How to Make a Successful Presentation

We've all been there... cheesy photos, information overload, flow that is as choppy as an 80's B-rated horror movie, and generally downright awful powerpoint presentations (to include libre, openoffice, google, and keynote). Having been through a few revisions of a slide deck myself recently, I thought that it might be useful to document the high-level criteria for creating technical and to-the-point presentations. Note that this information is highly subjective, may depart from your own criteria, and is considered for academic presentations solely.

• Stylistic criteria:




When inserting images, figures, or diagrams either use the toolset provided by the presentation software or upload vectorized images only (PDF). This will allow readable scaling with clear/crisp text.

Avoid rainbow vomit. If it makes your eyes hurt, it most certainly will hurt the eyes of others. Also, be cognizant of the readability of what you are presenting at a distance and in varying light. I almost exclusive chose white background with black text.

Always include your grant/funding information. No matter what it looks like. 

Try to keep bullets on one line and do not use periods if they are not sentences.

• Presentation criteria:




Flow is important.

In the beginning present the problem and motivation. What motivated this work?

Present your hypothesis.

Construct a story that traverses your experimentation, process, intuition, and concrete results.

Keep text limited as it should only stimulate the conversation.

Images should contribute not confuse the listener.

Strive for simplicity with visual images, figures, and data.

Did I need to write a blog post for this? Nope. But, if you lucky readers would like, please comment on some of your own criteria for a successful presentation!