APTER SEVENTEEN

If you believe your public speaking days are over simply because you have completed your last required speech course, you have a rude awakening ahead. The competitive world of science, technology, and business is built around technical presentations. Increasingly, companies are relying on their technical experts to present information to various audiences. The topics can be quite varied, from plans and programs, to goods and services, to advanced theories and concepts. The audiences can range from your coworkers in a staff meeting to thousands of people in an international video teleconference. What A r e P r e s e n t a t i o n s a n d Briefings? Presentations and briefings are interpersonal performances in which concise technical information is provided to an attending audience. These performances, normally done live, are augmented by visuals and other media. Making effective technical presentations and briefings is not easy. Doing so requires a fertile imagination, a bit of courage, technical expertise in the subject, and the ability to communicate accurately and effectively. When you are asked by your boss to make a technical presentationand sooner or later you will bedo not despair. Wasting energy on fear will not help you give a good presentation. What will help is the following: Identify the purpose for the presentation, and locate or develop the kind of information required. 305

What Are Presentations and Briefings? 307 306 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings Find a simple way to organize these ideas clearly and effectively. Tailor the presentation and its materials to the audience and purpose at hand. Rehearse the presentation several times. What makes a technical presentation effective is no big secret. Here are the key factors: Substantive ideas with precise, accurate information. Clear, coherent organization. Terminology and concepts appropriate for the audience. Effective supporting media. Professional performance before the audience. Substantive Ideas The first consideration when you are giving a technical presentation is to have something worth presenting. In technical presentations the subject matter and purpose are usually well defined. You might be presenting a proposal on behalf of your company, the status of your project, the results of a laboratory study, or just information from a research project. In any case, the purpose and topic will dictate what substance needs to be included. Clear, Coherent Organization Once you figure out what you want to say, organize the material so you can present it effectively. Oral presentations differ from written ones in t h a t spoken words are transient. If those reading your writing have trouble following what you are saying, they can reread it, think more about it, maybe ask someone else, and perhaps, in time, figure it out. Those listening to an oral presentation, however, do not have t h a t luxury. What happens if the members of your audience get lost or cannot follow your line of thought? What happens is mostly bad! They may stop to think about it, in which case they will not be listening to what you are saying next. Or they may ignore what you said and try to keep up, in which case they will have missed your earlier point. Or they may just get frustrated and stop listening altogether, in which case they are no longer part of your audience. Of course, audience members can always interrupt to say they do not understand; but in many situations, that is unlikely. It requires a tacit admission on their part, in front of their bosses and peers, that they do not understand what everyone else seems to understand. Normally, audience members keep quiet in situations like that. That is why, especially for oral presentations, it is important to organize what you have to say in a way that is clear and obvious to your audience. Ideas even difficult theoretical conceptsare much easier to follow and understand if they are organized logically and coherently. Terminology and Concepts Use words t h a t are appropriate for your audience and type of presentation. Informal presentations can use informal language, whereas formal ones should be more "proper." Never use words t h a t your audience will not understand. Readers can stop and look up something t h a t they do not understand. But if your listeners do not accurately comprehend your words, you will lose their attention. Of course, they may also misunderstand what you are saying. This situation can be worse than when the audience does not understand, because now your listeners may believe they understand when, in fact, they do not. Effective Delivery You have figured out what to say, you have organized the material into a coherent and logical structure, and you have selected the proper language.

