Example Good Slides

for a CHI Paper Presentation

Joshua B. Gross, Penn State | jgross@ist.psu.edu

Straightforward Overview

Purpose/value statement
Principles of a good slide presentation
Example good slides
Conclusion - good slides are a good start
to a good presentation
Acknowledgements

Statement of Purpose/Value

A good presentation starts with a

statement of the value of the work
Why should people care?
Why should they hear your talk?
What contribution have you made?

This information is probably in your

abstract, but should be distilled for the
slide

Presenting Background Work

Dont try to present all the background

Just one or two really crucial elements
The CHI audience is broad, so briefly
describe
Examples follow

Participatory Design
The theory and practice of involving
users at some or all stages of design

Semiotics
A theory of how systems of symbols (like
a language) communicate ideas

Citing Prior Work

It may be beneficial to cite prior work

It should be important and relevant

Use this style (Simon, H. A., 1975)

Often, this is used to give your audience a perspective

Participatory design (Nardi, B. A., 1993)
is not the same as
Participatory design (Bodker, S., 2000)

Visual Design

The pre-packaged Powerpoint slides are ugly.

A plain background is not ugly.
If you arent a graphic designer, dont try to be :-)

Simple, Consistent, and Legible.

Good Chart Example

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Presenting Data

Use simple charts/graphs, with (ideally)

one main point per chart/graph
Dont try to jam too much data in
your graph

Labels x and y axis, and units

Use a title that clearly explains the idea

you are trying to get across

Alpha and Beta Teams Perform Better in the Evening,

Delta and Gamma in the Morning
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Alpha Team

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Beta Team

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Gamma Team

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Delta Team

Graphs and Charts, Part 2

Dont just accept defaults from Excel

Colors (including background) may
need to be changed
Axis dimensions and scale can be
changed

Make sure text is big enough

Move legend to where it is most useful

Make sure colors & background are visible

on a projection display

Acronyms

Acronyms are dangerous

Example: ERP
Does it mean Enterprise Resources
Planner
Large-scale corporate planning
software
Or does it mean Event-Related Potential
Reactions measure via
electroencephalograph

Always spell out acronyms at first use

E.g. Event-Related Potential (ERP)
One safe exception - HCI!

Slang and Colloquialisms

Avoid slang and colloquialisms if at all

possible
CHI is an English-language
conference
2 billion people speak English
Lots of dialect and regionality

Make your message clear to people who

speak English as a second language
Or third, or fourth

Future Work

You may want to talk about future work

Work you intend to do
Work you may have already done

Its been up to six months since you

submitted your paper
What direction is the work taking
What do you see as the major next hurdle
or accomplishment

Summary and Acknowledgements

Summarize your major contributions

Good slides are the basis of a good
talk
Assume a broad audience at CHI
Make sure your content is readable
Stop on your summary slide - this
is useful for your audience

Acknowledgements
Funding
People

Include your contact information

Answering Questions

An advanced tip is to have a few slides ready

for questions you anticipate
You wont always have one for each
question asked, and you may not use
them, but they can be handy

This is a useful place to put

additional/supporting data, references, etc.