Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields(IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Series)

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

Table of Contents:
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 scatter XY charts and scatter plots 121 Craft line charts 127 Map out area graphs 128 Think through flow or process charts 130 Address assorted other visual outputs 132 Graph ethically 133 Create accessible graphics 136 Frequently asked questions about graphs 138 References 139 Further reading 140 8 Picture the Possibilities 141 Center yourself 143 Manage image interpretation 143 Model accurately 143 Be ethical with visuals 149 Frequently asked questions about using pictures 150 References 151 9 Temper the Templates 153 See the possibilities in a template, branded or otherwise 153 Discover and assess a branded template 154 Work with company templates 156 Devise solutions for problematic templates 156 Fix the template 162 Provide template guidance 164 Refine quad slides 165 Establish brand when there is no template 166 Slide Rule #4 Archive Details for Future Use 10 Make Slide Decks with Archival and Legacy Value 175 Understand that slides have two lives 175 Start new best practices 177 Document ideas efficiently 178 Use the Notes or Presenter Notes feature 179 Get others to see your notes 180 Use hidden slides 181 Keep hidden slides ready 183 Make retrieval easy for everyone else 184 Embrace full documentation as part of workflow 187 References 188 11 Include More Than One Language 189 Know when English is not enough 189 Start with audience analysis 192 Anticipate formatting for translations 192 Deploy plain language 192 Write in one language and talk in another 195 Design split slides 195 Capture translation in notes 197 Translate toward clarity 197 Find resources 198 References 198 Slide Rule #5 Keep Looking Forward 12 Enact Organizational Change 203 Listen to the studies 203 Anticipate the stages of acceptance 204 Tally the results 207 Look for the opportunities 208 References 208 13 Thinking Through the Next Big Thing 209 See ahead 209 Play with Prezi 210 Use caution 211 Amaze with Autodesk 211 Apply apps 213 Remain diligent in your best practices 214 Index 215 About the Authors 219

About the Author :
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.

Review :
“Slide Rulesis useful to anyone creating slides (including Prezi) and to instructors who want to teach their students best practices. While the evidence–assertion method works best for presenting scientific information, this book covers a broad enough territory that even marketing and sales presenters could learn important skills.”  (Technical Communication, 1 February 2015)