Engineering FYP CELC

Oral Presentation 3
TOPICS
 Visual aids: purpose, design and technique
 Poster presentations
 The question and answer session

Visual Aids

Not all presentations require visual aids. In fact, if you can hold your audience’s attention
for the duration of your talk, reinforce your ideas so that the audience remembers at least
the main points and present clearly without visual aids, you should consider doing so. On
the other hand, we live in what many would call a visual age in which audiences expect
images to support a presenter’s words. Thus, when planning oral presentations, most
speakers also create visual aids to go along with them. In doing so, it is important to
remember three elements: the purposes that visual aids can serve, effective visual-design
principles, and appropriate technique to use the visuals to their maximum benefit.

Purposes of visual aids

Use visual aids for at least one of the following four purposes:

1. Catch the audience’s attention

Arousing interest is sometimes difficult with audience members who are either forced to
attend a presentation or who are not particularly interested in the topic the speaker will
be discussing. Thus, engaging and imaginative visuals can be one of the most effective
devices that a speaker can use to catch the audience’s attention.

2. Maintain interest throughout a presentation

Good presenters can maintain the interest of their audiences through their content, clear
organizational structure and enthusiastic delivery. Yet, even with all of these in place, an
audience may not stay focused without interesting visuals which continually invite them
to engage with the material being presented.

3. Improve comprehension

Often the content of research presentations, such as those for your FYP, involves abstract
concepts, theoretical modeling, complex numerical data, or the description of patterns or
trends. Most of these can be represented visually or graphically with much more clarity
than through a verbal description alone. Similarly, for presentations which involve
technical terminology or during which the speaker would like to use an abbreviation,
printing the words in the visual aids can help the audience better understand what is
being said.
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For those presenting in a language which is not their mother tongue, often pronunci-
ation, intonation or stress issues create a barrier to smooth comprehension. In these
cases, visual aids which include the key words used can serve as an excellent device to
improve the audience’s comprehension of the talk.

4. Improve retention

After listening to even the best speakers, many audience members may quickly forget the
main points and/or supporting details of a presentation. The combination of well-
delivered words and well-designed visual aids can markedly improve the audience’s
ability to remember what has been presented.

Overall, it is important to remember that visual aids should make you a better presenter.
They should help your audience focus on you and what you are saying. One of the most
common misperceptions I find among novice presenters is that one’s slide deck is the
presentation. You can tell if someone believes this is true when you hear him or her say, “let
me run through my slides.” The slides are not the presentation. The words coming out of
your mouth are the presentation and the visual aids are just that—visual support for your
words. They should complement, enhance, illustrate and bolster your words, but the visual
aids should never be treated as the presentation.

Visual Aid Design Principles

Use the following principles to help you design effective visual aids.

1. 3-D, pictorial and/or graphical

Do your best to translate the ideas in your presentation into images. Honestly, this is
very hard for many of us. The goal is to find an image that will capture the essence of
a concept or make an abstract idea tangible to your audience. If possible, bring in a
physical object or a three-dimensional model which illustrates the topic and/or main
points of your presentation. Second to 3-D models, pictures can be exceptionally
useful visual aids. Thirdly, graphics, such as clip art, cartoons, diagrams, bar/line/pie
graphs, charts or tables can be useful. Lastly, use text. Please do not use text when a
picture or graph would communicate better. Of course, it is much faster and easier
to jot down a few key words than to search for an appropriate picture or graphic. But
the extra time taken will be worth the effort.

2. Main points only

Use text sparingly. Except when quoting someone famous or displaying a precisely
worded definition, do not use full sentences in your slides. Try to cut the number of
words for each textual element so that the visual aids reinforce, but do not repeat
what you are saying aloud.

Similarly, tables, charts, graphs and diagrams that you have developed for a written

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research paper may need to be simplified when used in an oral presentation. In a

research paper these same visual elements are presented in full, with a level of
complexity that a reader can easily tolerate, since it is the reader who determines
how long s/he looks at the graphic. However, in a presentation, the audience will
have only the time the speaker gives them (usually a few seconds) to understand
what the graph or chart shows. Do your best to keep these visual elements as simple
as possible so your audience can understand them easily.

