Final Year Project Presentation and Defence Best Practices

Chapter 2 · Practice 1 of 3

Put one idea on each slide, with as few words as possible

From Build slides that support you

Why it matters

Panels read faster than you speak. If a slide is full of paragraphs, they read instead of listening, and then they are ahead of you.

Guidelines that work for most project presentations:

  • A short headline that states the point: "Sync works offline and resolves conflicts", not "Implementation".
  • One diagram, screenshot, table or a few bullet points of a few words each.
  • Text large enough to read from the back of the room.
  • Slide numbers, so examiners can ask "can you go back to slide 7?"

Put the detail in what you say, and keep the full detail in the report. If you need notes, use speaker notes or a printed card, not the slide.

Do

  • Write slide titles as statements of the point
  • Add slide numbers

Avoid

  • Paragraphs copied from the report onto slides
  • Reading the slides aloud word for word