Preliminaries

The Two Directives . . .

1. Content is the Most Important Feature

The First Directive (we shall call this the Prime Directive) is that the content of your presentation is more important than any other element.

No matter how flashy your presentation looks or how mind-bogglingly cool the graphics – all of that is useless if the presentation does not have meaningful content.

Keep this Prime Directive in mind as you proceed through the process of creating your presentation; you will learn more about this in Planning the Presentation.

2. The Speaker is More Important than Visuals

The Second Directive is that regardless of how meaningful the content and how attractive the layout – the presentation is not a substitute for YOU: the speaker.

Presentations do not “speak for themselves.” Although viewers of a presentation – such as a poster board – should be able to grasp the general research question, method, and conclusions, remember that the purpose of the visual presentation is to guide viewers or listeners through your spoken presentation and to maintain their interest as you speak. Keep the Second Directive in mind as you read through Practicing the Presentation and Presenting.

Are you ready, then, to proceed?

Good. Let’s go on, then, to Planning the Presentation.