3. Large enough to be seen

If you are using a physical object as a visual aid, be sure to use it in such a way that
the audience can see it clearly. For example, do not point out the clarity of your
iPhone retina display by holding up your iPhone in front of a lecture theatre filled
with 350 people. Not even the person in the front row will be able to see what you
are trying to illustrate. For slides, consider the font size and the distance the
audience will be from the screen. This is especially true for information on a slide
which the speaker may consider secondary, such as citations, and the labels or
legend of a graph or chart. Whatever you put in a slide, be sure it is large enough to
be seen.

4. Clear

When it comes to evaluating whether or not a visual aid communicates clearly,

clarity is in the eye of the audience. It does not matter if the presenter thinks the
visual aids are clear; they need to be clear to the audience. By ‘clear’ you should read
the message being communicated is ‘immediately easier to understand.’ If the
audience cannot immediately understand your idea better with the visual, consider
not using it or modifying it so that it achieves this aim. So, as mentioned above, you
may need to simplify a complex graph or highlight the important information in a
table for the purposes of a presentation.

5. Easy navigation

Good visual aids help the audience follow not only the ideas being spoken, but also
the structure of the presentation and how each idea fits in with the rest of the
presentation. This can be achieved firstly by using an outline slide. This slide should
contain the main points of the presentation, boiled down into simple, pithy phrases
or represented as images. The presenter displays this slide during the introduction,
when outlining the main points of the presentation, and each time s/he transitions
from one main point to the next. Thus, the macro structure of the presentation is
repeated visually and the audience knows where the speaker is relative to the other
main points.

A second way to achieve easy navigation is to use titles and sub-titles effectively.
Parallel elements should be placed at similar levels within the title structure of a
slide. For example, below a series of slides are used to present the topic Visual Aids.
Can you see how the main points “Purpose” and “Design,” introduced in the first

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slide, have been shifted up to the title position in slide 2 and 3? In the final pair of
slides (4), you see two ways to handle the titling of sub-points. Can you think of
alternative ways to provide easy navigation for your audience?

Visual Aids
 Purpose
 Design
 Technique

1.

Purpose
 Catch the audience’s
attention

2.

Design
4. Clear = immediately easier to understand
 alignment
 contrast
 proximity
 repetition

3.

Design

Strategies for Clarity Design – Clear Slides

 Alignment  Alignment

Mike Trucano
Technology Coordinator
World Links for Development
www.world-links.org
177 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036 202-437-3660

4.

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Visual Aid Technique

After designing beautiful, illustrative slides, the best presenters also master visual aid
technique, in order to use the slides to their greatest effect. Here are some technique ideas
to add to those you already know about.

Before the presentation

1. Practice speaking and using visuals/equipment

Presenting is a complex process which, for many of us, results in anxiety. One of
the best ways to instil confidence is to practice the entire presentation using the
visual aids you have created. It is especially important to practice if your visual
aids include animations, sound clips, video segments, Internet links and/or
demonstrations.

2. Check all visuals/equipment before starting your presentation

Be sure your slides look right and all your animations, sound clips, video
segments, Internet links and/or demonstrations work in the presentation room
with the actual equipment (computer, projector, etc.) you will use during the
presentation. Sometimes, when loading a slide deck into a borrowed/shared
computer, some elements might change or some effects not work as planned.
Other times, the projector might display colours differently than they appear on
your computer monitor. It is best to discover any anomalies before you start the
presentation, so you can either fix them on the spot or do without them.

3. Check the lines of sight

In the presentation venue, please ensure
that nothing blocks the audience’s view of
your visual aids. In many NUS classrooms,
this requires some planning as the
lecturer’s console is in a fixed location and
if you stand directly in front of it, your
body will block the view of the projector
screen for one part of your audience. So
once you enter the presentation venue,
stand next to the projector screen and
imagine a line extending from the eyes of
all the audience members to the visual
aids. If there is a good place for you to
stand so that your body is not in the way,
you will be fine.

During the presentation

1. Don’t distribute anything at the start

One easy way to distract an audience is to give them a brochure, abstract or copy
of your research paper before you start speaking. Then, when you do start, you

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will find most of the audience members reading rather than listening to you.
Please don’t do this for your FYP presentations. It is almost always better to
distribute items after your presentation.

