If you haven’t done it already, you should think about how your presentation is going to look — content, language, PowerPoint or Canva, etc. I’m not going to make a new video of myself, but instead I’m adding a couple of links for you to look at about content and design.

Structuring your presentation

Here’s a video from a company (ignore the “shameless plugs”) that gives a terrific overview of how to structure a good presentation.

If you want to skip his intro story about drag racing, start the video at 1:45. The most useful suggested ways for us are #1, #2, #3, and #6, so feel free to scroll on through and just watch those.

Design

PowerPoint is everybody’s go to, but it can be used (and is usually used) very very badly. Here’s a great website to show you what NOT to do… because I know you’ll be tempted to do all of this! In fact, you can Google “bad PowerPoint presentations” and get more warnings/examples of what not to do. Kind of scary since we’ve all made those mistakes.

You can also use Canva for creating presentations. I love what Canva will let you do, but you may decide you don’t want to take the time to learn it although it’s super easy — and here’s a really good 20-minute tutorial on getting started — because it lets you create a team so everybody can access what you’re doing, and it uses drag and drop and, when you pick a template, it gives you a bunch of different slides to use that are designed to go together. If you click on Business Presentations and find the ones with the little run icon (you know — the >), you’ll find ones that will let you record and share… and that will let you narrate over the slides! That’s a really new feature, and it makes it just as easy to use as PowerPoint, maybe easier, and certainly look a lot better.

These same people also have a terrific video about design which I’m not going to embed, but here’s the link — lots of great ideas (simplicity, color pops, monochrome palette).

Audio

Yes, audio. Since we’re an asynchronous class, there’s no “presentation day.” So you’ll have to record an audio track for your presentation. PowerPoint makes it easy, of course. And with the new Business Presentations option for Canva templates, it’s easy to record audio as well.

So who’s going to record your presentation? Normally, we have people line up in front of the class and take turns. For this summer, it will probably be easier to have one person do the audio.

Here’s the schedule for the week, such as it is.

  • We have an optional meet-up at noon pm on 6/22.
  • Perusall: Read and Annotate assignment “Design & Readability” and is due 6/28.
  • Team Project Work: As I said, you should be working on the website and the presentation while you’re also working on the Technical Report. Yeah, I know… time for more caffeine!