Rethinking Presentations in Science and Engineering                                                                                                                                  Michael Alley, Penn State
Assertion-Evidence talks are comprehended better by audiences and project more confidence from speakers
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Rise above PowerPoint's defaults 

For your engineering or scientific talks, using the assertion-evidence approach is much superior to following PowerPoint's defaults (phrase headline supported by a bullet list). ​The assertion headlines and visual evidence lead to higher understanding by the audience, as evidenced by our tests of audience comprehension. In addition, our students claim that using the assertion-evidence approach helps them project more confidence because they show ownership of the content through explaining visual evidence, as opposed to reading bullet lists. 

Assertion-Evidence Tutorial
Rise above PowerPoint's Defaults
​

For your engineering or scientific talks, using the assertion-evidence approach is much superior to following PowerPoint's defaults (phrase headline supported by a bullet list). ​The assertion headlines and visual evidence lead to higher understanding by the audience, as evidenced by our tests of audience comprehension. In addition, our students claim that using the assertion-evidence approach helps them project more confidence because they show ownership of the content through explaining visual evidence, as opposed to reading bullet lists. 
Assertion-Evidence Tutorial


Build talks on messages,
not topics

Building your talks on messages, rather than
phrase ​topics (as most people do), will make your presentations more focused.

Support messages with
​visuals, not bullets

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Most speakers project too many words, which overloads the audience. However, audiences can process visual evidence while listening. 

Explain visuals by forming sentences on the spot

​The best speakers fashion sentences on the spot, but do so after planning and practice. Delivering in this way projects much more confidence.
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