How to give great presentations that your audience will love

UAS Conference Series 2013/14
How to give great
presentations that your
audience will love
Jonathan Black
Careers Service
1 October 2013
14 September 2010
Page 1
What‟s the point?
•
Slides are a visual aid
•
Audience focus
•
Clear message
•
What do you want?
Presentation is an historic record of your
quality
•
Clearly articulates your conclusions and their
supporting data
•
Accurate and unambiguous
•
Avoids value judgments
•
Lays out actions
•
Self-standing – can be understood without you
there, 6 months later
Presentation writing is difficult to do well
•
Unlike essay or article writing, no flowing
English
•
Relies on inductive logic
•
Requires strong structure on each page…
•
…and from one page to the next
•
Needs a strong „red line‟ through the whole
document
4
Vertical logic is compelling
•
Structured like a newspaper article
•
One topic per page
•
Does it answer “So what?”
•
Support the headline with evidence
Keep it simple and engage your audience
•
One idea per page
•
Brevity adds power
•
Simple and clear layout
•
Legible
•
Reveal the whole slide at once
•
Clear the „news‟ on the slide first
Hard work is in the data collection and analysis
•
Ideally start from hypotheses
•
Source and analyse data to test the hypothesis
•
Push your thinking about the conclusion
Edit standard charts
•
Default Excel charts are very cluttered
•
Remove every unnecessary line
•
Fonts usually too small
•
Colours and fonts may not match overall scheme
•
Label bars / columns / segments rather than
using Legends
Oxford has had 20% annual vacancy
growth
No title
Graded colours don‟t
9000
project well
8000
Font too small,
7000
and doesn‟t
match
6000
5000
Estimate
Actual
4000
3000
Non-standard
colours
2000
Scales too1000
detailed 0
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
Tick marks and
lines not needed
Oxford has had 20% annual vacancy growth
Opportunities on CareerConnect
8,000
Estimate
6,000
4,000
Actual
2,000
0
2009/10
2010/11
Sources: CareerConnect, Careers Service analysis
2011/12
2012/13
Student satisfaction has increased over the last 4
years - almost 90% of students now appear satisfied
Respondents reporting we „met or exceeded‟ their
expectations
0%
20%
40%
2010
2011
2012
2013
Sources: Careers Service annual student surveys 2010-2013 n=800-1,200
60%
80%
100%
Direct the viewer‟s attention where you want
•
Select the necessary data
•
Draw the right sort of chart
•
Use different colours to highlight key points
•
Add comment clouds or arrows
Employers view Oxford students as below
average on two key employability measures
Proportion of employers citing Oxford students as
'better or much better' than the 'average UK student‟
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Initiative
Self management
Communication
Planning
Leadership
CBI‟s 8 key
employability
measures
Innovation & Creativity
Business awareness
Team work
Source: Careers Service Employer survey 2012, n=800
Less than ½ employers
think OU students above
average
HighFliers‟ national survey confirms Oxford‟s improvement
1st
Newcastle
Loughborough
Liverpool
Strathclyde
Sheffield
7th
Source: HighFliers surveys 2009, 2013
Cambridge
1st
2nd
Respondents are reasonably broadly drawn –
including the usually elusive 5-15 year alumni
Respondents' ages
n=12,492
Respondents’ gender
n=14,938
Female
Male
% of total respondents with known age
25
20
15
10
5
0
21-26
yrs old
27-31
yrs old
32-36
yrs old
37-41
yrs old
42-46
yrs old
47-51
yrs old
52-56 57+ yrs
yrs old
old*
It‟s not the City; over 30% of respondents have worked in
education
Source:100%= 15,007 respondents to Careers Service 2011 survey
% of respondents who have worked in each sector
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Education
Research
Arts, Media & Publishing
Legal Services
Management/ Administration/Services
Banking & Securities
Science & Pharmaceuticals
Advertising & Communications
Retail & Sales
Recruitment & HR
Protection & Law Enforcement (inc military)
Multiple
answers
allowed
35%
…but perceived career advantage of Oxford lasts up to 5
years post-graduation
How much of an advantage do you feel attending
Oxford has been at each stage in your career?
Perceived advantage
Source: n=15,007; Careers Service 2011 survey
Very2
Slight
1
None
0
0-1
2-5
6-10
10-15
Years since graduating
16+
Sometimes show all data, if the issue is the
overall picture
•
Demonstrates strength in depth
•
Headline guides viewers‟ attention
•
Can engage audience in discovery process
Demand for access to Oxford careers resources
remains strong across the age cohorts…
Careers support for alumni - for different age groups
80%
Source: n=15,007; Careers Service 2011 survey
70%
60%
50%
Receiving mentoring
40%
Access to vacancies
Psychometric tests
30%
CV/resume review
20%
Networking events
10%
0%
21-26
yrs old
27-31
yrs old
32-36
yrs old
37-41
yrs old
42-46
yrs old
47-51
yrs old
52-56 57+ yrs
yrs old
old
Women particularly seek mentors and CV reviews…
Source: 4,470 female respondents; Careers Service 2011 survey
Alumni seeking mentoring
70%
Female
80%
60%
70%
50%
60%
Male
40%
Seeking CV/resumé
review
50%
40%
30%
30%
20%
20%
10%
10%
0%
21-26 27-31 32-36 37-41 42-46 47-51 52-56 57+
yrs
yrs
yrs
yrs
yrs
yrs
yrs
yrs
old
old
old
old
old
old
old
old
0%
21-26 27-31 32-36 37-41 42-46 47-51 52-56 57+
yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs
old old old old old old old old
Younger alumni have relatively more, different employers
Mean number of employers (+/- 1 Std Dev)
Source: 15,007 respondents; Careers Service 2011 survey
Mean number of employers relative to the time in the
workplace
8
7
…only 1 more employer
on average in next 10
years
Mean 3
employers in
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 - 5 years
6 - 10 years 11 - 15 years 16 - 20 years 21 - 25 years 26 years plus
Years in the workplace
How to write a panic-free presentation
•
Layout overall report with „place holders‟
•
Firm up sections as you collect data
•
Keep reviewing overall order
•
Check there is an overall story
•
Finally, „word smith‟ – are you happy with every
word and phrase?