute (Tips )
• Toastmasters 5 tips for public speaking (YouTube)
• 10 Most Common Rookie Mistakes in Public Speaking – Terry Gault (Prezi Blog)
• The Power of your Hands – Allan Pease (TED)
• How to Sound Smart in your TED Talk − Will Stephen (TED)
• How I Overcame my Fear of Public Speaking − Danish Dhamani (TED)

EXERCISE 8.2

Take notes from the sources while you study them.  Making written notes about points you want to remember can be an effective way to promote deep learning. As you watch each of the videos, identify 2-3 key tips. If you are doing this activity in class, share your “top two” tips with classmates and make note of their “top two” tips in turn.

Then consider the value of the tips and strategies you’ve compiled. What makes them seem to work so well and, equally important, how could you feasibly incorporate them into your presentations to make them your own?

Step 3: Select, Practice and Assess your Progress

Now that you have identified strategies that you find effective and think might work for you, try putting them into practice.  See if they add some extra “oomph” to your presentation style. Afterwards, either by engaging in self-reflection, or by asking for feedback, consider how well these strategies worked for you and whether you need to further hone, adapt, or change the way you used them.

Videos are helpful because they not only provide information, but visually demonstrate the ideas (both showing and telling); however, you can also learn from many books on the subject. Here are four classic books by public speaking experts designed to help you develop your own strong presentation skills. By focusing on aspects such as“voice,” or by getting you to create effective slideshows, they offer a range of practical, “tried and tested” approaches designed to help you build confidence, speak fluently, and hold an audience’s attention with relevant, well designed visuals.

• Lilyan Wilder, 7 Steps to Fearless Speaking offers a lively, straightforward “how to” approach to public speaking, paying special attention to what to do before you even get on stage to deliver your talk. In short, according to Lilyan Wilder, it’s all about preparation. Wilder’s seven steps have been used by many successful public figures, including George H.W. Bush, Oprah Winfrey, Fortune 500 CEO’s, as well as network anchors at CNN, CBS, and more!
• Lee LeFever, The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand invites you to become an “explanation specialist” by using simple elements to motivate your audience and inspire them to say “yes!” to your designs and ideas.
• Garr Reynolds, PresentationZen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery provides a clear, easy-to-read set of tips for cutting through the noise and blather of modern life and reaching an audience through simple, pared-down slides and story-telling:  two techniques that can help you connect with and inspire your audience in an authentic, genuine way.
• Nancy Duarte, Slide:ology: T he Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations looks to the role of presentation software in the visualization of ideas and information. Its goal is to turn you into a “visual thinker” so you can design presentation graphics that enable your audience to easily and effectively process data—an especially valuable skill for technical presenters who often have to convey complex data in meaningful ways to non-technical audiences.

EXERCISE 8.3 Build your repertoire

Visual Aids – PowerPoint Basics

Even the most dynamic speakers often make use of visual aids to accompany their presentation and help illustrate their ideas. Having well designed visuals as part of your presentation is one way for beginners and those honing their skills can add interest and audience engagement to their talks. PowerPoint is probably the most common form of visual aid used in presentations, so much discussion has been focused on the pros and cons of this medium. Indeed, a Google search of “death by PowerPoint” brings up over 90 million results!

While there are many other presentation tools out there that you should explore (and perhaps present to your classmates or colleagues in your own presentation!), PowerPoint is a standard workplace tool, so it would be wise to gain proficiency with it. The key concept to remember is that your visual aids should supplement and illustrate what you want to say to your audience. YOU are the presenter; your slides illustrate and amplify what you want to say.

PowerPoint Terminology

When designing a PowerPoint presentation, it is helpful to be familiar with key terminology used to discuss the various elements. Here are a few terms to get started:

• Deck :  the entire presentation (all the slides in the presentation; see Figure 8.2.1) .
• Gloss :  what the speaker says about each slide. The speaker should not simply read what is on the slide. Slides should have minimal text in the form of key words and short bullet points. They might include key quotations. Speakers should elaborate on what is written or shown on the slide in their gloss.
• Slide :  one “page” of the presentation ( Figure 8.2.2 shows one slide from the deck above) with the various elements identified.
• Slide Titles :  usually at the top of the slide, the title acts as a “heading” indicating the topic to be discussed in each slide.
• Body Text:   written text on the slide, often in the form of bullet points or key terms. This text should be kept to a minimum (key words/phrases; quotations you want to read out loud). Don’t write your “script” in the slide’s body text.
• Exhibits :  illustrative graphics on the slides that are glossed in the presentation. You should discuss graphics and explain what is important about them.
• Decorative Graphics : Slide motifs, themes, and other non-essential images that add visual appeal to the slides, but do not illustrate substantive ideas.
• Notes : The section underneath the slide where you can write notes you want to cover in your gloss. The audience will not see the “notes” portion.

Click on the Sample PowerPoint Presentations listed below to see detailed examples of PowerPoint decks.

