Ten Simple Rules for Good Presentations

原文: http://www.scivee.tv/node/2903

Rule 1: 與觀眾對談
這裡指的不只是面對你的觀眾, 還要盡可能取得眼神上的接觸, 這能幫助你的簡報增加一定程度的親和力. 此外, 請針對你的觀眾設計簡報, 瞭解觀眾的背景及知識程度, 以及他們來參加這場演講想聽到的內容到底是甚麼? 離題的簡報只會讓人頻打瞌睡.
切題是一個好簡報的根本.

Rule 2: 化繁為簡
初學者常常犯的一個錯誤是 - 說得太多. 他們可能急於向觀眾證明自己懂很多. 但說太多的後果就是模糊了焦點, 還浪費了寶貴的Q&A時間.
好的簡報應該清楚明瞭, 並能引導觀眾去思考, 提問. 假如一場簡報中沒有被問任何問題, 那麼很有可能是觀眾根本沒聽懂, 或者是內容太過平淡了. 講太多通常也會導致講太快, 讓觀眾沒辦法吸收重點.

Rule 3: 言之有物
有時候演講者可能很熱心, 想把知道的東西都分享出來.
但請記住你的觀眾的時間跟你的時間一樣重要. 不該為了不完整的內容浪費彼此的時間.

Rule 4: 讓關鍵訊息被記住
有一個很有用的檢測方法: 在簡報後一週, 找個觀眾來問他/她是否記得當時簡報的重點.
根據經驗, 一般人大概能記住3個重點.
如果觀眾能答出簡報設定的3個重點, 恭喜你! 你的簡報非常成功.
如果答出來的重點並不符合你的設定, 那簡報的方向可能有些偏差.
如果完全想不起來的話, 那...革命尚未成功, 同志仍須努力.

Rule 5: 故事性
簡報就像是個故事. 應該有其起承轉合.
先吸引大家進入主題(起), 陳述中心思想(承), 再安排一個強而有力的結尾(合).
這也能讓關鍵訊息更容易被理解.

Rule 6: 簡報台=舞台
簡報應該要能娛樂觀眾. 但切記量力而為. 如果天生的幽默感不夠, 也不用勉強自己在台上扮小丑. 如果不擅於講奇聞軼事, 也不要像背書一樣背稿.
一個好的表演者能加深觀眾的印象, 讓關鍵訊息更容易被記住.

Rule 7: 多練習並試著計時
這對於一個新手來說尤其重要. 更重要的是, 簡報時忠於你所練習的內容. 倘若你對主題不夠熟稔, 又如何能說服台下的觀眾? 百步穿楊及老翁滴油不沾的本領都是出自不斷的練習.
隨著你簡報的歷練越多, 也將越容易得到簡報的機會. 因此不要錯過任何機會, 積極爭取每一次的演出.
重要的簡報也應該先與部分的觀眾排演過, 聽聽觀眾們的建議, 像實驗室的同學或公司的同事就是很好的預演對象, 他們有著相同背景所以能幫忙指出簡報中不足的地方.

Rule 8: 保守並有效地使用視覺效果
簡報有許多種流派, 極少數的人能夠不使用任何視覺效果卻仍能打動人心, 在大部分的情況下簡報者還是需要一些視覺輔助(圖, 表). 準備好的視覺輔助將會是另外十條基本規則.
規則7可以幫助你可以決定適量的視覺效果. 一般來說大約每分鐘有一個視覺效果是最恰當的, 準備太多很容易超時. 當然有些圖表需要講解的時間長, 有些短. 同樣地, 規則7可以幫助你取捨. 盡量避免逐字念稿, 請記住你的觀眾也識字.
視覺效果應該與簡報相輔相成, 或提供一些有力數據來支持你的論點. 切記太過與不及都不好, 讓重點簡單及清晰才是王道.

Rule9: 利用錄音及錄影檢討
沒有比實際當一次自己簡報的觀眾更有效的進步方法了. 聽及看過自己的簡報後, 可以在下一次簡報中改進未臻完美之處. 倘若發現自己有壞習慣, 也應該努力去改正.

Rule10: 適時讚美
人們喜歡被讚美. 但太多無謂的讚美會讓真正有貢獻的人被埋沒. 而且如果違反了規則7, 讚美可能會變得不適當且超時. 最佳的讚美時機應該在簡報的開始, 或是簡報中他人的貢獻很顯著之時.

最後想提醒大家的是, 即使十條規則都遵守, 也不能代表簡報一定能成功.
即使我們有萬全的準備, 臨場與觀眾的互動還是很難預測.
有時候你覺得簡報會進行得很順利, 但隨後卻感覺一團糟.
有時候你很擔心觀眾的想法, 但最後卻是非常開心.
這就是人生, 相當有趣不是嗎? 歡迎留言討論你的想法.

