Rethinking Technical Presentations: Assertion-Evidence Approach
In engineering and science, most presentations are not nearly as successful as they could be. The biggest problem is that most presenters follow PowerPoint's defaults of a phrase headline supported by a bulleted list. A much more effective strategy for technical presentations is the assertion-evidence approach.
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Biggest Weakness: Following PowerPoint's Defaults
In most engineering and scientific presentations, the biggest weakness is that presenters follow PowerPoint's defaults of a phrase headline supported by a bulleted list. In short, those defaults lead to much noise. For instance, the clutter caused by PowerPoint's defaults, which were established in the 1980s, makes it difficult for the audience to know where on the slide to look when the presenter is speaking. |
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One Solution: Adopting the Assertion-Evidence Approach
One way to elevate your presentations in engineering and science is to adopt the assertion-evidence approach. In this approach, you build your presentations on succinct messages (assertions), rather than phrase topics. Moreover, to support those messages, you provide visual evidence rather than bulleted lists. To help you adopt this approach, this website presents a short tutorial, PowerPoint templates, and a collection of model talks.
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