308 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings Exactly how you deliver your presentation to the audience depends on the rhetorical situation. If you are speaking in an informal meeting, you might stand up and talk from your position at the table, or you might even stay seated. If you are making a formal presentation, you will probably do so from the focal point of the room, probably a podium or table up front. If you are giving a briefing, you will probably have chartsusually computer-generated presentation graphics running through a video projection system or large display terminal, or in some cases, old-fashioned transparencies with an overhead projector. You may find yourself speaking unassisted to a small group, or you may use a sound system with thousands of people in the audience. Perhaps you will have a time limit. You may flip your own charts, or you may remotely signal a technician in a projection booth to change your charts. And, increasingly, you may speak through a teleconferencing camera to many people in geographically remote locations. Obviously, you must adapt your presentation to whatever situation you are in. However, some general principles apply to any presentation. First, make sure you look professional and act professionally. Also, if you have briefing charts, make sure your charts are professional in content and appearance. Some listeners may interpret substandard charts or inappropriate personal appearance as a lack of interest or capability on your part. One final note regarding delivery of your presentation: It is normal to be nervous. To some extent, this nervousness is a positive thing. When controlled, it can give you an edge that will make your presentation more lively. However, nervousness, when not controlled, can distract your audience and degrade your presentation. It can cause you to stumble over your words, lose track of time, perspire on your notes, and speak too rapidly. So what do you do for nervousness? First, get to know your material backward and forward. Be

Speaking Situations 309 familiar not only with what you plan to say, but also with the theory and details behind what you are saying. Second, rehearse your presentationon your feet and out loudto the point where you are comfortable giving it. If you are using charts, change them as though you were actually giving the presentation. Practice may not make perfect, but it helps build your confidence and capability. Third, if possible, visit the facility where you will make the presentation. Make sure you know how to raise or lower the podium and locate and use any control devices. Knowing both your material and your surroundings will help control your nervousness.

Speaking Situations In the technical world, you generally will see three distinctly different types of speaking situations. Here they are, along with a few hints for dealing effectively with them. Impromptu Picture this situation: You are a systems administrator working for a large company. You have been invited to attend the morning staff meeting. One of the vice presidents mentions hearing on the morning news something about a hacker breaking into a competitor's Web server and substituting a clown's picture for that of the CEO. Everyone laughs except your company's CEO. With a deadly serious look on his face, he turns toward you and asks you to describe the security measures you are taking to counter such threats. Everyone turns, looks at you, and waits. You are on! You have found yourself in an impromptu situation, where you have to talk intelligently on a complex topic with virtually no preparation time. Although such speaking would be highly unlikely in a formal situation, it does occur frequently in such informal settings as staff meetings. Clearly, this

310 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings situation is risky. The wrong choice of words, topics, and arguments can be hazardous to your career. And if you say something stupid, people will not remember that you did so in an impromptu mode only t h a t you said something stupid. So here are a few suggestions for handling impromptu situations. First, if you think there is a chance you will be put on the spot, think through what you will say in advance. Clearly, as a systems administrator, you should have known about the hacker; and once you were invited to the staff meeting, you should have realized t h a t the topic might come up. Second, when you are unexpectedly put on the spot, do what forensic coaches teach their competitive speakers to do: Buy some time to think about it. One way to do t h a t is to divide the topic in some generic way. For example, everything has a past, present, and future. So, in this case, divide computer security into the past, present, and future and talk, by way of introduction, about how it used to be in the days before networks and hackers. While buying time, you should be able to gather your thoughts for what you are going to say next. Of course, this assumes you know what you are talking about. If you are not sure, it is best not to make up facts in an attempt to bluff your way through the presentation. If you get caught, you will lose your credibility, which is difficult to get back. Extemporaneous Extemporaneous speaking is the preferred mode for a technical presentation because the presentation is well prepared but not precisely scripted. If you give an extemporaneous presentation, you will follow an outline, but you will use your own words to discuss the material. Extemporaneous speaking can be effective in technical situations, but only if you know the information and have practiced the presentation. You can use note cards for facts and figures and outlines

Speaking Purposes 311 for the presentation, but do not read from full pages of text. It is easy to get lost in a full page of text; and when reading it, you will often come across as stilted and insincere. Manuscript Manuscript presentations are totally prepared in advance. When you give one of these, all you do is read the script, with maybe some gestures and inflection added at appropriate places in the manuscript for emphasis. Try to avoid these kinds of presentations. They come across as insincere and stuffy, and when lengthy, they often generate boredom and despair among those stuck in the audience. However, manuscripts do have a place in technical presentations, especially where high precision in detail and word selection is essential. For example, technical presentations t h a t are going to be translated into several languages need careful word selection, especially where international business and commerce are involved. Also, if you are making a legal statement on behalf of the company, it is usually best to read, verbatim, what the legal staff has prepared. One more point: Never try to recite a presentation from memory. If you are distracted or have any kind of memory lapse, you will find yourself "hung out to dry" in front of an audience with nowhere to go and nothing to say.