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The original article:http://www.scivee.tv/node/2903

Rule 1: Talk to the Audience

We do not mean face the audience, although gaining eye contact with as many people as possible when you present is important since it adds a level of intimacy and comfort to the presentation. We mean prepare presentations that address the target audience. Be sure you know who your audience is—what are their backgrounds and knowledge level of the material you are presenting and what they are hoping to get out of the presentation? Off-topic presentations are usually boring and will not endear you to the audience. Deliver what the audience wants to hear.

Rule 2: Less is More

A common mistake of inexperienced presenters is to try to say too much. They feel the need to prove themselves by proving to the audience that they know a lot. As a result, the main message is often lost, and valuable question time is usually curtailed. Your knowledge of the subject is best expressed through a clear and concise presentation that is provocative and leads to a dialog during the question-and-answer session when the audience becomes active participants. At that point, your knowledge of the material will likely become clear. If you do not get any questions, then you have not been following the other rules. Most likely, your presentation was either incomprehensible or trite. A side effect of too much material is that you talk too quickly, another ingredient of a lost message.

Rule 3: Only Talk When You Have Something to Say

Do not be overzealous about what you think you will have available to present when the time comes. Research never goes as fast as you would like. Remember the audience's time is precious and should not be abused by presentation of uninteresting preliminary material.

Rule 4: Make the Take-Home Message Persistent

A good rule of thumb would seem to be that if you ask a member of the audience a week later about your presentation, they should be able to remember three points. If these are the key points you were trying to get across, you have done a good job. If they can remember any three points, but not the key points, then your emphasis was wrong. It is obvious what it means if they cannot recall three points!

Rule 5: Be Logical

Think of the presentation as a story. There is a logical flow—a clear beginning, middle, and an end. You set the stage (beginning), you tell the story (middle), and you have a big finish (the end) where the take-home message is clearly understood.

Rule 6: Treat the Floor as a Stage

Presentations should be entertaining, but do not overdo it and do know your limits. If you are not humorous by nature, do not try and be humorous. If you are not good at telling anecdotes, do not try and tell anecdotes, and so on. A good entertainer will captivate the audience and increase the likelihood of obeying Rule 4.

Rule 7: Practice and Time Your Presentation

This is particularly important for inexperienced presenters. Even more important, when you give the presentation, stick to what you practice. It is common to deviate, and even worse to start presenting material that you know less about than the audience does. The more you practice, the less likely you will be to go off on tangents. Visual cues help here. The more presentations you give, the better you are going to get. In a scientific environment, take every opportunity to do journal club and become a teaching assistant if it allows you to present. An important talk should not be given for the first time to an audience of peers. You should have delivered it to your research collaborators who will be kinder and gentler but still point out obvious discrepancies. Laboratory group meetings are a fine forum for this.

Rule 8: Use Visuals Sparingly but Effectively

Presenters have different styles of presenting. Some can captivate the audience with no visuals (rare); others require visual cues and in addition, depending on the material, may not be able to present a particular topic well without the appropriate visuals such as graphs and charts. Preparing good visual materials will be the subject of a further Ten Simple Rules. Rule 7 will help you to define the right number of visuals for a particular presentation. A useful rule of thumb for us is if you have more than one visual for each minute you are talking, you have too many and you will run over time. Obviously some visuals are quick, others take time to get the message across; again Rule 7 will help. Avoid reading the visual unless you wish to emphasize the point explicitly, the audience can read, too! The visual should support what you are saying either for emphasis or with data to prove the verbal point. Finally, do not overload the visual. Make the points few and clear.

Rule 9: Review Audio and/or Video of Your Presentations

There is nothing more effective than listening to, or listening to and viewing, a presentation you have made. Violations of the other rules will become obvious. Seeing what is wrong is easy, correcting it the next time around is not. You will likely need to break bad habits that lead to the violation of the other rules. Work hard on breaking bad habits; it is important.

Rule 10: Provide Appropriate Acknowledgments

People love to be acknowledged for their contributions. Having many gratuitous acknowledgements degrades the people who actually contributed. If you defy Rule 7, then you will not be able to acknowledge people and organizations appropriately, as you will run out of time. It is often appropriate to acknowledge people at the beginning or at the point of their contribution so that their contributions are very clear.

As a final word of caution, we have found that even in following the Ten Simple Rules (or perhaps thinking we are following them), the outcome of a presentation is not always guaranteed. Audience–presenter dynamics are hard to predict even though the metric of depth and intensity of questions and off-line followup provide excellent indicators. Sometimes you are sure a presentation will go well, and afterward you feel it did not go well. Other times you dread what the audience will think, and you come away pleased as punch. Such is life. As always, we welcome your comments on these Ten Simple Rules by Reader Response.