Slide Rules : Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields

237 Pages·2014·15.4 MB·English

by  Nathans-Kelly

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Slide Rules
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IEEE Press
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Piscataway, NJ 08854
IEEE Press Editorial Board
Tariq Samad, Editor in Chief
George W. Arnold Mary Lanzerotti Linda Shafer
Dmitry Goldgof Pui-In Mak MengChu Zhou
Ekram Hossain Ray Perez George Zobrist
Kenneth Moore, Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)
Technical Reviewers
Muriel Zimmerman
Sr. Lecturer Emerita, University of California, Santa Barbara
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Slide Rules
Design, Build, and Archive
Presentations in the Engineering
and Technical Fields
Traci Nathans-Kelly
Christine G. Nicometo
IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Series
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Copyright © 2014 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Nathans-Kelly, Traci, 1967–
Slide rules : design, build, and archive presentations in the engineering and technical fields /
Traci Nathans-Kelly, Christine G. Nicometo.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-00296-4 (pbk.)
1. Communication of technical information. 2. Business presentations. 3. Presentation graphics
software. 4. Technical writing. I. Nicometo, Christine G., 1976– II. Title.
T10.5.N377 2013
620.0068′4–dc23
2013024801
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To our families
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Contents
A Note from the Series Editor ...........................................xi
Acknowledgments ..........................................................xiii
Foreword ..........................................................................xv
Introduction .................................................................1
Understand our path to these techniques .........................1
Witness the change ...........................................................2
Feel confident about these techniques .............................3
References .........................................................................3
1 Heed the Pleas for Better Presentations ..................5
Know the enemy ................................................................6
Be an agent of change ......................................................8
Call a meeting instead of summoning a slide
deck ...............................................................................8
Destroy the decks of drudgery ..........................................8
Learn communication lessons from
past tragedies ................................................................9
Confront conventional poor practices .............................10
Consider slides as a two-part deliverable .......................11
Implement your own continuous
improvement ................................................................12
References .......................................................................12
Slide Rule #1 Revisit Presentation Assumptions
2 Apply Cognitive Science and Tell a Story ...............17
Change presentation practices using grounded
research .......................................................................17
Stay open to change .......................................................18
Revisit how a slide works ................................................19
Design slides for audience’s cognitive load.....................20
Lessen cognitive load with storytelling ............................24
Apply science and storytelling .........................................27
References .......................................................................27
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viii CoNTENTS
3 Understand Audience Needs ..................................29
Scope content toward identified purpose .......................29
Learn about your audience first .......................................30
Determine the presentation’s purpose ............................32
Examine the goals for a talk ............................................33
Elevate the moment .........................................................33
Assess the audience .......................................................34
Prepare for a familiar audience ........................................34
Prepare for an unfamiliar audience ..................................35
Coping when your talk gets hijacked ..............................37
Ditch the “dumb it down” attitude ...................................38
Think of audience needs, not yours ................................42
Think about logistics .......................................................45
References.......................................................................48
4 Challenge Your Organization’s Culture
of Text-Heavy Slides .................................................49
Understand the patterns’ origin ......................................50
Stop assuming they want to read ....................................50
Work toward fewer bullets, less text ...............................51
Avoid using slides as teleprompters ................................53
Build information deliberately ..........................................54
Move beyond “How many slides
should I use?” ..............................................................54
Encourage better presentation practices ........................56
Create, compile, organize, and stabilize team
presentations ...............................................................58
Work towards a change ...................................................60
References.......................................................................60
Slide Rule #2 Write Sentence Headers
5 Clarify Topics with Full-Sentence Headers ............65
Write full sentences for headers, avoiding
fragments .....................................................................65
Consider the case against fragmented headers ................66
Deploy best practices for sentence headers ...................70
Expect immediate results ................................................71
Write targeted headers ....................................................73
State a fact or explain a concept ....................................74
Showcase an analysis .....................................................80
Transition to new information ..........................................84
Influence outcomes with headers ...................................88
Frequently asked questions about sentence
headers ........................................................................88
References.......................................................................91
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