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8.1
Avoid Maths and Equations
Similar to graphs, mathematical equations can take a very long time to appropriately introduce. They also demand a significant intellectual effort. As such, equations are likely to be a turn-off for the audience.
A few tips:
• Only show equations critical to your objectives and conclusions
• Use a large enough font
• Never introduce more than one equation at a time
• Ensure that every single term is well defined
• Use animations to highlight each term step by step (use arrows, one-word
descriptions, etc.)
• Avoid deriving equations during a talk. The audience will trust that they can find
such details in your paper, or discuss with you off-line
• Don’t feel the need to prove/derive everything on the screen
If you really need to show a whole bunch of equations to demonstrate the credibility of your approach, I suggest you just flash the equations, emphasizing a few
key points maybe, apologizing for having to show them. This is one rare case where
the audience will most likely not be mad at you for not discussing in detail something shown on the screen!
8 Maths