Speaking Purposes Knowing the purpose for a technical document is critical to how you write it. In the same way, knowing the purpose for a technical presentation is critical to what information you include and how you present it. Generally speaking, technical presentations are informative, demonstrative, or persuasive.

312 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings Informative In an informative presentation, your primary goal is to give the audience facts and other information. Informative presentations often take the form of a background briefing, where no decisions are required and no particular response is expected from the audience. A briefing on the characteristics of a new proton exchange membrane for fuel cells would be an informative presentation. As you might imagine, these presentations are relatively nonthreatening events t h a t normally are considered low-risk. Demonstrative The primary goal of a demonstrative presentation is to show the audience how to do something or how something works. Teaching students in a computer class how to access and use a simulation on the Web would be such a presentation. These kinds of presentations often require audience interaction. They also tend to depend on having tools, equipment, and materials available during the presentation. Consequently, while relatively nonthreatening to the audience, they can be higher in risk because of your dependence on the equipment's working properly when needed. Test the equipment thoroughly before the presentation, understand what you are doing, and have a backup plan should something go wrong. Also, make sure you take all safety precautions, if warranted, so t h a t you are not endangering anyone by your demonstration. Persuasive Apersuasive presentation tries to convince the audience to make a particular decision or take some specific action. Often these presentations take the form of decision briefings, where you ask the boss to fund your project or approve an organizational change. Of all the technical briefings, these are potentially the highest risk because scarce resources, such as dollars and people, are often involved. Your briefing

Technical Briefings 313 may be part of a zero-sum game; if you win, someone in the audience loses. The best advice is to know what you are talking about, have supporting facts and figures readily available, and keep your cool under fire.

Technical Briefings Technical briefings are focused oral presentations that use visual aids normally referred to as charts. These charts can take the form of slides, transparencies, or computer-generated graphics. The briefing charts provide an outline of the presentation and, like technical documents, include words, illustrations, photographs, line graphs, and tables. They also add visual interest and transitions to the presentation. General Guidelines Use briefing charts to punctuate the presentation with short phrases and visuals, but do not attempt to provide a manuscript on the screen for the audience to read. Here are a few tips for producing briefing charts: Take full advantage of computer-generated presentation graphics whenever possible. Programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint have become the standard for business and technical presentations. Such programs are powerful software packages that provide many sophisticated capabilities, yet they are also generally simple to learn. You will find that producing truly professional presentations, using standard templates and color schemes, is easy and inexpensive with these software packages. You can also use these programs to print high-quality paper copies (often called hard copies), as well as backup transparencies, just in case the computer system goes down when it is your t u r n to speak.

314 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings Make sure your charts will be readable in the room in which you will be speaking. Normally you will want to use at least an 18-point font. Avoid script and fancy fonts because they can be difficult to read. Standard templates t h a t come with software packages such as Powerpoint generally provide readable color schemes and font sizes. 1 Never read the content of a chart word for word to your audience unless you are quoting material for effect. Use short phrases (called bullets) on your charts, not complete sentences. Pick your colors carefully. Lower-contrast combinations (such as light blue on darker blue, or white on yellow) may look fine on your video display and on quality projection systems, but they could visually fall apart with lower-quality systems. This problem also can occur when the ambient light in the room reduces the effective contrast of the projected image. Additionally, avoid light-colored fonts on dark backgrounds (inverted text) if you are not sure of the projection system and room. Under good conditions they can look dramatic; however, you will find t h a t dark fonts on light backgrounds are readable in marginal situations when inverted combinations are not. Keep in mind that stronger colors such as red can overpower some members of your audience, while weaker colors such as yellow may fade out on them. Like technical documents, technical briefings are straightforward and easy to organize. Typically a technical briefing contains the following charts: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Title chart Overview chart Discussion charts Summary chart Concluding chart

