Tips for presentations
Here you can get back to the main page of the course "Algoritmi e Linguaggi per Bioinformatica: Algoritmi".
Some general suggestions when making slides and preparing the presentation. No need to follow them 100%, there can be exceptions. But usually they are helpful.
- Do not put too much text. You should probably not have more than 8 lines on a slide, better 5. (Less is more!)
Why? Because 1. the audience otherwise has too much to read, and cannot pay attention to you, and 2. you have nothing interesting to say because you are only reading from the slide. It is better to have less text, only a few words, and then elaborate, explain more in detail while you are talking.
- Do not have too many slides. You should probably not have more than 10 slides for 15 minutes, better 8. (Less is more!)
- Do not use complete sentences. E.g. instead of
"The simplest construction method is to use any comparison-based sorting algorithm and apply it to the suffixes of s."
write
"simplest: apply comparison-based sorting algorithm to suffixes of s"
- Do use pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words.
- Do use bullets or numbers to structure your text (i.e. numbered lists or unnumbered lists).
- Do use examples. An example usually explains an idea, an algorithm, a problem, better than text.
- Often a "Summary" slide is a nice last slide.
- This is an algorithms course. You should explain the algorithms in detail, as if you were a lecturer in a class. Use an example. Go into detail. When talking about running time or space, don't just state them, but explain why your claims hold.
- You are supposed to explain something (usually an algorithm). Use the books to help you understand what you have to explain. You can use examples from the books, even cite literally from them. But do not simply summarize the text I gave you.
- Practice your talk. Give it several times, not only to yourself, but have a friend, or several, listen to it. Check the time. The more often you give your talk, the better it will be. The more often you have given your talk, the better you will know what you want to say, and the better you will be able to say it even if you are a bit nervous.
- Prepare for questions. You should be able to explain everything you have put on your slides.
- Prepare a first and a last sentence.