PowerPoint Dos and

Don’ts
1. Have an interesting story to tell*

 Slides are meant to support a spoken

presentation.
 Fancy graphics are nice, but remember the
audience is here to listen to YOU!
 So you better have an interesting student to tell.

*Adapted from “Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 dos and don’ts” by Jeff Wuorio
(http://www.microsoft.com/business/en-us/resources/technology/business-
software/powerpoint-tips.aspx?fbid=3WR5ENijl0y#Powerpointtips)
2. Keep your presentation
simple
 Keep text simple and concise.
 Use clear, easy to read graphs and tables.
 Keep animation to a minimum.
 Black and white never goes out of style.
Research Questions
• Given that savings banks were new in the
United States during the first half of the
19th century, I am curious what kinds of
people would make the leap to open a
bank account?
• Since information was likely not complete
about the risks involved with holding
savings at a formal financial institution,
what proportion of people actually trusted
what was in essence a new technology
and opened an account?
 Research Questions
• What proportion of the targeted working
class population did early American
savings banks serve?
• What types of individuals selected into
formal savings when given the
opportunity?
3. Minimize Numbers in Slides
 Use figures and graphs to present
summary statistics when possible
 Present only relevant numbers from tables
Summary Statistics - Scholarship Recipient Household and Academic Characteristics
All Scholarship Northeastern Scholarship Students
Students Scholarship Students from Other Regions
Variable Obs Mean St Dev Obs Mean St Dev Obs Mean St Dev
Farmer Indicator 1470 0.69 0.46 615 0.87 0.34 855 0.57 0.50
Monthly Income (Thai Baht) 1423 2250 1403 591 1748 1288 832 2607 1373
Total Number of Children in Household 1470 2.45 1.11 615 2.55 1.11 855 2.38 1.11
One or More Parents Deceased 1470 0.09 0.28 615 0.07 0.26 855 0.10 0.30
Northeastern Thailand Indicator 1470 0.42 0.49
Entered Scholarship Program in Matayom 4 1091 0.51 0.50 449 0.40 0.49 642 0.59 0.49
Entered Scholarship Program in Matayom 5 1091 0.36 0.48 449 0.46 0.50 642 0.29 0.45
Entered Scholarship Program in Matayom 6 1091 0.13 0.34 449 0.14 0.35 642 0.12 0.33
Matayom 4 GPA (4-point scale) 549 3.37 0.42 180 3.41 0.37 369 3.35 0.44
Matayom 5 GPA (4-point scale) 970 3.26 0.45 415 3.32 0.42 555 3.22 0.46
Matayom 6 GPA (4-point scale) 1064 3.24 0.44 453 3.27 0.41 611 3.22 0.46
 Data Overview

 Number of observations : 435

 Period of data collecting : 20-28 February 2011

Sam ple com position :

Burmese Male
15% Total Thai : 245
Thai Female
33%
Male : 100
Thai Male Female : 145
23% Total Burmese : 190
Male : 65
Burmese Female
29%
Female : 125
Results

Control: Company size, Temporary type, Unemployment Rate, Employment Regulation

4. Don’t Parrot PowerPoint
 In other words, don’t read your slides word
for word!!!
 Remember, PowerPoint is there to visually
enhance your spoken presentation, not to
be your presentation.
 •During 2003-2005, Thailand
imported about 90% of its
crude oil or 870,000 bbl/d
about $10,000 mil/y

•But import value increased

to $600 mil during Jan-Mar
2005 which affected
balance of trade and GDP.

Source : http://www.somalitalk.com/oil/yabarow.html
Source : http://www.somalitalk.com/oil/yabarow.html
5. Time Your Remarks
 Don’t talk about the slide before it appears
on screen.
 Don’t assume the audience can figure it
out on their own.
 Do allow the audience to digest the
contents of the slides.
Empirical Approach
PIH Regression

sit   0  1 yitP   2 yitT   3 Initialit   4 Finalit 

 5 Balanceit   6 DivMontht   it 1

1  0 and  2  1  precautionary savings motive

0  1   2  1  buffer stock savings motive

Results
PIH Regressions
Male Wage Workers Female Wage Workers Female Piece Rate
Workers
1 2 1 2 1 2
VARIABLES Savings Savings Savings Savings Savings Savings

Permanent Income -0.02 -0.03 0.01 0.13 0.10** 0.19**

(0.03) (0.07) (0.04) (0.09) (0.04) (0.08)
Transitory Income 0.01 -0.02 0.10 0.16 0.18*** 0.37***
(0.03) (0.05) (0.11) (0.24) (0.06) (0.11)
Observations 5985 2630 5521 2091 10265 4775
R-squared 0.349 0.354 0.391 0.388 0.328 0.325
Robust standard errors in parentheses
*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1
Controls: Initial, Final, Balance, DivMonth
6. Use Contrasting Colors
 Choose a light background
 Use dark, large font
 Use contrasting colors in graphs and
charts
 Don’t use a dark background with light
font!!!
 DotA game
 2 team, maximum of 5 each, fighting
another
 Objective is to destroy enemy key building
 Keep exp point and gold to get better level
and better equipment than opponent
 Each game take about 30 – 60 minute
 Heavily depend on player skill and
teamwork
Panic of 1837
Depression

Initial Recovery
7. Know Your Time Limit
 Rule of thumb: 1 text slide per two to three
minutes.
 A 15 minute conference presentation
should have 5 to 10 substantive slides.
8. Edit Ruthlessly
 Treat your presentation like you treat a
term paper. Proofread, proofread,
proofread!
9. Practice
 Practice, practice, practice!
 Running through your presentation several
times allows you to check for flow and
coherence.
10. Economics presentations are
boring, but you don’t have to be
 Introduction
 Literature Review
 Model
 Data
 Results
 Conclusions and Discussion
The relationship between
class size and student
performance
- YY -
Research Question
 Do students in smaller classes perform
better?
Previous Literature
 Thai data showed no effect of class size on
students math scores (ZZZ, 1989; ZZZ and AAA,
1991) – data seize 400 students, 1995
 A survey of Taiwanese students showed that
students in smaller classes performed better in
English TOEFL scores (Gruber, 1992a) – panel
data, 1980-1990
 This paper: Using california data, we find that
smaller class rooms do have positive effect in
testscores (420 schools, 1995)
The Case of
Small Classes
 Large classrooms in public schools has
been blamed for their weaker performance
in national exams.
 The government is thinking about
increasing the budget for making more
classrooms in public schools.
The Model

 I use simple ols

 Testscore = a + b*str

 But also control for endogeneity by

multiple regression
 Testscore = a + b1*str + b2 *el_pct
Data
 n = 400 schools, California 1995

Testscr str el_pct

 Mean 654.16 19.640 15.768
 SD 19.053 1.8918 18.286
Results

Model 1 Model 2
str -2.28*** -1.1***
(0.48) (0.38)
el_pct -0.65****
(0.04)
Const. 698.93*** 686.03***
(9.47) (7.41)
Adj-R-square 0.05
n 420 420
Conclusion

 Reducing class size by 1 student will

increase testscore by 1.1 on average.
 Comparing benefits and costs across
Californian schools, we calculate that
there is good evidence to increase budget
for public schools.