A complete road map to creating successful technical
presentations

Planning a technical presentation can be tricky. Does the
audience know your subject area? Will you need to translate
concepts into terms they understand? What sort of visuals should
you use? Will this set of bullets truly convey the information?
What will your slides communicate to future users? Questions like
these and countless others can overwhelm even the most savvy
technical professionals.

This full-color, highly visual work addresses the unique needs
of technical communicators looking to break free of the bulleted
slide paradigm. For those seeking to improve their presentations,
the authors provide guidance on how to plan, organize, develop, and
archive technical presentations. Drawing upon the latest research
in cognitive science as well as years of experience teaching
seasoned technical professionals, the authors cover a myriad of
issues involved in the design of presentations, clearly explaining
how to create slide decks that communicate critical technical
information. Key features include:

* Innovative methods for archiving and documenting work through
slides in the technical workplace

* Guidance on how to tailor presentations to diverse audiences,
technical and nontechnical alike

* A plethora of color slides and visual examples illustrating
various strategies and best practices

* Links to additional resources as well as slide examples to
inspire on-the-job changes in presentation practices

Slide Rules is a first-rate guide for practicing
engineers, scientists, and technical specialists as well as anyone
wishing to develop useful, engaging, and informative technical
presentations in order to become an expert communicator. Find the
authors at techartsconsulting.com or on Facebook at:
SlideRulesTAC

TRACI NATHANS-KELLY, PhD, teaches engineering
communication at Cornell University and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.

CHRISTINE G. NICOMETO, MS, teaches technical
communication in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's
College of Engineering.

Both authors work with practicing engineers from such
organizations as 3M, Federal Express, GE Healthcare Systems,
General Motors, Google, Harley-Davidson, IBM, John Deere, Kraft,
Lockheed Martin, Micron Technology, NASA, Qualcomm, Rockwell
Automation, The Boeing Company, Toyota, U.S. Department of Defense,
and UTC Aerospace.

A complete road map to creating successful technical presentations

Planning a technical presentation can be tricky. Does the audience know your subject area? Will you need to translate concepts into terms they understand? What sort of visuals should you use? Will this set of bullets truly convey the information? What will your slides communicate to future users? Questions like these and countless others can overwhelm even the most savvy technical professionals.

This full-color, highly visual work addresses the unique needs of technical communicators looking to break free of the bulleted slide paradigm. For those seeking to improve their presentations, the authors provide guidance on how to plan, organize, develop, and archive technical presentations. Drawing upon the latest research in cognitive science as well as years of experience teaching seasoned technical professionals, the authors cover a myriad of issues involved in the design of presentations, clearly explaining how to create slide decks that communicate critical technical information. Key features include:

• Innovative methods for archiving and documenting work through slides in the technical workplace
• Guidance on how to tailor presentations to diverse audiences, technical and nontechnical alike
• A plethora of color slides and visual examples illustrating various strategies and best practices
• Links to additional resources as well as slide examples to inspire on-the-job changes in presentation practices

Slide Rules is a first-rate guide for practicing engineers, scientists, and technical specialists as well as anyone wishing to develop useful, engaging, and informative technical presentations in order to become an expert communicator. Find the authors at techartsconsulting.com or on Facebook at: SlideRulesTAC

A Note from the Series Editor xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Foreword xv

Introduction 1

Understand our path to these techniques 1

Witness the change 2

Feel confident about these techniques 3

References 3

1 Heed the Pleas for Better Presentations 5

Know the enemy 6

Be an agent of change 8

Call a meeting instead of summoning a slide deck 8

Destroy the decks of drudgery 8

Learn communication lessons from past tragedies 9

Confront conventional poor practices 10

Consider slides as a two-part deliverable 11

Implement your own continuous improvement 12

References 12

Slide Rule #1 Revisit Presentation Assumptions

2 Apply Cognitive Science and Tell a Story 17

Change presentation practices using grounded research 17

Stay open to change 18

Revisit how a slide works 19

Design slides for audience's cognitive load 20

Lessen cognitive load with storytelling 24

Apply science and storytelling 27

References 27

3 Understand Audience Needs 29

Scope content toward identified purpose 29

Learn about your audience first 30

Determine the presentation's purpose 32

Examine the goals for a talk 33

Elevate the moment 33

Assess the audience 34

Prepare for a familiar audience 34

Prepare for an unfamiliar audience 35

Coping when your talk gets hijacked 37

Ditch the dumb it down attitude 38

Think of audience needs, not yours 42

Think about logistics 45

References 48

4 Challenge Your Organization's Culture of Text-Heavy Slides 49

Understand the patterns' origin 50

Stop assuming they want to read 50

Work toward fewer bullets, less text 51

Avoid using slides as teleprompters 53

Build information deliberately 54

Move beyond How many slides should I use? 54

Encourage better presentation practices 56

Create, compile, organize, and stabilize team presentations 58

Work towards a change 60

References 60

Slide Rule #2 Write Sentence Headers

5 Clarify Topics with Full-Sentence Headers 65

Write full sentences for headers, avoiding fragments 65

Consider the case against fragmented headers 66

Deploy best practices for sentence headers 70

Expect immediate results 71

Write targeted headers 73

State a fact or explain a concept 74

Showcase an analysis 80

Transition to new information 84

Influence outcomes with headers 88

Frequently asked questions about sentence headers 88

References 91

Slide Rule #3 Use Targeted Visuals

6 Build Information Incrementally 95

Build something better than bullets 95

Devise methods that build information 97

Design with words to make bullet lovers happy 98

Solidify complex topics with refrains 99

Use refrain slides for meeting agendas 100

Create visuals for directed comprehension 103

Build out to drill down 107

7 Generate Quality Graphs 109

Portray complexity simply 110

Determine the right visual 111

Design reasonable pie charts 112

Design impactful bar charts and histograms 117

Design…