APA Business Presentations PDF

APA Business Presentations BU 3073, Unit 6 Agenda • Presentations • Design • APA Format 2 PRESENTATIONS Part 1 WHAT’S YOUR POINT? When choosing a topic to present on, ask yourself some questions: • Do I know anything about this topic already? (Hint: you should) • Do you care about the topic...

APA Business Presentations BU 3073, Unit 6 Agenda • Presentations • Design • APA Format 2 PRESENTATIONS Part 1 WHAT’S YOUR POINT? When choosing a topic to present on, ask yourself some questions: • Do I know anything about this topic already? (Hint: you should) • Do you care about the topic? (Hint: you should. If you don’t, you’d better pretend to) • What do you want people to take away from your talk? (Hint: what’s your point?) • If you answer “no” or “I don’t know” to (a) or (b), rethink your topic. 4 Having a clear goal is important for a presenter. Without a goal, both the audience and presenter flounder around in an awkward back-andforth where neither really knows what’s going on and both feel embarrassed - usually for the same person. 5 WHO’S YOUR AUDIENCE? Consider this bit of advice. It’s fairly common, but useful nonetheless: Know thy audience. When preparing for a presentation, always remember that: • People are egocentric. • Even more specifically, remember this: • People belong to groups. Not only should you remember these ideas, but you should also act on them. Let’s look more specifically at the implications of each. Note that much of what you list below will be informed guesswork. 6 PEOPLE ARE EGOCENTRIC • What does it mean to say “people are egocentric”? • What does this mean for a presenter? What consideration should they make? 7 PEOPLE BELONG TO GROUPS • What “groups” do you belong to? List as many as you can. (Hint: first-year college student, Justin Bieber superfan, french-fry eater, female, politically left, heavy social media user…) • Consider your audience for classroom presentations: What groups do they belong to? What implications does this information have for a presentation? • How can you adjust your messaging, language level, examples, and general content given what you know about the audience? 8 WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU CONSIDER? How much does your audience already know about the topic? There’s nothing worse than beginning your presentation and realizing everyone already knows about your topic. Once you have an idea who your audience is composed of and where they are, you can now make adjustments to content, length, method, level of language, and so forth. 9 WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU CONSIDER? • Q: How can you find out what your audience already knows? • Audience attitudes towards the topic. Is this a controversial issue? Will your audience react negatively towards your topic? • Q: If so, what should you do to help alleviate bias in your audience? • Are they a captive audience? This means they can’t leave and have not necessarily chosen to listen to you. • Q: How can you make the best of a captive audience? • Setting. Is your audience sitting in rows? At tables? In front of computers? In a lecture hall or broom closet? The setting can determine the kind of presentation you are able to conduct. • Q: How might setting limit what kind of presentation or interaction you want to give? 10 What’s Your Plan? If you’re planning on “winging” your presentation, good luck. That’s a risk very few can pull off well. Planning ahead of time will make your presentation better. You should 1. Know what you want to specifically accomplish (very important) • Template1: Outline your presentation. • Template/Example 2: Outline your presentation. 2. Know your beginning (very important) • Practice Exercise: Beginnings and Endings 3. Know your main points (important) 4. Know your conclusion (quite important) • Practice Exercise: Beginnings and Endings 11 Yes, You’re Anxious. And That’s Fine There’s no denying that standing in front of a group of people and speaking is intimidating. Add on to that the fact you’re trying to accomplish something, and you’ve got a regular “situation” on your hands. However, you need to know that... • this is completely normal. Anyone who says they feel zero stress is either lying or they’ve been presenting for the past 78 years. • The good news is that you can do something about stage fright. The biggest thing is to • be prepared. 