I’m in social science, and this technique was designed for physical science and engineering. I’ve spent some time poking around the website, and I definitely see the value in such a talk for science and engineering. I haven’t decided yet, though, how well it would translate to social science, or more specifically, the kind of social science I do. Much of the background I would present in a talk would be hard to present visually. The results could be visual, though more likely graphs than images. But at a general level, I like the perspective that we are all presenting with very similar techniques, and that we should consider whether our techniques are the best way to present.
We recently had a job candidate (and soon to be new colleague, Tim Brick) visit who presented using a different program (possibly Keynote? Unfortunately I’m not sure). It was refreshing to see something that was slightly different from exactly what we are used to seeing. One thing I really liked is that at the top of the presentation, he had a few simple words that outlined what he would be presenting. Honestly, I forgot the exact words, but if it was a talk I was giving, it might have broken down like this:
Overview Theory Prevalence Predictors Outcomes Done!
As he spoke, one of the words on top would be slightly brighter so as an audience member I had a sense of where he was in the talk. I liked it.
Then there are of course flashy ways to present, like Prezi. I made a Prezi once – it was a simple one, but it felt like it took me a lot more time than PowerPoint does. Perhaps that is only because I wasn’t used to it yet, though. There are lots of others; and lots of articles suggesting specific programs/websites.
What do you think of assertion evidence? How do you give presentations – standard in PowerPoint, or something different? Share your thoughts.
“The post Alternatives to standard PowerPoint presentations first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on June 23, 2014.”