Professional Presentation — Connecting, Illustrations and Summary
On this page 6 headings
Start here A slide full of tiny text, read out word by word — everyone has suffered through one. This page shows how to connect with your audience instead, and how to choose the right picture for each message.
Part 3: Connecting with your audience
A presentation succeeds only if you relate to the audience and they relate to you.
1. Repeat a summary slide from your previous presentation. In a weekly or fortnightly team meeting, start with last time’s summary: “Two weeks ago we were here. Now let’s see what we did.” Everyone starts from the same point.
2. Separate facts from opinions. - A fact is data — for example, results of a properly done vaccine test on 10,000 volunteers. - Comparing your vaccine with a competitor’s often includes your opinion. - Both are fine. Seniors often want your professional opinion. But tell them clearly which is fact and which is opinion. Then they know what is certain and where they are taking a chance.
3. Pause to enable decisions. In a professional setting, you are trying to make a decision together. Stop and say: “You have all the facts. Please discuss for a few minutes. Then I’ll share my view.”
4. Use familiar formats. Many companies give a template — headings, logo position, colours. It may feel restrictive, but: - people from many backgrounds (management, technical, HR, assembly line) feel comfortable with a familiar layout; - managers can pick slides from many talks to make a new one without reformatting.
5. Explain what is being shown and how to understand it. Before showing a new kind of plot, explain it: “Green is this, red is that. Where they meet, rain is likely in three days.” Then show it for many cities. People connect much better.
6. Special effects can be distracting. Don’t make things fly in from every side. Your talk need not be boring, but every effect should serve a purpose.
7. Avoid reading from a slide.
| ✗ Don’t | ✓ Do |
|---|---|
| A slide full of long paragraphs, which you then read out | Three key bullet points in big font for each part. You speak the details. |
In one line: Start from where people are, separate facts from opinions, pause for decisions, and never read long text off a slide. Exam words: summary slide, facts vs opinions, pause to enable decisions, familiar formats, special effects, reading from a slide.
Part 4: Illustrations
Two tasks: choose the right type of illustration, and pay attention to details.
Types of illustration: tables, graphs, photographs, drawings, schematics — and mixes of these on one slide.
| Type | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Table | Showing exact values (e.g. 3.6, 2.1) | Keep the same number of decimal places in every cell. Give units. |
| Graph | Showing a trend (goes up, comes down, goes up again) — a table can never show this shape | Label both axes with quantity and units, and add a caption. A graph cannot show exact values easily (39.3 and 1297). |
| Photograph | Realism — size, shape, space. Example: a fuel cell and hydrogen tank fitted on a cycle. Works for every audience. | You need permission to use it. |
| Drawing | Ideas you cannot see in a photo — charges, properties, or two types of wind turbine (horizontal axis vs vertical axis) | — |
| Schematic | Showing layout of parts (e.g. an electric vehicle: motor, battery, electronics) while controlling complexity | — |
| Composite | Text + sample photo + equipment photo + graph on one slide, so seniors don’t lose track across slides | — |
Level of complexity
A photograph of a space telescope shows too many things — wires, arms, other parts. If you only want to talk about the solar panels, a simple drawing is better. In a drawing, you control what is shown.
Importance of scale
Scale of impact — help people feel the size of the effect:
Lecture example — vaccine storage “One vaccine needs −50 °C; another is safe at 0 °C” means little to the public. Say instead: “−50 °C storage exists in about 1,000 places in the world. 0 °C storage exists in thousands of places in every city.” Now people see that one vaccine can reach billions, the other very few. (The numbers are the professor’s illustration.)
Scale of object — put a familiar thing next to it:
A wind turbine next to a full-size person looks like a 1.5–2 m room model. The same turbine next to a tiny person looks 15–20 m tall. Just adding a person shows the scale.
In one line: Pick the illustration that fits the message, keep it simple, and show scale. Exam words: table, graph, photograph, drawing, schematic, composite, level of complexity, scale of impact, scale of object.
Part 5: Summary
Every professional presentation should end with a summary — even a one-slide talk should have a summary box. Tell people: “Remember these three points.”
The lecture’s own summary: - Provide an outline. - Audience and duration are important constraints. - Connect with your audience: tailor to them, orient them with previous work, enable decisions. - Illustration: choice of illustration, pay attention to details, level of complexity, importance of scale. - Make a summary.
Everyday example In a group project viva, end with: “To sum up: (1) we built X, (2) it is 30% faster, (3) next we will test Y.” Even if the examiner forgot the middle, they remember those three lines.
In one line: End every talk with the few points people must remember.