PowerPoint Presentation on PRESENTATIONS (.ppt)

Tuckman’s Model of Team Formation – Sample student presentation (.ppt)

Definitions in Technical Writing – Sample student presentation (.pdf) (Created by Isaac Morton)

Visual Rhetoric

PowerPoint is not the only visual medium you might use. Pamphlets, posters, billboards, and other kinds of displays can also work to effectively convey your message if they are well designed. Considering how to present ideas visually can be as important as determining what to say. Here are some resources to help you design visual information in a rhetorically effective way:

Visual Rhetoric page from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University

Rule of Thirds (Wikipedia)

Color theory (Tiger Color)

Psychology of Font Choices (The Daily Egg)

• R. Pausch, “Really achieving your childhood dreams, Sept. 18, 2007 Youtube [Online]: Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo ↵
• R. Rigsby, “The wisdom of a third grade dropout will change your life,” Oct. 2017, Youtube [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_Q7KYWG1g ↵
• H. Rosling, “The joy of stats,” Nov. 26, 2010, YouTube [Online]. Available: https://youtu.be/jbkSRLYSojo ↵
• Keithonearth, [Bicycle image embedded in slide]. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derailleur_gears#/media/File:Derailleur_Bicycle_Drivetrain.svg . CC BY-SA 3.0 . ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © by Suzan Last and Monika Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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4.6 Presentations

Presentations are an interesting genre, since they can cover a variety of genres and purposes. Presentations provide the opportunity to present information in a multimodal format, and often require you to condense information for a broad audience. Within the very broad genre of “presentation” many genres fall with more specific conventions and constraints. Some examples include:

• Conference presentations
• Less formal meeting or business presentations (internal)

As technology continues to develop, you might consider other genres under the umbrella of “presentations,” including:

• Youtube videos

In this section, we talk about the specific genre of presentations, but we also focus on taking complex information (such as gathered in a formal report) and reworking, condensing, and remixing that information into a presentation, a website, a poster or infographic, or a podcast.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Just like with the other common genres that we’ve discussed so far, presentations are developed for a specific audience. So, you need to consider how your audience might best receive the information that you are working to communicate. Presentations are a great way to reach an audience, and as a communicator you get to explore various communication modes and approaches. As with anything else, what might work for one audience would not work for another audience; think back to the different ways to communicate the process of conducting a Covid-19 nasal test. Each example was effective, but only in the context of their intended audience.

Technical presentations are a specific genre that often take the complex, lengthy information included in a formal report and condenses and translates that information in a way that includes visual and audio communication modes. Consider why it is useful to present information in various ways (as a formal report and as a 5-10 minute presentation). How might presenting information in various ways or formats increase accessibility? How might developing a presentation work towards equity of information access?

When creating a presentation, the principles of universal design are important things to keep in mind. One example might be adding captions if you create a presentation that has any audio component. The captions are essential for any audience members who are hearing impaired, AND they make it easier to absorb content and understand the audio for your entire audience. Remember that universal design means that accessibility of information is an essential part of your presentation: do not think about accessibility after you’ve created your content, but work it in from the beginning and throughout your process.

Technical presentations

Technical presentations can vary quite a bit in length and content, depending on your purpose, audience, and context (remember that the rhetorical situation is always relevant!). Generally speaking, a technical presentation will:

• Condense a longer text, such as a formal report
• Summarize the most important, useful, or meaningful information from that text
• Use visuals, text, and audio together in order to tell a story

Most often, presentations work to inform, to persuade, or both. All the things that we’ve discussed so far are important to consider when you create a presentation, including plain language, document design, and considering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Just as with any other genre, to create an effective presentation, you must understand your audience.

Google Slides

These are only 3 of many free tutorials available online.

When creating effective presentation slides, be sure that you balance the amount of information on each slide. Consider how your audience is interacting with these slides: they are not likely sitting down with so much time to carefully read through each one. Rather, they may only have a minute to take in all the content. So, less is often better than putting too much text on any one slide. It’s also important to use a variety of visual modes–such as graphics and images–along with text.

The text that you choose should summarize key points, and the images should reinforce or illustrate those points. Do not make your audience take in large blocks of text. Instead, summarize key questions, data points, findings, and conclusions. Show them examples that help to illustrate these important points, but do not overwhelm them. You cannot include everything in a presentation that you would include in a lengthy report. Rather, you must choose the most important pieces so that your audience has a clear idea of what you want them to take away from your project.

When planning and creating audio, be sure that you do not simply read the text from our slides. Instead, you can use the audio portion of your presentation to further explain key concepts. Give your reader a bit more detail, but do not overwhelm them. A presentation works to create a narrative or tell a story. The audio and text should complement each other, but not be exactly the same (if you’ve ever attended a presentation where the presenter read each slide out loud, you know how uninteresting that can be!).

Finally, consider accessibility when you design your presentation. Create closed captions or subtitles when recording audio, and be sure to incorporate the principles of universal design. Try to imagine how to make information accessible to your audience in regards to your text, your use of language and terminology, your use of visuals and graphics, and your use of audio.

Message titles

On way to create stronger, more memorable presentations is through the use of  message titles  rather than  subject titles  for each slide. It’s important to use strong titles, and a message title delivers a full message to your reader. A subject title is briefer and less specific. An example of the difference between a message title and subject title might be:

Subject title: 

Covid-19 prevention

Message title: 

How can I protect myself from Covid-19?