12 Be prepared Planning and then rehearsing your presentation well in advance will do wonders to alleviate presentation stress. If you... • Know your purpose • Know your content • Understand your audience • Rehearse your presentation • Know where you’ll be presenting • Know how to use your technology • Have your presentation tools ready • And arrive early... ...you’ll probably be just fine. 13 How to Stand in Front of Others This is harder than it sounds. Novice presenters are often anxious and tend to fall into patterns that draw attention to themselves, like • Standing in one position, feet glued to the floor • Not moving at all, frozen in a statue-esque tableau vivant • Hiding behind an object, like the presenter’s computer • Pacing in a distinct pattern (back and forth, back and forth, back…) • Holding or crinkling paper that makes noise • Fiddling with a pen, dropping the pen, picking up the pen While none of these are signs of a poor presentation, they will draw attention to themselves and away from your content. Your presence as a presenter should enhance the content, not distract from it. Being aware of your “tells” are a first and important step in minimizing them. Do you have any nervous “tells” when you present? Most presenters do! Share yours with a partner. What do you think you can do to reduce them? Practice Exercise: Watching and Learning 14 How To Talk In Front Of Others First, don’t read. Second, don’t memorize. Unless you’re a trained actor, using those strategies will lead to poor delivery. We all know what untrained actors can look like to an audience: • Fake • Monotonous • Boring • Disengaged Reading a script also sends implicit messages to an audience that the speaker... • is unprepared • doesn’t care about the topic, or worse • doesn’t care about the audience’s experience and by extension, their time. 15 General Advice for Talking in Front of Others Don’t read or memorize your presentation or speech. You will sound weird and unnatural. Instead... • Use extemporaneous delivery. That means sounding like a normal human talking to other normal humans. You are well-prepared for your presentation, but the delivery is not memorized or scripted word-for-word. • Volume. Speak to the size of the room. Nervous presenters often speak loudly because they are anxious. Limit your volume to the size of the room. Remember those in the front row shouldn’t go deaf! • Articulate. Speaking in a single tone (monotone) is inadvisable. Vary your tone as one does naturally. 16 General Advice for Talking in Front of Others • Pace. Be careful to speak at a rate that your audience can follow. Knowing your speaking rate can help you adjust your own rate of delivery (practice activity). It can also help you plan for a specific time allotment. • Pronounce words. We are, by nature, lazy speakers who run words together (hazzigoin?). Make sure you can be understood. Also make sure you pronounce common words and names correctly. If in doubt, look up a pronunciation. • Adjust to the level of your audience. You’ll choose different words, phrasing, and attitudes depending on who you’re talking to - a group of grade three students, a police officer, a business development team, a college class...Make thoughtful adjustments. Don’t sacrifice “you” in making those adjustments. Your own style and personality should always be present. 17 Handy Speaking Techniques for Listening Ears a) Repeat, repeat, repeat b) Use the power of three (or three-ness) Examples and Exercises in three-ness Exercise: Threeness in a PM Trudeau speech c) Write for the ear: Techniques and Strategies to create memorable speeches d) Tell Stories 18 COMMON SPEAKING SCENARIOS: IN THE WORKPLACE • In meetings • Impromptu brainstorming sessions • Prepared presentations to co-workers and managers • Sales pitch • Guest speaker • On the phone • Toast at a retirement party • Introductions (yourself or another person) • Video conference or teleconference • At a conference or convention 19 COMMON SPEAKING SCENARIOS: AS A STUDENT • Co-op final presentation • Other courses • This course! • With professors, deans, college staff • With other students • Running for student government 20 COMMON SPEAKING SCENARIOS: IN LIFE • Wedding toast or speech to the groom or bride • Eulogy • Presenting an award • Receiving an award 21 Lesson: the same rules apply for prepared speaking and impromptu speaking - consider your nonverbal communication, know your audience, and have a plan. 22 DESIGN Part 2 HOW TO CREATE BETTER SLIDE DECKS Death by PowerPoint (DBP) is a phrase used so often these days it’s almost cliche. Before we continue, a question: What does DBP mean? Have you ever experienced it? Have you ever committed it? Because you want to avoid punishing your audience for no good reason, a basic understanding of design and layout fundamentals is useful. Start Here: Design Lessons from the Oscars Basic Design Principles: CRAP Exercises: Learning From Others Slide Design Challenges: Use this slide and this slide as models. Imitate them but create your own new slide. • Psst. Want to See Some Bad Slides? • • • • 24 SLIDE DESIGN ADVICE 1. Start blank. Avoid slide templates, especially in PowerPoint, but do try out the “Design Ideas” sidebar that pops out when you paste in an image. 2. Use high quality images. Do not use images that are blurry, watermarked, or of otherwise poor quality. 