Slide rules: design, build, and archive presentations in the engineering and technical fields

Planning a technical presentation can be tricky. Does the audience know your subject area? Will you need to translate concepts into terms they understand? What sort of visuals should you use? Will this set of bullets truly convey the information? What will your slides communicate to future users? Questions like these and countless others can overwhelm even the most savvy technical professionals.

This full-color, highly visual work addresses the unique needs of technical communicators looking to break free of the bulleted slide paradigm. For those seeking to improve their presentations, the authors provide guidance on how to plan, organize, develop, and archive technical presentations. Drawing upon the latest research in cognitive science as well as years of experience teaching seasoned technical professionals, the authors cover a myriad of issues involved in the design of presentations, clearly explaining how to create slide decks that communicate critical technical information. Key features include:

Innovative methods for archiving and documenting work through slides in the technical workplace Guidance on how to tailor presentations to diverse audiences, technical and nontechnical alike A plethora of color slides and visual examples illustrating various strategies and best practices Links to additional resources as well as slide examples to inspire on-the-job changes in presentation practices

Slide Rules is a first-rate guide for practicing engineers, scientists, and technical specialists as well as anyone wishing to develop useful, engaging, and informative technical presentations in order to become an expert communicator. Find the authors at techartsconsulting.com or on Facebook at: SlideRulesTAC

Author Notes

TRACI NATHANS-KELLY, PhD, teaches engineering communication at Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

CHRISTINE G. NICOMETO, MS, teaches technical communication in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Engineering.

Both authors work with practicing engineers from such organizations as 3M, Federal Express, GE Healthcare Systems, General Motors, Google, Harley-Davidson, IBM, John Deere, Kraft, Lockheed Martin, Micron Technology, NASA, Qualcomm, Rockwell Automation, The Boeing Company, Toyota, U.S. Department of Defense, and UTC Aerospace.

A Note from the Series Editor	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Understand our path to these techniques	p. 1
Witness the change	p. 2
Feel confident about these techniques	p. 3
References	p. 3
1 Heed the Pleas for Better Presentations	p. 5
Know the enemy	p. 6
Be an agent of change	p. 8
Call a meeting instead of summoning a slide deck	p. 8
Destroy the decks of drudgery	p. 8
Learn communication lessons from past tragedies	p. 9
Confront conventional poor practices	p. 10
Consider slides as a two-part deliverable	p. 11
Implement your own continuous improvement	p. 12
References	p. 12
Slide Rule #1 Revisit Presentation Assumptions
2 Apply Cognitive Science and Tell a Story	p. 17
Change presentation practices using grounded research	p. 17
Stay open to change	p. 18
Revisit how a slide works	p. 19
Design slides for audience's cognitive load	p. 20
Lessen cognitive load with storytelling	p. 24
Apply science and storytelling	p. 27
References	p. 27
3 Understand Audience Needs	p. 29
Scope content toward identified purpose	p. 29
Learn about your audience first	p. 30
Determine the presentation's purpose	p. 32
Examine the goals for a talk	p. 33
Elevate the moment	p. 33
Assess the audience	p. 34
Prepare for a familiar audience	p. 34
Prepare for an unfamiliar audience	p. 35
Coping when your talk gets hijacked	p. 37
Ditch the "dumb it down" attitude	p. 38
Think of audience needs, not yours	p. 42
Think about logistics	p. 45
References	p. 48
4 Challenge Your Organization's Culture of Text-Heavy Slides	p. 49
Understand the patterns' origin	p. 50
Stop assuming they want to read	p. 50
Work toward fewer bullets, less text	p. 51
Avoid using slides as teleprompters	p. 53
Build information deliberately	p. 54
Move beyond "How many slides should I use?"	p. 54
Encourage better presentation practices	p. 56
Create, compile, organize, and stabilize team presentations	p. 58
Work towards a change	p. 60
References	p. 60
Slide Rule #2 Write Sentence Headers
5 Clarify Topics with Full-Sentence Headers	p. 65
Write full sentences for headers, avoiding fragments	p. 65
Consider the case against fragmented headers	p. 66
Deploy best practices for sentence headers	p. 70
Expect immediate results	p. 71
Write targeted headers	p. 73
State a fact or explain a concept	p. 74
Showcase an analysis	p. 80
Transition to new information	p. 84
Influence outcomes with headers	p. 88
Frequently asked questions about sentence headers	p. 88
References	p. 91
Slide Rule #3 Use Targeted Visuals
6 Build Information Incrementally	p. 95
Build something better than bullets	p. 95
Devise methods that build information	p. 97
Design with words to make bullet lovers happy	p. 98
Solidify complex topics with refrains	p. 99
Use refrain slides for meeting agendas	p. 100
Create visuals for directed comprehension	p. 103
Build out to drill down	p. 107
7 Generate Quality Graphs	p. 109
Portray complexity simply	p. 110
Determine the right visual	p. 111
Design reasonable pie charts	p. 112
Design impactful bar charts and histograms	p. 117
Design scatter XY charts and scatter plots	p. 121
Craft line charts	p. 127
Map out area graphs	p. 128
Think through flow or process charts	p. 130
Address assorted other visual outputs	p. 132
Graph ethically	p. 133
Create accessible graphics	p. 136
Frequently asked questions about graphs	p. 138
References	p. 139
Further reading	p. 140
8 Picture the Possibilities	p. 141
Center yourself	p. 143
Manage image interpretation	p. 143
Model accurately	p. 143
Be ethical with visuals	p. 149
Frequently asked questions about using pictures	p. 150
References	p. 151
9 Temper the Templates	p. 153
See the possibilities in a template, branded or otherwise	p. 153
Discover and assess a branded template	p. 154
Work with company templates	p. 156
Devise solutions for problematic templates	p. 156
Fix the template	p. 162
Provide template guidance	p. 164
Refine quad slides	p. 165
Establish brand when there is no template	p. 166
Slide Rule #4 Archive Details for Future Use
10 Make Slide Decks with Archival and Legacy Value	p. 175
Understand that slides have two lives	p. 175
Start new best practices	p. 177
Document ideas efficiently	p. 178
Use the Notes or Presenter Notes feature	p. 179
Get others to see your notes	p. 180
Use hidden slides	p. 181
Keep hidden slides ready	p. 183
Make retrieval easy for everyone else	p. 184
Embrace full documentation as part of workflow	p. 187
References	p. 188
11 Include More Than One Language	p. 189
Know when English is not enough	p. 189
Start with audience analysis	p. 192
Anticipate formatting for translations	p. 192
Deploy plain language	p. 192
Write in one language and talk in another	p. 195
Design split slides	p. 195
Capture translation in notes	p. 197
Translate toward clarity	p. 197
Find resources	p. 198
References	p. 198
Slide Rule #5 Keep Looking Forward
12 Enact Organizational Change	p. 203
Listen to the studies	p. 203
Anticipate the stages of acceptance	p. 204
Tally the results	p. 207
Look for the opportunities	p. 208
References tit	p. 208
13 Thinking Through the Next Big Thing	p. 209
See ahead	p. 209
Play with Prezi	p. 210
Use caution	p. 211
Amaze with Autodesk	p. 211
Apply apps	p. 213
Remain diligent in your best practices	p. 214
Index	p. 215

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Table of Contents