A message title is generally more effective for audiences because it provides more information. Further, delivering a full message helps audiences to retain the information presented in that slide and it frames what you cover in that section of your presentation. Remember that audiences must  listen  to your presentation and  read  your slides at the same time. Subject titles provide information, but message titles helps audiences place that information into a more specific framework. A message title delivers your message in a more complete way.

Condensing and remixing

While most formal reports use some sort of presentation software and rely on a combination of slides (which contain visuals and text) and audio (which may be spoken live as you present to an audience or may be recorded ahead of time), there are other ways to remix and present information in a condensed and useful way. As technology develops, so does the presentation genre. For example, podcasts, videos, or websites might be useful in place of a technical presentation, again depending on the audience, purpose, and context.

If you are enrolled in WRIT 3562W, you are not asked to create a podcast or website; however, you may come across such genres and want to use them as sources in your own report. And, you will likely want to (or be asked to!) create a website or podcast someday. So how can you begin to take information presented in something like a formal report and revise, translate, and remix it for a completely different medium?

First, consider the rhetorical situation and reflect on your own experiences as a website user or a podcast listener. Which websites do you like best? Which podcasts do you enjoy? Then, do some reflection and analysis and consider the following questions:

• When interacting with a website, what features are most important to you? How are you typically interacting with content (do you want to be able to search for something specific, do you want something easy to skim, do you want to deeply read all the text, etc.)?
• Think of the easiest to navigate website you’ve visited recently; what specific features made it easy to navigate? How did it use text, images, alignment, repetition, contrast, colors, language to help you know how to find and understand information?
• Think of the most difficult to navigate website that you’ve ever visited; what made it difficult? What specific features can you identify or isolate that made it hard to find information?
• Consider your favorite podcast; how does the creator(s) organize the content and present information clearly? How long does it take to listen to? What environment do you usually listen to podcasts in (your car, at home, using headphones, on a speaker while you cook dinner…). What specific features can you identify or isolate that make it enjoyable?

These types of reflection questions help you to make decisions about the texts that you create. They are useful when considering conventions or strengths of specific genres, AND they are useful when you have to create a genre that is completely new to you. Remember that analyzing the rhetorical situation and genre conventions together make it manageable as you approach any new communication task.

Throughout this text, we’ve discussed technical communication as rhetorical, as always concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion, how we define or set the boundaries for technical communication, and the conventions of common genres. As you continue your education and practice as a technical communicator, or as you approach any new communication situation, keep doing the work of analysis and reflection. Consider how each act of communication engages a specific audience for a specific purpose. Even the most seemingly objective genres require you to make choices: what information do you include, whose voices and experiences do you elevate, how do you take in feedback and revise your texts, how do you approach research in a way that reduces bias and incorporates marginalized experiences–these are all important pieces of the communication process. As technical communication continues to develop and evolve, and as technology and genres also change, keep these considerations in mind.

Activity and Reflection: Presenting information 

Together or with a partner, find a presentation (you can search YouTube for technical presentations or Ted Talks). Reflect on the following questions to perform a  rhetorical analysis  on the presentation:

• Who is the target audience for this presentation? How can you tell?
• What is the main purpose or goal of the presentation? How can you tell?
• What did you like about the presentation (be specific)? What features make it effective?
• What would you change, and why?
• How does the presentation use  text  and audio  together to deliver a message? How do these elements complement each other?

Introduction to Technical and Professional Communication Copyright © 2021 by Brigitte Mussack is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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9.3 Designing Your Presentation

Suzan Last and Robin L. Potter

How you organize the contents of your presentation and how you design your slide deck will help to determine whether or not your message is conveyed in its most powerful form. This chapter will focus on speech structure and on slide design.

Speech Structure

You are by now familiar with the conventions of technical correspondence and report structure: introduction, background, details, conclusion. This structure forms the backbone for most messaging in technical fields. Many presentations are created using this simple structure as well, often melding the introduction and background together to save on time. The key message would constitute the high point of the presentation, followed by information that supports that point. This “triangle-shaped” structure is used commonly.

To determine how your presentation should be constructed, consider your purpose. In technology, the purpose often falls within the following, according to David McMurrey (1997-2017):

• Informative purpose: A presentation can be primarily informative. For example, as a member of a committee involved in a project to relocate the plant, your job might be to give a presentation on the condition of the building and grounds at one of the sites proposed for purchase. Or, you might be required to go before the city council and report on the success of the new city-sponsored recycling project.
• Instructional purpose: A presentation can be primarily instructional. Your task might be to train new employees to use certain equipment or to perform certain routine tasks.
• Persuasive purpose: A presentation can be primarily persuasive. You might want to convince members of local civic organizations to support a city-wide recycling program. You might appear before city council to persuade its members to reserve certain city-owned lands for park areas, softball and baseball parks, or community gardens.

When creating a presentation that has a persuasive message, you have structural options. You can organize your content using the traditional “triangle” method, or you can use the “what is, what can be” comparative method shared by Nancy Duarte in her presentation below  The Secret Structure of Great Talks (2011). In this presentation, which offers a great example of effective persuasive presentation structure and design, Duarte reveals that speeches that have changed society make use of this “what is, what can be” structure, which compares what the current situation is to what the situation can be in its improved form after your great idea is implemented. Keep this structure in your toolbox for times when you want to persuade the reader to implement a new procedure, accept a proposed project, or sell a new product, for example.