1. Finding images: add “png” to your image search for better quality pictures 2. Choose images without backgrounds that don’t take up the entire slide. “png” images typically come without the background and have tell-tale checkered background in an image search. 3. Use the Creative Commons search engine to avoid stealing images. 3. Don’t fill your slide with writing. If you see sentences on a slide, you’ll naturally want to read them. If you want your audience to read something, give them a summary of your presentation afterwards. 25 SLIDE DESIGN ADVICE 4. Use CRAP design principles to organize information on slides. Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. 5. Apply the rule of thirds. Borrowed from photography, this is a most excellent and effective practice. Apply it to your slides. 6. One idea per slide. Avoid overloading a single slide with loads of information. Better slides mean better presentations. It takes time to develop your design skills, so turn off those templates, find some great images, use CRAP, and get started! 26 POWERPOINT LAYOUT • Layout continuity from frame to frame conveys a sense of completeness • Headings, subheadings, and logos should show up in the same spot on each frame • Margins, fonts, font size, and colours should be consistent with graphics located in the same general position on each frame • Lines, boxes, borders, and open space also should be consistent throughout FONTS • Font Style Should be Readable – Recommended fonts: Arial, Tahoma, Veranda, Times New Roman • Standardize the Font Throughout – This presentation is in Century Schoolbook. Do! FONT SIZE  The larger, the better. Remember, your slides must be readable, even at the back of the room. • This is a good title size Verdana 40 point • A good subtitle or bullet point size • Content text should be no smaller than Verdana Verdana 32 24 point point • This font size is not recommended for content. Verdana 12 point. FONT SIZE Combining small font sizes with bold or italics is not recommended:  What does this say? Garamond Font, Italic, Bold 12pt. • This point could be lost. Century Gothic Font, Bold, Italic, 14pt. • No one will be able to read this. Gill Sans Font, Condensed Bold, 12pt Small fonts are okay for a footer, such as: TIPS Presentation: 11/05/22 Don’t! Amanda Paananen, MAIS FONTS • Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style • DON’T SACRIFICE READABILITY FOR STYLE • Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style • Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style Don’t! CAPS & ITALICS • DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS • Makes text hard to read • Conceals acronyms • Denies their use for EMPHASIS • Italics • Used for “quotes” • Used to highlight thoughts or ideas • Used for book, journal, or magazine titles USE A TEMPLATE • Use a set font and colour scheme. • Different styles are disconcerting to the audience. • You want the audience to focus on what you present, not the way you present. Use the Same Background on Each Slide Do!! ⚫ Don’t use multiple backgrounds in your presentation ⚫ Changing the style is distracting Don’t! COLOURS • Reds and oranges are high-energy but can be difficult to stay focused on. • Greens, blues, and browns are mellower, but not as attention grabbing. • Reds and Greens can be difficult to see for those who are colour blind. AVOID THESE COMBINATIONS • Examples: –Green on Blue –Dark Yellow on Green –Purple on Blue –Orange on Green –Red on Green Don’t! COLOURS White on dark background should not be used if audience is more than 20 ft away. • This set of slides is a good example. • You can read the slides up close. • The further away you get, the harder it is to read. • This is a good colour combination if viewed on a computer. • A dark background on a computer screen reduces glare. COLOURS • Large Hall Events –Avoid White Backgrounds –The white screen can be blinding in a dark room –Dark Slides with Light coloured Text Work Best Don’t! THE COLOUR WHEEL • Colours separated by another colour are contrasting colours (complementary) • Adjacent colours harmonize with one another (Green and Yellow) • colours directly opposite one another are said to CLASH • Clashing colours provide readability – Orange on Blue BACKGROUND COLOURS REMEMBER: READABILITY! READABILITY! READABILITY! This is a good mix of colours. Readable! This is a good mix of colours. Readable! This is a bad mix of colours. Low contrast. Unreadable! This is a bad mix of colours. Avoid bright colours on white. Unreadable! Graphs and Charts Make sure the audience can read them! GRAPHICS AND CHARTS Avoid using graphics that are difficult to read. In this example, the bright colours on a white background and the small font make the graph hard to read. It would be very difficult to see, especially in the back of a room. Don’t ! THIS GRAPH CONTAINS TOO MUCH INFORMATION IN AN UNREADABLE FORMAT. Don’t! GOOD GRAPH These are examples of good graphs, with nice line widths and good