2. Do not block anyone's view

Related to item 3 above, while you are talking be sure not to move into a
position where your body ends up blocking the audience’s view of the visual aids.
Most importantly, do not stand so that the light of the projector falls on you and
your head/body casts a shadow on the projector screen. Be aware of the lines of
sight and be aware of where you are standing while you talk.

3. Reveal progressively
While there good presenters who do not use this technique, I would strongly
recommend that you animate the text and pictorial elements in your slides so
that you reveal to the audience only what you want them to see when you want
them to see it. If you have three bulleted items in one slide, animate them and
bring them up one by one when you are ready to talk about each idea.
Progressive revelation can also be used to build up a complex diagram piece by
piece. Start with a few elements and slowly reveal the other components that
make up the full diagram. This technique can help to capture the audience’s
attention, maintain their interest and make you a better presenter.

4. Speak then show

Many presenters actually practice “show then speak.” What this looks like is the
presenter clicks to reveal the next slide or next bulleted item in a slide, glances at
the projector screen to remember the idea, turns around to face the audience
and then begins speaking about that point. Clearly, the impression this type of
speaker gives is that the slides are more important than he is because the slide
elements come first and he relies on the slides to remember what to say. When a
presenter uses “speak then show,” she starts talking about the next idea and
then clicks to reveal that element in the slide. The “speak then show” technique
confirms visually that the speaker is in control, leading the presentation, and the
items in her slides are there to illustrate what she is saying.

5. Have a copy of the slides available

In order to remember exactly what is on your slides so that you can use the
“speak then show” technique, I recommend holding a printed copy of the slides
in your hand as notes. With a copy of the slides, the presenter can quickly glance
down at the notes, see the next idea, look up and start talking before clicking to
advance the element(s) in the slides. An alternative to a physical copy of the
slides is presentation software that allows a “presenter’s view” of the full slide
plus the presenter’s notes on one side of the presenter’s computer monitor
while displaying the animated version of the slide on the other side and through
the projector. Besides facilitating your use of the “speak then show” technique,
having a copy of your slides in view can help you to maintain good eye contact
with the audience, reducing the temptation to turn your face towards the

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projector screen in order to see the slides.

6. For graphs/charts/diagrams, describe the “big picture” before pointing out

details
This technique is essential for presenters who show any type of graph, chart,
table or diagram. Always start with a general description of the image: “this
graph shows the daily spot price for Brent crude oil over the past four months.”
Then draw your audience’s attention to the detail which provides evidence for
your claim(s): “as you can see, there was a dramatic fall in the price two months
ago, and since then the market has not recovered.” Now imagine if the graph
presented the fall in oil prices that occurred in 1986, but the presenter forgot to
give the “big picture” before explaining the details. In order for your audience to
understand in information in a graph, chart, table or diagram, they need to know
what they are looking at in general before they will understand the details you
want them to notice.

7. When pointing out something on the screen, use Touch, Turn, Talk (TTT)
If you want to draw your audience’s attention to a particular element in your
slide, try “Touch, Turn, Talk.” This technique allows you to maintain good eye
contact with your audience while you are talking. On the other hand, many
presenters turn their bodies and faces away from the audience when they
physically point out something on the projector screen with one hand. The
problem is they stay in that
position while they talk, with their
faces toward the screen. A better
method is to look at the screen to
locate the place you want to
highlight, touch it with one hand,
turn your face towards the
audience and then talk. Holding
your hand in mid-air while not
looking at it yourself (and while
the audience is looking at that spot
on the screen) may feel strange; however, it looks natural to the audience and
will allow you to maintain good eye contact with them while you talk. Of course,
if you are using slides, you can avoid physically pointing things out to the
audience by animating an arrow or box or some other form of enhancement
within the slide itself.

8. Remove the visual when you are done

Please remember to remove the visuals if you are finished talking about them.
The audience can get confused if you have moved on to new ideas but continue
to show a previous point in your slides. Remember this tip during your Q&A. If
you have referred to a particular slide in the middle of your slide deck in order to
answer a question, remember to remove it or return to your generic Q&A slide
when you move on to answer other questions.