Knowledge Check

A Brief Overview of PowerPoint

Even the most dynamic speakers often make use of visual aids to accompany their presentation and help illustrate their ideas. Having well-designed visuals as part of your presentation is one way for presenters to add interest and audience engagement to their talks. Despite much discussion on the pros and cons of this medium, PowerPoint is probably the most common software used to create presentations using visual aids. While many other presentation tools are worthy of your consideration, PowerPoint is a standard, versatile workplace tool, so it would be wise to gain proficiency with it. The key concept to remember is that your visual aids should supplement and illustrate what you want to say to your audience.

When designing a PowerPoint presentation, it is helpful to be familiar with the key terminology used to discuss the various elements.

• Deck :  The deck is the entire presentation (all the slides in the presentation; see Figure 9.2.1) .

• Gloss :  Gloss is what the speaker says about each slide. The speaker should not simply read what is on the slide. Slides should have minimal text in the form of keywords and short bullet points. It might include key quotations. The speaker should elaborate on what is written or shown on the slide.
• Slide : The slide is one “page” of the presentation ( Figure 9.2.2 shows one slide from the deck above) with the various elements identified. Note the source entry for the image at the bottom of the slide. Even images must be cited!

• Slide Titles : Usually at the top of the slide, the titles acts as “headings” indicating the topic to be discussed in each slide.
• Body Text:   Body text is the written text on the slide, often in the form of bullet points or key terms. This text should be kept to a minimum (keywords/phrases; quotations you want to read out loud). Don’t write your “script” in the slide’s body text.
• Exhibits : Exhibits are illustrative graphics on the slides that are glossed in the presentation. You should discuss graphics and explain what is important about them.
• Decorative visuals : Decorative visuals are slide motifs, themes, and other non-essential images that add visual appeal to the slides, but do not illustrate substantive ideas.
• Sources: Citation notes indicating the sources for images.
• Notes : The section underneath the slide where you can write notes you want to cover in your gloss. The audience will not see the “notes” portion.

You may want to view sample presentations: Click on the presentations listed below or take a look at the PowerPoint decks that accompany this textbook to see detailed examples of effective presentation decks.

PowerPoint Presentation on PRESENTATIONS (.ppt)

Definitions in Technical Writing – Sample student presentation (.pdf) (Created by Isaac Morton)

Designing Slides for Technical Information

You will probably be most familiar with the slide design illustrated above, with each slide containing a title and content consisting of bullet points. You will see this design in most of your professors’ lectures. Though it is the most commonly used slide design, it has also been criticized as being too rigid and resulting in poor long-term information retention. When this traditional slide design was compared to the assertion-evidence slide design discussed below, researchers discovered that using assertion-evidence slide structure resulted in deeper learning and understanding (Garner, et al. 2011).

Assertion-evidence slide structure, pioneered by Michael Alley at Penn State University, consists of a statement, or assertion, usually placed where the slide title would normally be placed. Among other types of content, the body of the slide would then include (excerpted from McMurrey, 1997-2017):

• Drawing or diagram of key objects: If you describe or refer to any objects during your presentation, show visuals of them so that you can point to different components or features.
• Tables, charts, graphs: If you discuss statistical data, present them in some form or table, chart, or graph. Many members of your audience may be less comfortable “hearing” such data as opposed to seeing them.
• Other research data or information: Usually presented in text or charts.

Below is a video by Robert Yale (2013) that reviews conventional PowerPoint disadvantages, studies in information retention, and the assertion-evidence structure. If you want to learn how to create slides using this method and see examples, please view this video as it is a good primer.

Visual Rhetoric

PowerPoint is not the only visual medium you might use. Posters, infographics, and other kinds of displays can also work to effectively convey your message if they are well designed. Considering how to present ideas visually can be as important as determining what to say. Here are some resources to help you design visual information in a rhetorically effective way:

Visual Rhetoric page from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University

Rule of Thirds (Wikipedia)

Psychology of Font Choices (The Daily Egg)

Putting It All Together

As you deepen your knowledge of general slide deck design, check out these two texts, which are considered key primers on the topic of presentation design.

• Garr Reynolds, PresentationZen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery provides a clear, easy-to-read set of tips for cutting through the noise and blather of modern life and reaching an audience through simple, pared-down slides and story-telling:  two techniques that can help you connect with and inspire your audience in an authentic, genuine way.
• Nancy Duarte, Slideology: T he Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations looks to the role of presentation software in the visualization of ideas and information. Its goal is to turn you into a “visual thinker” so you can design presentation graphics that enable your audience to easily and effectively process data—an especially valuable skill for technical presenters who often have to convey complex data in meaningful ways to non-technical audiences.  Review the video below for a video explanation of these principles.