Technical Briefings 315 in the body of the presentation. They also provide numerous color schemes and template designs, all of which can be customized with your own color preferences, artwork, and images. Pick a standard template, modify it, or develop your own specific color scheme and design. Settle on something you like, then use t h a t look consistently throughout the entire presentation. Title Chart The title chart leads off your briefing by telling your audience the topic of the presentation and your name, position, and affiliation. In some cases you might want to add your email address and telephone number. Figure 17.1 provides a sample title chart done in Powerpoint. The charts in this figure and those that follow feature the logo of the Village Thumper Laboratory overlaid onto a s t a n d a r d Powerpoint design. Notice that the name of the briefer, Anita M. McFinkel (the fictitious niece of the fictitious William E. McFinkel), has been included on this chart, along with her title and position. Ml Y\ Thumper r.abs AD i v i s i o no f Village Thumpers Enterprises

J J MegatubeXL Research Project (MRP) Performance in Audio Service Prepared by Anita M. McFinkel, Ph.D. Director of Laboratory Operations Figure 17.1 Title chart. Overview Chart The overview chart lists the main topics to be discussed in your briefing. It describes to your audience

Programs such as Powerpoint provide separate layout masters for title charts and the slide charts used

T 316 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings how you are organizing your presentation and what information will be included in it. Be sure to use short phrases (bullets) on this chart, not complete sentences. Figure 17.2 provides a sample overview chart. Mlj\Thumper Labs QverVJeW Theoretical Considerations Test and Evaluation Apparatus Procedures Findings Conclusion Assessment Recommendation Figure 17.2 Overview chart. Discussion Chart Discussion charts constitute the body of your presentation. Normally you will have one or more discussion charts for each topic listed on your overview chart. Figure 17.3 provides a sample discussion chart t h a t uses bullets rather t h a n complete sen-

Technical Briefings 317

,)jThumperLabs Megatube Data Power & Frequency

2 3 * b 6 7 8 91 01 11 21 31 41 51 6I T1 81 92 0 F R E O U C a C Y K IH )i Figure 17.4 Discussion chart (graph). tences. Figure 17.4 provides a sample discussion chart t h a t uses a line graph to present data. Summary Chart The summary chart gives your audience a brief summary of the important points of your presentation. In many cases you may be able to reuse much of your overview chart as your summary chart. Figure 17.5 provides an example of a summary chart. ^}0)ThumPe, Lab* s u m m a r y Theoretical Considerations Test and Evaluation Apparatus Procedures Findings Figure 17.5 Summary chart. Concluding Chart A concluding chart may or may not be required. In presentations where you are concluding something from your material and perhaps even making a rec-

Thumper Labs T h e o r y Use in Class C RF .1.2 megawatts . Frequency range of .5KHz-300MHz > Shortwave and FM broadcast Use in Class A Audio .1.2 megawatts Frequency range of DC-20KHz Figure 17.3 Discussion chart (theory).

318

Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings ommendation, you will need to add this chart. Figure 17.6 provides a sample concluding chart.

Controlling Complexity 319 Figure 17.7 on the screen and then talked about task analysis for 30 minutes? The multiple line graphs are so visually complex, and the font size of the labels on the diagram is so small, that not even an eagle sitting in the room could discern it, much less a h u m a n being. And the h u m a n being and eagle would have about the same level of interest and understanding. A good rule of thumb is t h a t if you have to drop the font size below 18 points to fit the information on the chart, then you are probably putting too much information on the chart. The best approach is to decide whether all t h a t information is really necessary for the purpose of your briefing. If not, get rid of what is not needed. For example, in Figure 17.7, what does the specification diagram have to do with task analysis? Why is t h a t diagram even included? Additionally, why do all the tasks need to be graphed on the same chart? Remember, more charts with less information are usually better t h a n fewer charts with more. Special Effects Another way of adding complexity to briefings is by incorporating special effects. In presentation software packages such as Powerpoint, it is a simple

^V^Thumper Labs

Conclusion

j Tube performed well Test constraints High-power levels not duplicated . Only power, distortion, and signal/noise measured Preliminary Assessment Tube is viable candidate Figure 17.6 Concluding chart.

