Working with STEM students to deliver professional oral and visual presentations

Working with STEM Students to Deliver Professional Oral and Visual Presentations
Warren R. Hull and David F. (Boz) Bowles
CxC Summer Faculty Institute
June 2, 2011

Overview
Student, Faculty & Alumni Perceptions
Features of Conventional Technical Presentations
Resources Available Through Communication Studios

Often Heard Student Perspectives
Public speaking is for sales people and politicians, isn’t it?
I communicate well with my fellow engineers, isn’t that good enough?
I’m a good engineer, isn’t that enough to get promoted in my new job?

Poor communication skill is the Achilles’ heel of many engineers, both young and experienced — and it can even be a career showstopper. In fact, poor communication skills have probably claimed more casualties than corporate downsizing.
IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer Online
http://www.todaysengineer.org/2002/Nov/leader.asp

Student Responses to Survey
“Of the following ‘flavors’, with which ones do you
need more help? Fill all that apply.”

Student Responses, cont’d
“How much did the communication assignments in this
course help you to improve your communication skills?”
Little
Much
Very Little
Very Much
Somewhat

Student Responses, cont’d
“How likely are you to use what you learned about communication in this course as you work on future
communication projects?”
Little
Much
Very Little
Very Much
Somewhat

Engineering C-I Faculty Responsesto 2009 Survey
“The preparation time involved in teaching a C-I course is
comparable to similar courses without the C-I designation.“

Faculty Responses, cont’d
“Course content was not sacrificed in order to meet the
communication requirements for C-I designation.”

“The student workload involved in taking a C-I course is
comparable to similar courses without the C-I designation.”

“Student communication skills improved noticeably
by the end of my C-I course.“
Note: Several faculty members did not feel qualified to judge communication skills improvement.

“Students learned the course content in more depth
because of the communication requirements.”

2010 LSU Engineering Alumni Survey on Globalization

Quote from Respondent to 2010 LSU Engineering Alumni Survey on Globalization:
“As an engineer, I have found that the most important skills you need are visualization and, essentially, the ability to teach. You have to be able to visualize the problem at hand so that you can properly analyze the situation and come to an end result. You also need to have the ability to teach. With every project you encounter, you, the engineer, should know the system 100%. It is your job to inform or teach those you present your solution to so that they understand the problem(s) at hand and can evaluate the solution properly. It is also very useful if this can be done in a logical way, not just bouncing back and forth.”
Emphasis added.

The standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism
that turns everything into a sales pitch.
Edward Tufte, PowerPoint is Evil

Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker/Persona
Persona
Purpose
Audience

How you deliver your speech may depend on the forum or the message content
Memorizing the Speech
+ allows eye contact
- difficult for long speeches
- room for precision errors
- no room for improvising
Reading From a Text
+ ensures precision
- does not sound natural
- no room for improvising
- hinders eye contact
Speaking From slides
+ insures organization
+ allows eye contact
+ allows improvising
- some room for error
Winging It
+ sounds natural
- has much room for error

DSPH
RECEIVER
TSU
TSH
FLASH
TANK
FT
T
S
S
G
TURBINE
DEAR-
ATOR
HOT
WELL
HP
HTR
Does this clarify the description?
Engineers and Scientists often use illustrations that are too complex for the text
The thermal storage
system stores heat in a huge, steel-walled tank. Steam from the solar receiver passes through
heat exchangers to heat
the thermal oil, which is pumped into the tank.
The tank then provides energy to run a steam generator to produce electricity.

Does this better illustrate the text?
Solar Receiver
Steam
Heat Exchangers
Electricity
Turbine
Thermal Oil
Steam
Thermal Oil
Steam Generator
Steel-walled
Storage Tank

Extracting and magnifying a portion of a complex diagram will help you explain the point you are trying to have the audience focus upon.
Source: http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/petroleum/projects/environmental/reg_streamlining/15446.htm

Adding Equations
Use equations/formulae sparingly, i.e., only when it adds to the audience understanding
Consider using editing functions to emphasize points in the equation:
Variable that we
consider most critical to our project

Animation
Animation should increase audience understanding of the topic.
Otherwise, it is a distraction and should be removed from your presentation!

Animation is useful when trying to keep the audience attention to the point you’re trying to make
Animation allows you to insert objects when you want
It keeps audience focused on that one point and not…
Reading ahead

Resources Available to Help Develop Oral and Visual Presentations

Engineering Communication Studio Conference Room
Group project preparation
Oral presentation rehearsals
Video capture system
Teleconferencing capability -GoToMeeting®

Summary
While it may be a little more work for everyone at first, strong communication skills are vital in STEM disciplines.
Remember to make good choices based on the needs of your audience, your desired effect on that audience, and the expectations that audience places upon you.
Get help from the Studios!

Working with STEM students to deliver professional oral and visual presentations

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