• Organization

    • The overall goal of a paper presentation is to "Convey the most information with the least mental burden required for the audience."
    • Assume the audience knows nothing. So start your presentation with the most basic knowledge and common words.
    • If the presentation is to the general public, considering starting the presentation with a story.
    • It is more important to make it clear why this research is important than what have done. So plan about at least 30% - 50% of the time talking about motivations.
    • One point at a time. At any moment, all the audience should look at a single point on the slide and hear the information related to this point.
    • Have a "Takeaways" slide, preferably at the beginning of your presentation. Have a "Conclusion" slide at the end of the presentation.
    • You can have a "Thank you" or "Questions" slide at the very end. Remember, this will be the slide that stays on the screen for the longest time. So, put some content there (e.g., bullet points of the conclusion). The content can help the audience remember their questions. Also, adding your contact information is probably also a good option.
    • If you are giving a 30min+ presentation, considering adding a landing page. Some audience may arrive before your presentation starts. So you can put the title of the presentation and your contact information on this slide. Also, it is an interesting idea to put a few questions here to allow the audience to start thinking about the problem you are trying to solve in the presentation.
    • Consistency is the key to good presentation slides.

  • Words.

    • Use as few words as possible. No one will read a line with more than 5 words. Having wordy slides will only create an impression that you are not well prepared.
    • A slide with only figures is acceptable. However, it is not common for academic presentations.
    • Never use sentences, except for really punchy sentences.
    • Instead of sentences, use words or phrases.
      • If you want to write "We use FPGAs to run simulations because FPGA is faster than CPUs." You can write "FPGA-based simulation" on the slide and orally say FPGA is faster than CPUs. Probably describe how much faster.
      • There are many uses cases → Use Cases
      • This leads to good performance → High Performance

  • Figures.

    • Make sure all the figures have high enough resolutions. Use present mode to check it is blurry.
    • Make sure all the figure axes are labeled. Ticks on the axes also need to be labeled and the unit should be clear.
    • Text on the figures should be large enough.
    • If you take a screenshot from a paper, do not take the original caption. Add your own caption in the slide.
    • When you start introducing a figure, say what is the x-axis and y-axis again. It takes some time for the audience to understand what the figures are talking about.
    • When the content of a figure is a bit hard to understand, give an example. Say something like "The point that has an x coordinate 2 and y coordinate 0.5 means that when a CPU core launches 2 memory transactions, the utilization is 0.5"
    • Do not dump the chart to the audience. Avoid the style that having a single-figure slide with many bars and say "here is the results of the paper". Always point out what is the interesting point, what is the trend, and what is the takeaways of the figure.

  • Styling

    • Avoid using the Microsoft Office default font. Roboto of San Francisco is much better. More importantly, do not use multiple fonts for regular text (code and formulas can have different fonts).
    • Avoid using the default color scheme. Because it is too popular, it creates a feeling that you are less prepared.
    • In plain text, avoid using colors. If you want to create hierarchies, using gray text may be a good solution. But other then black and white, only one shade of gray should be used.
    • Aggressively color code "good" and "bad". It makes easier for audience to get the point.
    • Avoid using saturated colors (e.g., #ff0000). You can use coollors.co to generate color palettes. Also, you can also keep using the same color palette to create personal branding. A super element example is the William and Mary university color palette.
    • When drawing a line, an arrow, or a box, increase the stroke width (i.e., weight as in Microsoft PowerPoint).
    • Block diagrams look nicer with round-corner rectangles. But the rounded corners should not be too big.

  • Animation

    • Use animation to help audience focus on a single point.
    • The only acceptable animations are "Appear" and "Wipe". Fancy animations can be distracting.
    • Avoid slide transition. The only exception is Powerpoint's "Morph" transition, which provides clues about how two slides are connected.