this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You scheduled 15 min for this presentation and I have another meeting after this. So cliff notes only please.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Just email me the script. I’ll have an LLM summarize it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I'm more prone to making the slides be my notes, possibly with data-driven visual aids. 3-5 short bullet points per slide is usually reasonable. I don't actually give a lot of presentations these days, though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I take this to the extreme: my slides have little to no text, or even white space. Each slide is basically a collage for pointing at while I rant about the thing. I'm a mechanical engineer, so I also imitate the sounds the machine makes.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I hate these kinds of slides because I'll come across them somewhere and be like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THE CONTEXT FOR THESE NUMBERS??? WHAT DOES THIS HALF-ASS DIAGRAM REPRESENT?" and the information I extract becomes less usable as a result.

I often won't read PowerPoints in that style unless a recording of the presentation is available, otherwise I just pretend it doesn't exist and get my information elsewhere because certainty ain't optional mf.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I think if you've chosen your bullet points well then the point should come across through them, but if you're looking for a higher level of detail then the slide deck is probably not gonna get you there regardless. It's standard practice to record this type of presentation, but if you're really wanting a deep dive, you probably want to see the supporting documents, not just an executive summary. I guess it depends on what kind of presentation we're talking about, too, because a presentation to push info up to management is pretty different from the type someone might give at a conference.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

One of my side projects at work is to record training presentations and I try to be so conscious about this--both trying to avoid the word salad slides, and also trying to make my lecture not just reading the slide word-for-word but actually explaining and expanding on the slide content (with my verbal lecture transcribed as a note in the slide and handed out for anybody who might be hard of hearing/doesn't want to sit through a 30-minute video)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (10 children)

CDR time!

(except I've had CDRs that were scheduled for a full work week, 40 hours)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

You had a 40-hour Colonoscopy Debris Removal procedure? Big ups to you!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ugh, I always tell students to avoid this.

That said it reminds me of Larry David on Conan podcast of how he got out of a movie test screening. "I've got one question and then I've gotta go...".

Ah, treasures, both of them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I remember back in high school my teachers would always warn students for doing presentations like that, yet all of them did exactly the same thing. And it was even worse in university, when we had to listen to 2 hours presentation read word by word with monotone voice.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Yup! I even tell them to experiment a little because they get full points either way (my logic is, the social pressure alone is enough to get a good effort, and usually that's true lol).

It's because they didn't trust their ability to remember stuff. But when I lecture, I'm often elaborating beyond the bulletpoints, engaging my audience with questions, making eye contact, etc, so it's not like I'm not setting a good example. I guess my university it's just too late to teach?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I prefer to be short than to get my public tired.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Some people seem to get off on taking longer than necessary

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Rather than simply give you a piece of text to read, they do it like this so that you can't scan it to figure out what is actually important and focus on that. Every moment and detail must be indulged to the full.

Proper dickhead move.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I always feel obligated to reword so it doesn't seem like I'm reading off the slide. But then people are reading the slide and listening at the same time and I'm not sure it's better.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

If the slide has all the information, then it's a poor slide deck.

The slides are supposed to be an outline. The rule of thumb is max seven lines and max seven words per line.

Here's a couple examples.

Good slide:

  • Revenue: -10% vs Estimate
  • Industry trends
  • Low demand for new products
  • Strong demand for XYZ

Also good slide, depending on who you're presenting to:

  • Revenue: -10% vs Estimate
  • Industry: -3%
  • New products: -30%
  • XYZ: +4%

Bad slide:

  • Revenue is 10% below estimate
  • Industry has seen a 3% drop in sales
  • New products ABC and MNO have had a 30% lower demand than we expected
  • Product XYZ has higher demand than anticipated with sales 4% higher than estimate

All the extra information on the bad slide can be delivered by the presenter. It's not necessary on the slide. The slide is for people to glance at to assist them during and after the presentation and to help them anchor themselves in the discussion.

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