46
6.1
Invest Time on Your Graphs
Graphs are essential components of most scientific presentations, as well as in many
other fields (economics, administration, social studies, etc.) They require a lot of
attention to ensure they are optimized for your presentation. As such, the following
few sections include a lot of different tips on how to introduce graphs in your
presentation.
Please keep in mind:
• Understanding a graph takes time – even for smart people, even for those familiar
with your topic, even for smart people familiar with your topic!
• If you start discussing key findings from your graph while the audience is still
trying to decipher the basics of it (for instance, the axes, units, legend, etc.) you
have already lost them
When you show a graph, expect a few things from the audience:
• They will try to understand your graph – and as they do this, they will momentarily stop listening to you
• They will look at everything on your graph (axes, legend, numbers, trends, colors, any text on it)
– They will attempt reading stuff in small font
– They will pay attention to the useless stuff on your graph
Some overall advice:
• Do not just blindly use graphs created for a report, or borrowed from somewhere else
• A graph that is perfectly suitable for a report or a scientific paper is generally
NOT suited for an on-screen presentation
– Large enough for a test report is not large enough for a presentation
• Keep any text on your graph to a MINIMUM
• Anything worth being shown must be large enough to be read
• Anything NOT important must NOT make it to the screen
6 Graphs
6.1
Invest Time on Your Graphs
Graphs are essential components of most scientific presentations, as well as in many
other fields (economics, administration, social studies, etc.) They require a lot of
attention to ensure they are optimized for your presentation. As such, the following
few sections include a lot of different tips on how to introduce graphs in your
presentation.
Please keep in mind:
• Understanding a graph takes time – even for smart people, even for those familiar
with your topic, even for smart people familiar with your topic!
• If you start discussing key findings from your graph while the audience is still
trying to decipher the basics of it (for instance, the axes, units, legend, etc.) you
have already lost them
When you show a graph, expect a few things from the audience:
• They will try to understand your graph – and as they do this, they will momentarily stop listening to you
• They will look at everything on your graph (axes, legend, numbers, trends, colors, any text on it)
– They will attempt reading stuff in small font
– They will pay attention to the useless stuff on your graph
Some overall advice:
• Do not just blindly use graphs created for a report, or borrowed from somewhere else
• A graph that is perfectly suitable for a report or a scientific paper is generally
NOT suited for an on-screen presentation
– Large enough for a test report is not large enough for a presentation
• Keep any text on your graph to a MINIMUM
• Anything worth being shown must be large enough to be read
• Anything NOT important must NOT make it to the screen
6 Graphs