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Poster Presentations

At NUS, many Engineering departments organize poster presentations for their FYP
students. Although in some cases these poster presentations are optional, in others they are
the highlight of the FYP as the student presenters get to showcase their projects to industry
partners (from outside the university). An academic poster presentation is a summary of
one’s research presented through the medium of a printed poster. The poster should
contain sufficient information for the viewer to understand the research project without
elaboration from the presenter; however, in most cases, the presenter is usually standing
next to the poster to provide a “lightning presentation” or to answer any questions a viewer
might have. In this section, we will look at both poster design principles and some tips for
talking about a research poster.

Poster Design
A research poster should not look like a research paper pasted on a wall. All the visual aid
design principles described above apply to the design of posters. In addition, according to
Silyn-Roberts (2000), conference participants like the following features in a poster:
• It looks as though it would not take long to read.
• It has an interesting, catchy title in a large font.
• It can be read comfortably at a distance of 1-2 metres.
• It makes good use of colour.
• The poster is structured so that the viewer is led through the material intuitively.
• Figures have clear titles and captions so they are self-explanatory.

Consequently, as you design your poster, do your best to make it as informative and visually
attractive as possible. Take advantage of key graphics, pictures and other visual elements so
that the poster not only catches the viewer’s eye but also so that the key elements of your
research can be ‘caught’ visually.

The following are the typical sections in an academic poster.

1. Title
A well-crafted title specifies the topic of your research and attracts viewers to your poster.
Keep the title as brief as possible without sacrificing crucial information. Typically, the title
should not be longer than two lines.

2. Authors’ Names and Institution

List all authors of the research study in order of their importance (e.g., Primary Investigators
before other team members). If the team members shared equal responsibility for the
research, list their names in alphabetical order. Each member’s institution should also be
given.

3. Introduction
Briefly introduce the context and objectives of your research. Try to limit the introduction to
one or two short paragraphs. Include any relevant technical definitions but keep them brief.
You can include graphics/photographs if they help the viewer to understand the context and
objectives of your project.

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4. Scope and Methodology

Describe the scope of the project and methods that you have used to gather data. Include
images, charts or graphs that will help the viewer better understand the data gathering
process. The rationale for your choice of methods should also be included where relevant.

5. Results and Discussion

Begin this section with a summary of your results then share what the results mean, (i.e.,
your analysis and interpretation). Judiciously select the graphics that will best show your
results. Charts and graphs are usually more effective than tables. Make sure everything is
clearly labelled. Relate your results to any previous work, if relevant.

6. Conclusion
Here, you should briefly restate your project objectives and how they have been met (or
not). Summarize why your results are interesting or significant, in both the local context and
broader contexts. You can also suggest future studies that could build upon your current
work.

7. References
Choose a few of your key sources to list on your poster, perhaps those referred to in the
introduction or discussion sections. It is not necessary to provide a complete bibliography
here although some posters include a QR code or URL link to a full list of references.

8. Acknowledgments
Thank important individuals and/or institutions that supported your research with funding,
expertise or any other form of assistance.

Presenting your Poster

Stand next to your poster during the poster viewing session and give viewers a chance to
look at your work. After you notice that a viewer has stopped for more than a few seconds,
you can ask if the viewer has any questions or would like you to explain the project. If they
ask something specific, of course, you should simply answer their question(s). If they ask
something more general, such as, “could you tell me more about this project,” or agree to
hear you explain it, you can share the highlights of the project. Consider this “lightning
presentation” as an elevator pitch for your research. In less than five minutes, you should
explain
1. the background of your study and what prompted you to investigate this topic,
2. your research question(s) and what you did to gather data,
3. what you found, and
4. what the results mean in relation to the background you shared at the start.

As you explain your research project, point to the parts of the poster that illustrate those
ideas. Treat the poster as you would your slides during an oral presentation. Glance at the
poster in order to point to the appropriate part, but then turn back to the viewer and speak
to them, looking them in the eye. Remember to explain graphs, pictures and diagrams by
describing what the visual element shows in general before drawing the viewer’s attention
to any specific details. If you do a good job, the viewer will most likely want to continue the
conversation and ask you additional questions.