( How to Create Better Visual Presentations , 2014)

____________________________________________________________________

Note: Some of the contents of this chapter have been adapted from David McMurrey (1997-2017), Online Technical Writing: Oral Presentations. https://mcmassociates.io/textbook/oral.html CC by Attribution 4.0

Ally, M. (n.d.). Rethinking presentations in science and engineering . Penn State University Park. https://www.assertion-evidence.com/templates.html

Duarte, N. (2008). Slide:ology: T he art and science of creating great presentations . Duarte.com. https://www.duarte.com/books/slideology/

Duarte, N. (2011, November.) The secret structure of great talks. TEDxEast. https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Duarte, N. (2014) How to Create Better Presentations [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9EJoQJc-0&t=2s

Garner, J.K., Alley, M., Sawarynski, L.E., Wolfe, K.L., & Zappe, S.E. (2011). Assertion-evidence slides appear to lead to better comprehension and recall of more complex concepts.  American Society of Engineers. PDF.

Garr, R. (2011). PresentationZen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. Toronto: Pearson. http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321811981/samplepages/0321811984.pdf

Hunt, Ted. (2013, July 5).  A pro designer shares the psychology of font choices. [Infographic]. The Daily Egg.

Keithonearth, [Bicycle image embedded in slide]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derailleur_gears#/media/File:Derailleur_Bicycle_Drivetrain.svg . CC BY-SA 3.0.

McMurrey, D. (1997-2017). Online technical writing: Oral presentations. https://mcmassociates.io/textbook/oral.html

Online Writing Lab (OWL). Visual rhetoric. University of Purdue. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/visual_rhetoric/visual_rhetoric/index.html

Wikipedia. (2021, February 9 edited). Rule of Thirds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Yale, R. (2013). The Assertion-evidence structure for PowerPoint slide design. YouTube. https://youtu.be/xNW84FUe0ZA

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last and Robin L. Potter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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57 11.5 Slides and PowerPoint presentations

To powerpoint or not to powerpoint.

Microsoft introduced PowerPoint in 1990, and the conference room has never been the same. Millions were amazed by the speed with which a marketing professional or an academic could put together a consistent, professional-looking slide presentation. And then…

At some point, somebody with critical thinking skills asked a great question: “Do we really need all these slide shows?” The stock images of arrows, businesspeople in suits, stick figures scratching their heads, and the glowing, jewel-toned backgrounds eventually looked tired and failed to evoke the “wow” reaction presenters desired.

Microsoft is attempting to refresh the design options for PowerPoint, and there are dozens of good alternatives, some of them free (Keynote, Slide Bureau, Prezi, SlideRocket, Easel.ly, Emaze, Slidedog). But the fundamental problem remains—text-heavy, unfocused, overlong presentations are the problem, not the software. If you are sure that a visual presentation will provide something necessary to your audience, keep the number of slides and the amount of text on each slide to a bare minimum. Think of a slide presentation as a way of supporting or augmenting the content in your talk; don’t let the slides replace your content.

If you had planned to read your slides to the audience, don’t. It’s considered one of the single most annoying things a presenter can do. Excessively small text and complex visuals (including distracting animations) are frequently cited as annoyances.

Try to design your slides so that they contain information that your viewers might want to write down; for example, good presentations often contain data points that speakers can’t just rattle off or quick summaries of key concepts that viewers won’t be able to make up on the fly. If you can’t explain how the slides add value to your presentation, don’t use them.

To get a feel for what may annoy your audience, try Googling “annoying PowerPoint presentations.” You’ll get a million hits containing helpful feedback and good examples of what not to do. And finally, consider designing your presentation to allow for audience participation instead of passive viewing of a slideshow—a good group activity or a two-way discussion is a far better way to keep an audience engaged than a stale, repetitive set of slides.

Tips for good slides

All of the design guidelines in this chapter—CRAP in particular—will help you design consistent, helpful, and visually appealing slides. But all the design skill in the world won’t help you if your content is not tightly focused, smoothly delivered, and visible. Slides overloaded with text and/or images will strain your audience’s capacity to identify important information. Complex, distracting transitions or confusing (or boring) graphics that aren’t consistent with your content are worse than no graphics at all. Here are some general tips:

• Simplicity is best: use a small number of high-quality graphics and limit bullet points and text. Don’t think of a slide as a page that your audience should read.
• Break your information up into small bites for your audience, and make sure your presentation flows well. Think of a slide as a way of reminding you and the audience of the topic at hand.
• Slides should have a consistent visual theme; some pros advise that you avoid using the stock PowerPoint templates, but the Repetition and Alignment aspects of CRAP are so important that if you don’t have considerable design skill, templates are your best bet. You can even buy more original-looking templates online if you don’t like the ones provided with the software.
• Choose your fonts carefully. Make sure the text is readable from a distance in a darkened room. Practice good Repetition (the “R” in CRAP) and keep fonts consistent.
• Practice your presentation as often as you can. Software is only a tool, and the slide projector is not presenting— you Realizing this is half the battle.

CHAPTER ATTRIBUTION INFORMATION

This chapter was written by Jodi Naas, Portland Community College, and is licensed  CC-BY 4.0 .