Controlling Complexity A guiding rule for producing technical reports is to use only the information that is necessary to get the job done. This guideline is even more important in technical briefings. Avoid adding anything to your briefing t h a t does not have a specific purpose or serve a necessary function. Visuals and Complexity Your audience can absorb only so much information on the screen at one time. A service technician can effectively use, say, a large wiring diagram of a complex control system when t h a t diagram is on his or her desk, and he or she has the time and need to trace through it. That same technician would find the same diagram useless, and even irritating, if you projected it onto a screen in a briefing. The detail would be difficult, if not impossible, to see or comprehend on the screen. The same thing is true for complex tables or graphs of data on one chart. What if someone put up

JO) T^per Labs Task Analysis MegatubeXL Assessment

mt # < * Vum

Kil 9 0 -^Taskl 8 0 Task 2 7 ( 1 /v* Task i (.0 s'LLf\ v Task 4 5 ( 1 s ^ I /A \ f ^ yum^m^ 4 ( 1 ^y^Ti * A* -* Task 6 3 ( 1 r j V V ^ Task 7 2 ( 1 Task* f ft-Oi Vl < tlrmmi** ;fr\. p M II) K -Task 9 V .7 r w M i< W M II F * u p t 1 H X L 1 0 O O 0 0 0t u t o . * / v> *

Figure 17.7 Overly complex chart.

320 Chapter 17 Presentations and Briefings matter to add animation, video, and sound to your charts. You can have text flying in and out, diagrams dissolving into one another, animated arrows directing the audience's attention, and a whole range of other visual effects. You can punctuate every visual effect with a pop, bang, or squawk. You can stir the emotions with big band music and soothe them with the sounds of the ocean. The question here is not so much what you can do, but why you would want to use these effects. Special effects can be useful in small quantities but be careful! Almost all of these effects get old quickly, even for the most patient audience. For example, using flying text or a humorous sound effect to highlight a point is fine, but using such effects throughout the entire briefing will become irritating and distracting. Too much of anything is usually bad. There is one final consideration for special effects. Many of these effects are data-intensive, requiring a great deal of processing overhead by the computer. That may not be a problem when you are sitting at home or in the office designing your briefing on your top-of-the-line computer. But what happens when you take your presentation on the road and the only available machine is old? Your presentation may become marginally usable. The same thing can occur when you use high-resolution graphics in your presentation: you may have to wait for what will seem an eternity while the machine loads the next chart, especially when trying to progress rapidly through a sequence of these charts. Finally, avoid self-timed presentations, where you program the computer to change your slides for you at predetermined intervals. This is truly a recipe for disaster because you will never stay in sync with the computer, and the experience will not be the highlight of your career. Your audience will also be distracted, either waiting to see if you make it through the current chart before it changes, or

Checklist for Presentations 321 watching you stand around with nothing to say as you wait for the next chart to appear.

Checklist for Presentations Iju General Checklist Do I understand the occasion and purpose of the presentation? Am I presenting information t h a t is substantive and relevant? Have I organized my information effectively? Am I using language and media that are appropriate to my audience? Checklist for Technical Briefings Have I included a title chart with my name and organization? Have I included an overview chart listing the main topics of my briefing? Have I included at least one discussion chart for each topic on my overview? Have I included a summary chart (and conclusion chart if necessary)? Have I ensured that all my charts are readable when projected? Have I chosen an effective design scheme, and am I using it consistently? Q Have I avoided unnecessary complexity in all of my charts? Have I evaluated the briefing room and equipment beforehand (if possible)?