colours. Do! CHARTS AND GRAPHS 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 North America Europe Austrailia Don’t Mode A Mode B Mode C CHARTS AND GRAPHS 80 70 60 50 40 Mode A Mode B Mode C 30 20 10 Europe North America Australia 0 Do! ILLUSTRATIONS • Use only when needed, otherwise they become distracters instead of communicators • They should relate to the message and help make a point • Ask yourself if it makes the message clearer • Simple diagrams are great communicators Do! LIMIT EACH SLIDE TO ONE IDEA • Use Bullet Points to Cover Components of Each Idea BULLETS • Keep each bullet to 1 line, 2 at the most • Limit the number of bullets in a screen to 6, 4 if there is a large title, logo, picture, etc. – This is known as “cueing” – You want to “cue” the audience on what you’re going to say • Cues are a a brief “preview” • Gives the audience a “framework” to build upon BULLETS (con.) If you crowd too much text, the audience won’t read it • Too much text looks busy and is hard to read • Why read it, when you’re going to tell them what it says? • Our reading speed does not match our listening speed; hence, they confuse instead of reinforce POINTS TO REMEMBER Limit Bullet Points To a few words • Limit each slide to 1 idea • Limit each bullet point to only a few words to avoid long sentences that go on and on! • Limit animation – Too much animation can be distracting. Be consistent with animation and have all text and photos appear on the screen the same way each time. There are many animation modes to choose from, but it is best to use just one throughout. POINTS TO REMEMBER • Keep bullet points brief • Use the same background for each slide • Use dark slides with light coloured text in large hall events Do! AVOID THE “ALL WORD” SLIDE Another thing to avoid is the use of a large block paragraph to introduce your information. Attendees do not like to have what is on the screen, read to them verbatim. So, please use short, bulleted statements and avoid typing out your whole presentation on to the slides. Also, it is difficult for some to listen and read a large amount of text at the same time. LIMIT ANIMATION! • Use the same animation throughout the entire presentation • Using more than one can be very distracting • – The audience will only see the animation and not the message you’re trying to get across LIMIT ANIMATION! • Use the same animation throughout the entire presentation • Using more than one can be very distracting • – The audience will only see the animation and not the message you’re trying to get across YOU • Do not use the media to hide you • The audience came to SEE you • The media should ENHANCE the presentation, not BE the presentation • If you’re only going to read from the slides, then just send them the slides! • Remember, only you can prevent • “Death by PowerPoint” APA FORMAT Part 3 FORMATTING A POWERPOINT IN APA STYLE APA style for PowerPoints is similar to APA style for essays with a few exceptions. This resource will address common questions regarding citations within slides, citations for photos, the title slide, and the reference slide. For a resource on APA writing basics please click HERE. 59 Title Slide This slide should contain the PowerPoint title, author(s), and university or organization name in a place that is easy to see. 60 APA PRESENTATION: MAIN POINTS • Include the same information on your title slide that you would have on a title page. • Include in-text citations for any quote, paraphrase, image, graph, table, data, audio or video file that you use within your presentation. Please note that photographs are considered figures in APA style. • The last slide will be your References List. 61 TITLES ON CONTENT SLIDES • The subsequent slides should have titles at the top of each of them. • Formatting for these titles include the main words capitalized and spelled in full including “continued”. • A continued slide is used when one topic has more than eight bullet points of information. • The excess information can be continued on to another slide. 62 EXAMPLE: 63 CONTENT • The content sections of your main slides should contain a blend of information and images. • The information portions should not be too lengthy or fill up an entire slide. • Make sure that the content makes sense, flows well, and is readable. • As previously mentioned, each slide should contain no more than eight bullet points of information. 64 65 CITATIONS FOR CONTENT Similar to an APA style essay, citations are needed for direct quotations and paraphrasing. Citations are needed for pictures found on the Internet that are not clip art or stock photos. 66 CITATIONS FOR CONTENT Continued… 67 REFERENCE PAGE Formatting for a PowerPoint reference page is the same as the formatting for an APA formatted essay. If you need assistance with formatting a reference page in APA, please visit the Lewis OWL resource HERE and view the last page in the document. 68