Technical Writing Copyright © 2017 by Allison Gross; Annemarie Hamlin; Billy Merck; Chris Rubio; Jodi Naas; Megan Savage; and Michele DeSilva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Technical writing can help individuals save time and money, while at the same same time stimulating the economy. Without good technical writing, individuals and businesses could be discouraged from investing in new products and processes. Patents may not be granted because of undocumented similarities to other known products. Thus, the importance of technical writing is not only seen in the money it helps to generate, but also by the convenience and safety it creates for readers. http://www.makemyessay.com/marketing-assignment-help/

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Technical Writing

What is Technical Writing?Technical writing introduces you to some of the most important aspects of writing in the world of science, technology, and business – the kind of writing that scientists, nurses, doctors, computer specialists, government officials, engineers, and other people do as a part of their regular work.

What is Technical Writing?The term “technical” refers to knowledge that is not widespread, that is more the territory of experts and specialists.Whatever your major is, you are developing an expertise, and whenever you try to write anything about your field, you are engaged in technical writing.

What is Technical Writing?Technical communication can be written, oral, or visual. Technical writing is composed in and for the workplace. Technical writing is a significant factor in work experience for a variety of reasons. Technical writing serves valuable purposes in the workplace and often involves teamwork.

What is the purpose of technical writing?Technical writing is the delivery of technical information to readers in a manner that is adapted to their needs, level of understanding, and background.Technical writing is intended to communicate to a specific audience, for a specific purpose.

Importance of Technical WritingIs important to success in business Lets you conduct business Takes time Costs the company Reflects your interpersonal communication skills Often involves teamwork

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Types of Technical Documents

Oral/virtual presentations.

• While you may speak many words, oral presentations require you to hone your written language down to essentials to be shown on PowerPoint slides or written on a chart or whiteboard.
• Oral presentations rely heavily on visuals to illustrate concepts and engage your audience.
• Oral presentations rely heavily on tone, which can be more varied than the clear, straightforward tone that characterizes most written technical communications.

Characteristics of Effective Oral Presentations

The following characteristics help to create effective oral presentations:

Clear structure

Presentations should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

• The introduction should immediately clarify your topic, purpose, and method of approach. Provide a brief overview in the introduction, and find a way to emphasize the importance of your topic, which will help create audience interest.
• The middle should use clear headings for each major concept. Work on transitions when you rehearse the presentation on your own, inserting words that link ideas from topic to topic, so that an audience understands how one piece of information leads into the next.
• The end should briefly summarize your main points and offer a concluding thought. You may also want to leave time to answer audience questions at the end, to make sure they understand your main points.

Appropriate Content

The content of any presentation needs to be directly aligned with the presentation’s purpose. When speaking, it’s relatively easy to go off on a tangent, but you should avoid straying into other topics that do not relate to your main purpose. Content also needs to be developed and specific enough so that your audience can understand all of your main points. Plan to explain any technical aspect of your topic clearly and understandably. Don’t race through complex, technical information if it’s needed in the presentation; instead, explain it carefully without jargon, so that audience members with varied technical background can understand.

Appropriate Visuals

Use photographs, diagrams, charts, graphs, and tables as appropriate to support the presentation’s content and illustrate key points. Depending on the type and context of your presentation, you might also use posters, infographics, or other types of visual displays. All visuals with text should be large enough so that they are easy to read, although text in visuals should be kept to a minimum. Use at least one visual in an oral presentation, and preferably more. Make sure you discuss key elements of your visuals. Point out things about them; explain them to the audience.

Clear, Appropriate Language

Language should be appropriate to the audience in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure (simpler is better), jargon, and tone. Avoid language that shows bias, and avoid grammatical errors.

Engaging Presentation

The way you deliver a presentation affects the whole presentation.

• Show appropriate enthusiasm through tone of voice. If you’re engaged in the topic, it’s more likely that your audience will engage as well.
• Speak clearly, loudly, and slowly enough so that everyone can follow.
• Be conscious of—and try to eliminate—too many “uh,” “you know,” “OK” and other verbal fillers. It’s OK to take a brief, silent pause, as that gives listeners time to process what you’re saying.
• Make eye contact with audience members or groups, and make sure to look at different places in the room so that you eventually look at everyone or every location.
• Stay alert to signs of disinterest (e.g., texting, flipping through papers) and shift your volume or location in the room to encourage your audience to listen.
• Be conscious of how you’re standing or sitting so that you appear natural. Avoid too much gesturing and, conversely, try not to appear frozen. But do sit or stand straight.
• Above all, although you’ll have notes or a script for your presentation, don’t simply read! Reading takes you away from engaging with your audience and often sounds too stilted and formal, which lessens audience interest. Practice your presentation enough so that you’re familiar with the content and don’t have to read.

Well-designed visuals foster audience engagement. PowerPoint is probably the most common form of visual aid used in presentations, and it has its pros and cons. However, while there are other presentation tools, PowerPoint is a standard workplace tool, so it would be wise to learn how to use it effectively. The key concept to remember is that your PowerPoint slides should  supplement  and  illustrate  what you want to say to your audience.

Five things to do when using PowerPoint:

• In general, use one slide per main idea. After the introductory slide, you should have at least one slide for each important concept in your presentation. Each of these slides should have a heading that identifies that main point.
• If you need more than one slide per main idea, use the same heading with p. 2, p. 3, etc., or with (cont’d). You can also use unique sub-headings for additional slides that relate to a main idea.
• Pare language to just the essential words and phrases, which are often offered in a bulleted list.
• Choose visuals that are easy to read and that illustrate the concept on the slide.
• Although the practice used to be to design all slides within one presentation in similar ways, more recent practice involves switching the slide layout at points, while still using the same template , to maintain visual interest.

