Presentation Bingo

As a large part of the work as a researcher consists of clearly sharing our results, we can all improve our presentation skills. In order to have a bit of silly fun, I made this bingo card with some “presentation sins”. Whilst attending presentations you can tick the boxes of points you notice in the presentation. This card is not made to make fun of or ridicule anyone, but rather as a more interactive way of paying attention to common actions/design choices people make that (in my opinion) detract from a clear presentation.

New Card

Clarifications:

• Yellow:
  Yellow is a notoriously hard to see colour when using projectors and is best avoided.
• Thank you slide:
  A thank you slide does not serve a purpose as it does not contain useful information. One can better end a presentation on the conclusions slide.
• Font change:
  Using many different slides in a presentation, or even a slide, distract from the content and generally looks messy, as if the presentation does not have a coherent theme.
• Cut off text:
  Most often due to an overlapping figure or problem with conversion to a different file format, cut of text prevents the audience from reading the slide and gives a messy impression. This can be avoided by using more standard fonts or saving as PDF.
• Screenshot pasted:
  Pasting a screenshot often looks messy, particularly if the quality is low or the background colour of the screenshot does not match the background colour of the slides. This is often done when trying to show a paper title.
• Skipping slides:
  Skipping slides can give the impression that you either have poor time management skills when planning a presentation or that you recycled an old presentation and did not even take the time to remove unnecessary slides.
• Not English:
  The goal of a presentation is to communicate something to an audience, which is done easiest in a language the audience understands. So it is best to take some time to translate figure axes.
• I can taste the pixels:
  A projected screen is large, so always make sure to have figures with a high enough resolution to not look pixelated.
• Reading labels is optional:
  Labels are notorious for being written much smaller than any other text. It is always best to make sure that people in the audience can read the labels.
• Gradient background:
  When using a background that is more than one colour, it quickly becomes hard to find a font colour that is clearly legible.
• Full sentences:
  Slides of a presentation are supposed to contain bullet as full sentences will lead to the audience reading the text rather than listening to you.
• Text everywhere:
  An even greater sin than just full sentences, are slides with entire paragraphs. When such slides appear, the audience will either be busy reading all the text or taking pictures of the overfull slide, either way they won't be listening.
• Slide = my script:
  In a presentation the speaker is suposed to talk to the audience, but this is very difficult when you are reading everything word for word from your slides.
• Talking to the slide:
  Usually when we give a presentation, we want the audience to hear us. This is a lot harder when you keep speaking to your slides rather than to the audience.
• TLA:
  Even in your specific field, people do not always know what the Three Letter Acronym (TLA) means. It is always best to define your TLAs when first encountering them on the slide.
• Tipo:
  Typing mistakes happen to us all, but when you prepare a presentation, it is worth it to spend a bit of time to check for mistakes, it looks much more professional.
• Wrong button:
  Pushing the wrong button in a presentation often breaks the flow of the talk, so it is best to familiarise yourself with the buttons before the start of your talk.
• Unnecessary Animation:
  We've all been there, discovering powerpoint animations, but movements draw the attention of the audience. This is why animations are best used sparingly.
• Device compatibility:
  Always make sure that your presentation will show up as intended on a different device. This is best done by using more standard fonts, saving as PDF, or using your own device.
• Overfull plot:
  Perhaps having all of the lines on a plot is useful in the article, but if you do not discuss specific elements on a plot they only crowd the slide.
• Colour = Fun:
  Though colours are fun in daily life, on slide where you want people to understand the content of the slide, it adds superfluous information. Best to stick to a hand full of colours to emphasise something.
• Contrast is optional:
  On the topic of colours, usually it is good to ensure that images and texts on slides have a different enough colour from the background to keep them legible. When using a projector, contrast is always lessened compared to a screen.
• Time slots are guidelines:
  Conferences are long and have a lot of information. Nobody wants to miss out on the coffee/tea breaks. Stick to your allotted time.
• Comic Sans:
  As the name implies, this font belongs in comics and not a serious presentation. (Yes this is a personal opinion, but I will stick to it)
• Equations:
  Equations usually take a lot of time to work through as usually most variables needs to be explained. Unless you have the time to explain the equation, it is best to keep them in the back up slides or simplify them to the essence you want to share.
• Citations are optional:
  A problem more common in student presentations, is talking about other people's work without properly citing them. This is also useful when people want to read up more n a topic afterwards.
• 4:3 is still relevant:
  The vast majority of monitors nowadays use a 16:9, you end up losing a lot of space when you use the 4:3 aspect ratio.
• 'Ofcourse I know what slide comes next':
  Nothing breaks an audience as much out of the flow of a presentation as the presenter themselves being surprised by their own slides. Make sure you know what the order of your slides is.
• Notification!:
  Getting an update about your package delivery is great, but if it shows up infront of an audience, they might miss what your slides say, but they sure will remember the content of your package.
• Unnecessary axes:
  A presentation usually contains a lot of information already, so adding an axis that you do not discuss, or an axis that shows a dummy parameter, adds to the crowded feeling of the slides.
• Stop word overload:
  We all use stop words sometimes, but if you manage to break the 1/min mark, it can really distract from the presentation. It will also give the impression that you do not know what ou are talking abut. Practising your presentation before can really help here.
• Speaking softly:
  The goal of a presentation is to share information with the audience. If you speak too softly, people might not properly hear you and lose interest.
• monotone =_=:
  We are probably all overworked, so the last thing you need is listening to a sleep-incuding-monotone presentation, particularly at the end of a long conference.