Whether you are getting ready to review somebody’s presentation, or you are presenting your slides to a supervisor or a friend for feedback, here is a handy check-list of questions you should be able to answer.
First, some organizational questions:
- When is the presentation?
- How much time you will be given? (total talk time, Q&A time)
- Will it be in front of live audience, broadcasted, or both?
- What is the aspect ratio of projector you will be using?
- Who is the audience, how close are they to you professionally? (Think general public vs collaborator)
- Will you presentation be interrupted with questions or you have solid block of time?
Now more about the content:
- What is the main product you presenting?
- What is the problem you are trying to solve with your work?
- Why is this problem important?
- What existing solutions did you consider?
- What are the key benefits and shortcomings of those solutions?
- Which particular gap your solution fills?
- What are the limitations of your solution?
Considerations about the style and information density:
- Does every title sound like a message? Bad example: “Comparing medications A and B for blood pressure“, good example: “Medication B is not different from A for blood pressure“
- Do labels occupy as much space as possible?
- How many slides have more than two plots? Is it really necessary?
- Have you considered that each pixel costs you money? Can you reduce number of blank pixels?
- Do you have a “graphical abstract” at the end of the slides that summarizes findings and showcases few results while using minimal text?