Five things not to do when using PowerPoint:

• Do not create text-heavy or all-text slides. Don’t simply put your written report into slides.
• Do not use small size type; you need at least 12-point and usually larger for your audience to be able to read. Also do not choose a fancy font. Use a simple sans serif font such as Calibri or Arial.
• Do not choose a “busy” or too colorful template, as that will distract from the slide’s content. Choose a simple template or a blank one.
• Limit colored text, as it’s harder to read. For the most part, choose high contrast between text and background.
• Do not include animations, swirling text, or anything that flashes.

sample powerpoint slides

To emphasize the need to apply good design principles to PowerPoint slides, look at the following three files.

• The  first example  provides a student PowerPoint  based on a formal proposal. The content is very good for a formal proposal but not for a PowerPoint, as it’s all text.
• The  second example  is a professional presentation which applies some of the design principles discussed, in terms of reducing information on the slides, but uses a standard format.
• The  third example  offers the same information as the second example, but designs and presents that information differently, using visuals and varying the format.

If you were in the audience for these presentations, which one would you want to hear/see?

Also visit Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab page on Data Visualization Best Practices Presentation to see a simple PowerPoint that illustrates basic design principles.

The following videos provide tips for creating effective PowerPoint slides.

Note that if you have never used PowerPoint, Microsoft offers useful PowerPoint for Windows training.

Virtual Presentations

Since virtual presentations are a particular type of oral presentation, most of the characteristics of effective oral presentations apply with just a few differences or additions, which consist of the following:

Ground Rules

Establish ground rules at the start of the presentation.

• Explain how to chat or raise a hand, if such explanation is necessary.
• Let people know whether you or a helper will be monitoring chat during the presentation.
• Let your audience know whether you’ll stop at intervals or wait until the end of the presentation to address questions and comments.
• Ask participants to mute their mikes or mute everyone yourself, if the system allows that, and let your audience know they’ll be muted.
• Explain whether you’ll be sharing your screen or will be presenting live. Especially if presenting live, you may want people to turn off their cameras during your presentation so that your audience’s attention is on you and your information.

Be very brief in virtual presentations. Attention spans wander, and your audience may start multi-tasking if your presentation is too long. Aim for about ten (10) minutes maximum for a straight presentation. If you need more time, incorporate some way to break up the presentation with a poll, a quick activity, or a question for which you briefly take answers. Note that if you use any of these interactive strategies, you need to plan for them in your presentation so that you refer to their outcome when you switch back to solo presentation mode.

Lighting, Background, and Sound

No matter if you’re sharing a PowerPoint presentation from your computer screen, at some point during a virtual presentation, it’s likely that you’ll appear on camera. Test the system beforehand to make sure lighting is appropriate—not too dim or too shadowy. Choose a simple, professional background, even if you’re presenting from home. The pre-established backgrounds that some systems offer may be fun, but if you’re using one, make sure it’s simple, clean, and professional. If you’re using your computer’s microphone rather than a headset, realize that it will pick up other sounds, so move your phone, family, and pets into another room.

You as a Prepared Presenter

Prepare yourself to present professionally, even if you are presenting from home. Dress appropriately. Sit up straight. You may even decide to stand. Look directly into your camera so that it does not seem as though you’re looking elsewhere on the screen. Experiment with the technology beforehand so you can use it smoothly. If you decide to share your screen, turn off other tabs to minimize pop-ups and mistakes going to the wrong tab. If you have a video, PowerPoint slides, or other technology that runs the risk of not functioning properly, have back-up links and files to send to your audience.

The following video illustrates tips for using Skype or any other synchronous, online presentation tool.

• Oral / Virtual Presentations, adapted from Open Technical Communication and Technical Writing Essentials; attributions below. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Provided by : Empire State College, SUNY. Project : Technical Writing. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• Oral Presentations (pages 1-4 of 5). Authored by : David McMurrey & Cassandra Race. Provided by : Kennesaw State University. Located at : https://softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/XpeRv2NLIfUu8w/html . Project : Open Technical Communication. License : CC BY: Attribution
• 8.2 Developing Presentation Skills. Authored by : Suzan Last and Monika Smith. Provided by : University of Victoria. Located at : https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/developingpresentationskills/ . Project : Technical Writing Essentials. License : CC BY: Attribution
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• image of a laptop with screen showing a person presenting. Authored by : Tumisu. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/online-meeting-virtual-skype-zoom-5059830/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
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Technical Writing - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Technical Writing

Technical writing definition goals writing process what is technical writing technical writing introduces you to some of the most important aspects of writing in the ... – powerpoint ppt presentation.