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Research Poster Example and Comments

Context
This poster was presented at the 2013 Zoology Department Symposium for graduate students at North
Carolina State University. It won the award for best poster presentation at the symposium.

Positive Points
o The title conveys the main message instantly.
o Context and objectives are made clear.
o Methods are concise.
o Graphs are interpreted by their titles. One can read the titles and trust the authors, or examine the
graphs in more detail.
o Results and conclusions are concise and relate back to objectives.
o Color scheme is very simple and pleasing.
o Fonts are large enough everywhere, including figures

Negative Points
o Results and conclusions do not relate back to the context (Introduction). It would be nice to see a
statement of how the findings relate to aquaculture.
o Some viewers have noted that the title could be more direct: "Water Temperature Determines Sex
of Southern Flounder."
o Title font is on the small side – it could be larger.
o List of references is missing.
The example poster and evaluation were taken from
https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/posters/examples/Flounder/

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The Question and Answer Session

Many presenters end their presentations with time for questions and answers. This session
can be exciting for some and nerve wracking for others. However, when you have prepared
diligently for a presentation, you will have more information about your subject than you
would have had time to present. It is this “reserve knowledge” that will often be the source
of the answers to your audience's questions.

Members of the audience may ask questions because they have merely missed hearing the
information, in which case all you have to do is restate what you have presented earlier. At
other times, they may ask questions because they either disagree with something you said
or do not understand why you said something or why you chose a particular course of
action. In either case, you will have to do more than restate your point(s). You will need to
explain and offer fuller justification for your claims. Give an additional example or expand
on your points to make them clearer.

Here are some tips you can bear in mind to make your question and answer sessions
proceed more smoothly:

Before the presentation

 Anticipate questions the audience may ask and prepare answers for them.
 Practice the presentation with a friend who can pose sample questions for you to
answer.

During the question and answer session

 Listen carefully to the entire question (don’t interrupt the questioner).
 First, restate the question in your own words. Rephrasing the question is important
to make sure you have understood it and the whole audience has heard it. If you did
not get it quite right, allow the questioner to rephrase the question.
 Credit the person for asking the question. Even if you do not like the question, at
least thank the person for asking it.
 Respond to the question as honestly as you can.
 For complex questions, split the question into parts and try to address each one in
turn.
 If you cannot directly answer the question, either
a) introduce an alternative point of view and give an answer to that aspect of the
question, or
b) offer to find an answer and promise to get back to the questioner later.
 Check if your response has answered the question before moving on.

What to avoid during a Q&A session

 Do not criticize an audience member or his/her question. Accept each question with
grace, despite your opinion of the question or the person who asked it.
 Do not be defensive. During some FYP presentations, an examiner may offer
negative comments about your research or point out methods or conclusions they
disagree with. It is alright to admit fallibility or that your research project had certain
limitations.

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 Do not argue with an audience member. Sometimes, a questioner will not be

satisfied with your answer and may ask several follow-up questions or may continue
to push for you to admit some flaw in your research. Always thank the audience
member for the question and/or feedback, and, if necessary, agree to continue the
conversation with that specific person after the Q&A session.

Resources

Doumont, J., ed. (2010). English Communication for Scientists. Cambridge, MA: NPG Education. Available
online at Scitable by Nature Education: http://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-
for-scientists-14053993/giving-oral-presentations-14239332

Feak, C.B., Reinhart, S.M. and Rohlck, T.N. (2009) Academic Interactions. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan
Press.

Hess, G.R., K. Tosney, and L. Liegel. (2013). Creating Effective Poster Presentations. Raleigh: North Carolina
State University.

Lawrence, H. (2008). Presentation Skills. In G. Hall & J. Longman (Eds.), The Postgraduate’s Companion (248-
264). London: Sage Publications.

Lucas, S.E. (1989). The Art of Public Speaking, 3rd Ed. New York: Random House.

Silyn-Roberts, H. (2000). Writing for Science and Engineering: Papers, Presentations and Reports. Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann.

Poster Presentation Resources

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters
http://www.personal.psu.edu/drs18/postershow/postershow.pdf
https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters
http://hsp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ScientificPosters.pdf

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