This document provides practical suggestions for preparing and delivering effective presentations. It recommends estimating 2-3 minutes per slide, carefully curating the problem and relevance rather than rushing to include everything, and never exceeding the allocated time. Presenters should do multiple practice presentations aloud to estimate timings and work out complex points. The first 3-4 minutes should be memorized to get going confidently. Slides should be used as an aid for the presenter and audience, with bullet points using a telegram style and minimal words. Font size should be at least 20 points, and the last slide should summarize achievements or future work rather than thanking the audience.

1. Practical suggestions:
Presentation Preparation
● Estimate 2-3 minutes per slide
● Fundamental for
○ Assessing how many things can be told
○ Convince oneself that many things won’t be said

2. Practical suggestions:
Given up to begin with
● Don’t rush describing “everything”
● Carefully curate problem and relevance
● Never speed up (or reduce the explanations)
in order to say more things

3. Practical suggestions:
Mind the time!!!
● Never exceed the allocated time
● In real world, time is the most valuable resource anyone has
● Basic respect character towards colleagues and audience
● Better finish slightly earlier than later
● Never end up with 15 slides 2 minutes to the end

4. Practical suggestions:
Make many trials
● Perform presenting trials, aloud
● Very annoying but indispensable
○ Estime timings
○ Figure out complex/dangerous points

5. Practical suggestions:
Memorize the beginning
● Learn by heart the first 3-4 minutes
● Necessary to get going
● If you freeze at the beginning (emotional), you’ll stay frozen

6. Practical suggestions:
Never Improvise!!
● Decide in advance what to and not to say
(never add on the go)
● One may often wanna add and clarify
○ Very dangerous!
○ Turn a blind eye: if needed, questions will be asked
● Don't talk about things you didn't plan to talk about

7. Practical suggestions:
Where to look?
● Don't make eye contact
(This is up to you, IF you can handle eye contacts, of course, go for it. The issue is that you
need to learn how to do it properly. Plenty of practice is needed in order to communicate
the right feeling)
● Easy to discourage oneself
● Look at the opposite wall
● Do not expect nodding
● Any feedback to consider: questions

8. Practical suggestions:
How to speak?
● Slowly, without hurry, loudly
● Impossible
○ Following high speed speech
○ Concentrating on listening whispers
● Many don't like seeing the speaker with his/her hands in his/her
pockets

9. Practical suggestions: The slides
What is a slide?
● Aid for the presenter…
● ...and above all for the audience
● Used for following a presentation
● It is not the presentation

10. Practical suggestions: The slides
Density
● It is must be comprehensible at first sight
● Not full of words
● Not presentation transcript

11. Practical suggestions: The slides
● Adopt a telegram style, eliminate any unnecessary word
● Follow this algorithm
1. Write a sentence
2. Remove every unnecessary word
● Suggested style
○ Bullet points with one concept per point
○ One or two hierarchical levels
○ Reasonable usage of Bold, italic and a few colours
● Advanced style
○ Avoid altogether text
○ Use drawings and animations
Writing style

12. Practical suggestions: The slides
Font
● At least 20 points
● 24 is better
● 28 is perfect
Printed font are bad for screen font
● Times New Roman is not okay
● Palatino is also not okay
Calibri, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica are good choices

13. Practical suggestions: The slides
Colours
● Better black background with white characters
● Or white background with black characters

14. Practical suggestions: The slides
Special effects
● Remove “special efforts”, fading is all you need
● Technical presentation is not an advertisement

15. Practical suggestions:
Summarizing...
● Independently from your future career
○ Having technical qualities is not enough
○ It is fundamental that they can be communicated to others
● Fundamental
○ Know how to present your own work
○ Spend time and effort in the preparation

16. Practical suggestions:
Last slide
● Will be shown for the longest amount of time
● Do not waste it to thank the audience
● Use it for something meaningful
○ Summary of achievement
○ Future work
○ List of published works