• Writing Process
• Technical writing introduces you to some of the most important aspects of writing in the world of science, technology, and business the kind of writing that scientists, nurses, doctors, computer specialists, government officials, engineers, and other people do as a part of their regular work.
• The term technical refers to knowledge that is not widespread, that is more the territory of experts and specialists.
• Whatever your major is, you are developing an expertise, and whenever you try to write anything about your field, you are engaged in technical writing.
• Technical communication can be written, oral, or visual.
• Technical writing is composed in and for the workplace.
• Technical writing is a significant factor in work experience for a variety of reasons.
• Technical writing serves valuable purposes in the workplace and often involves teamwork.
• Business and industry have expectations about the results of teamwork.
• Business management philosophies depend upon teamwork.
• Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma (continuous improvement) programs encourage efficient teamwork.
• Strategies for successful collaboration can improve outcomes.
• Technical writing is the delivery of technical information to readers in a manner that is adapted to their needs, level of understanding, and background.
• Technical writing is intended to communicate to a specific audience, for a specific purpose.
• The audience element is so important that it is one of the cornerstones of technical writing.
• You are challenged to write about highly technical subjects but in a way that a beginnera non-specialistcould understand.
• In a world of rapid technological development, people are constantly falling behind and becoming technological illiterates.
• As a technical writer, you need to write about the area of specialization you know and plan to write about in such a way that even Granddad can understand.
• Conciseness
• Organization
• Methods for developing ideas precisely
• An expressive essay can clarify the writers intent through emotional, impressionistic, connotative words (soon, many, several, etc.).
• An impressionistic word such as near will mean different things to different people which is okay in in an essay where the goal may be to convey a feeling.
• The ultimate goal of effective technical writing is to say the same thing to every reader.
• Lets say I write instructional manuals for company manufacturing space heaters. If I write,
• Place the space heater near an open window,
• what will this mean to thousands of customers who purchase the machine?
• One person may place the heater 6 feet from the window.
• Another reader will place the heater 6 inches from the window.
• As the writer, I have failed to communicate clearly.
• Provide specific detail
• Avoid vague words (some, recently)
• Answer reporters questions (who, what, where, when, why, how)
• Avoid obscure words
• Use easily understood words
• Write to express, not to impress
• Write to communicate, not to confuse
• Write the way you speak
• aforementioned already discussed
• in lieu of instead of
• Limit and/or define your use of abbreviations , acronyms, and jargon.
• Define your terms parenthetically
• CIA (Cash in Advance)
• Supply a separate glossary
• Alphabetized list of terms, followed by their definitions
• Use the active versus the passive voice.
• Passive voice
• It was decided all employees will take a ten percent cut in pay.
• Unclear Who decided?
• Active The Board of Directors decided that all employees . . .
• Overtime is favored by hourly workers.
• Active Hourly workers favor overtime.
• Limit paragraph, word, and sentence length.
• A paragraph in a memo, letter, or short report should consist of
• No more than four to six typed lines or
• No more than fifty words.
• Fog index (sixth to eighth grade level)
• Strive for an average of 15 words per sentence
• No more than 5 multisyllabic words per 100 words
• Count up to 100 words in successive sentences
• Divide words by number of sentences average number of words per sentence
• Count number of long words (three or more syllables) within sentences
• Dont count proper names (Christopher Columbus), long words created by combining shorter words (chairperson), or three syllable words created by ed or es endings (united).
• Use the meat cleaver theory of revision
• Cut the sentence in half or thirds
• Avoid shun words
• Avoid words ending in tion or sion
• Came to the conclusion concluded
• Avoid camouflaged words
• Make an amendment to amend
• Avoid the expletive pattern
• There is, are, was, were, will be
• There are three people who will work for Acme.
• Three people will work for Acme.
• Omit redundancies
• During the year of 1996
• During 1996
• Avoid wordy phrases
• In order to purchase to purchase
• Proofread for accuracy
• Consider ethics
• The importance of correct grammar and mechanics
• Grammatical or mechanical errors make writers look unprofessional and incompetent.
• Grammar is so important in technical writing that in a one page assignment
• 4 major grammatical errors F
• 3 major grammatical errors D
• 2 major grammatical errors C
• 1 major grammatical error B
• A means excellent which is defined as without flaw
• Methods for organizing
• General to Specific
• Chronological
• Mechanism Description
• Process Description
• Classification
• Comparison/Contrast
• More Important to Less Important
• Situation-Problem-Solution-Evaluation
• Cause-Effect
• Ethics methods encouraging moral standards in technical writing
• General categories of ethics in communication
• Behavior towards colleagues, subordinates and others (plagiarism, harassment, malicious actions)
• Dealing with experimental subjects, interviewees, etc. (informed consent)
• Telling the truth (falsify data, misrepresent facts)
• Rhetoricchoosing your words (loaded words, discriminatory language, logical fallacies)
• The writing process is effective . . . and easy.
• All that you need to do is three things
• Prewrite (about 25 percent of your time)
• Write (about 25 percent of your time)
• Rewrite (about 50 percent of your time)
• Reporters questions
• Mind mapping
• Brainstorming/listing
• Flowcharting
• Storyboarding
• Is important to success in business
• Lets you conduct business
• Costs the company
• Reflects your interpersonal communication skills
• Often involves teamwork
• Society for Technical Communication
• Technical Writing - A Dalton Organizing
• Online Technical Writing Information Infrastructures Comparison
• Online Technical Writing

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