• welcome
• administration
• schedule
• project
  • requirements
  • design
  • coding
  • presentation
  • testing
  • hall of fame
  • info for clients
• documentation

Presentation Guidelines

For many of us, presentations are an important job skill. Business and industry constantly require it, but so do non-profit corporations, government, and many others. You would hate to give up a possible career path just because you wanted to avoid public speaking.

Some people are very confident and comfortable speaking in public. Most are not. One study showed that 40% of people said they were more afraid of speaking in public than dying! What happens when you're afraid?

• Your muscles tighten up
• Your heart races
• Your palms sweat
• You might even faint!

The way to get better is to practice! Pretend to be confident! Socrates said Seem what you would be. Here's a list of what's on this page to help you:

• How You Will Be Graded
• Content
• Manner
• Coordination
• Structure
• Technical Stuff
• Other Advice
• Slides
• Taking your Show on the Road
• Resources

How you will be graded

In this course, you will be graded on the quality of your presentation (click here for the presentation feedback form). This includes:

• 30% for content — what you say
• 40% for manner — how you say it
• 10% for coordination — how smoothly do you work as a team
• 10% for structure — Do you have a good beginning-middle-end?
• 10% for technical stuff — does your web site work?

Content (30%)

• Tell us the client's goals and target audience and why that mattered.
• Plan a path through the content.
• Give a reasonable tour of the content. The highlights, not everything.
• Tell the features, design decisions and why things were done. Talk about the invisible.
• Where there alternative designs that you considered and rejected?

Manner (40%)

1. Eye Contact
2. Voice
3. Mannerisms
4. Pace

These all interact to give an impression of confidence, candor, and competence.

Eye Contact

In order of increasing quality:

• Reading from a prepared text with your eyes glued to the paper
• Reading from a prepared text with occasional furtive glances at the audience.
• Talking to the back wall
• Glancing around the room, moving rapidly from face to face
• Looking at the people in one part of the room
• Looking at people, and moving your eyes around the room
• Direct the audience's attention with your eyes. When you want them to look at the screen, look at the screen. When you want them to look at you, look at them. Partners should support this.

Voice

When you get nervous, your muscles tighten, and this usually affects your voice. It gets smaller, higher, squeakier.

• Take full breaths.
• Try to speak louder, so that even the people in the back can hear you clearly.
• Stand up straight and look out at the audience. This helps fill your lungs and stretches your abs.
• Support your voice using your abs. Project to the back.
• Use pauses instead of um or like

Mannerisms

When we get nervous, we all tend to adopt soothing tics. Try to avoid them, or at least keep them invisible.

• Don't fiddle with the mouse or the laser pointer
• Keep your weight stable, but don't lock your knees
• Think about what to do with your hands. Ask a friend if it seems natural.
• Avoid, if possible, verbal mannerisms, like particular phrases.

Pace

• Time your talk so that it's not too long or too short. Too long is discourteous to other speakers and may annoy the audience. Too short makes it seem you don't have much to say.
• Try not to rush if you get behind. If possible, plan on optional material that can be skipped. Try not to make this obvious.
• If you get ahead, you can take longer on topics, explaining more.
• Try to make your glances at the clock unobtrusive.
• For this class, aim for 8-9 minutes.

Coordination (10%)

• Take turns speaking. Usually, the non-speaking person will operate the mouse. Share equally.
• Find good transitions in the material.
• Know what your partner will say, so that you can begin the transition.
• Practice

Structure (10%)

• Talks should have a beginning, middle and end.
• Introduce yourself at the beginning and prepare the audience. They don't know what your talk is about.
• The middle is the bulk of the talk. Work for natural transitions among topics. Ideally, tell a story
• Wrap up at the end. Repeat the major points, thank your audience, and take questions.

Technical Stuff (10%)

• Make sure you don't have any obvious mistakes on your material, such as a big, fat spelling error on the opening page.
• Avoid land mines. If some link doesn't work, don't use it. If some rollover has issues, don't show the audience. The site doesn't have to be perfect for you to avoid showing any flaws.
• Test on the computer you will use. You can use either Mac or PC. It is nice to clear the history so that all links appear unused.

Other Advice

• Avoid apologizing. Do it if you must, but projecting confidence is important.
• Don't be a perfectionist. Particularly, don't make any changes to the site right before you present, because what if something goes wrong?
• Think carefully about where you'll stand when you are speaking (not huddled behind the computer), and position yourself to work appropriately with the large projection screen.
• In general, one partner should speak while one navigates the computer, and vice versa.

Slides

In our class, you won't have slides, but let's mention them anyhow.

• Use simple backgrounds
• Use fonts with good contrast and size
• Avoid distracting special effects
• Not too much text on any slide
• Pictures should be meaningful
• Consider HTML as well as PowerPoint
• Know how to back up

Taking your Show on the Road

• Check the version of the browser and any necessary plug-ins
• Check the venue early. Surprises are never fun.
• Bring backup copies and media
• Never put your talk in checked luggage!

Resources

The PLTC has people who will listen to your talk and help you with it, or even (shudder) videotape it. If you'd like some additional help, take advantage of them.