The presentation of data to help tell

your story

Presentation Skills and

documents

by Adrian Keating intro

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 1
Misperceptions
Which end of the horizontal bar in the centre is darker?

Source: Helmholtz, H. (1821-1894), “Simultaneous Contrast

Illusion”, In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, retrieved in July
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA
2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion.
Page 2
Misperceptions
Which end of the horizontal bar in the centre is darker?

Don’t mislead the reader with Decorative features .

Source: Helmholtz, H. (1821-1894), “Simultaneous Contrast
Illusion”, In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, retrieved in July
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA
2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion.
Page 3
Outline

• Background
• Review
• Experiment
• Results
• Conclusion

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 4
Outline

Aim: Development of simple, high

precision microfluidic technologies

Technique - Hot imprinting

Mold production/features

Applications

Measured surface profiles

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 5
Guidelines Rules
• Number all pages 12 pt
18 pt
• Minimum 20 point font 20 pt
24 pt
• 1 minute per slide 28 pt

• All photographs must be annotated to explain the photo – Tell

me where to look ! Rear DC motor

• Avoid clutter

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 6
Abbreviations
Explain all terminology when first used
Example:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is affiliated with the United
Nations (UN). The UN provides funds which help the WHO perform its
role effectively.

AVOID abbreviations (in both presentations and texts)

Count all occurrences of abbreviations. If you use the term less than 4
times, consider not using abbreviations in text

In a presentation, avoid
abbreviations all together
– the audience will forget or not pay
attention and you will loose them

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 7
Text to use
When writing a report, standard fonts are either Times
New Roman or Arial (Helvetica) in either 10 to 12 point
font.
When creating a presentation, Use ONLY san-serif fonts
such as Arial (Helvetica). Font’s containing serifs are
hard to see at the back of the room.

T T
Examples
– both in12 point
Times New Roman font

serifs The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

Times New Roman font Arial font Arial font

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 8
Cognitive load
Cognitive load basically means
how hard the reader has to work
to understand
what you are trying to
communicate.

high cognitive load

• Hard to understand
• Hard to remember.
• Hard to communicate

low cognitive
load • Understood at a glance
• Obvious/clear message
• Good for most charts
Making Data Meaningful Part 2 - A guide to presenting
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 9
Images need scale bars

5 𝜇𝜇m
Scanning electron microscope
photograph
(SEM) image
(a metal heatsink)
(deep trench in silicon)

Could you tell the

difference without a scale
bar ?

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 10
Data presentation – don’t mislead
Ensure the y-axis of 2 side-by-side plots is the same if the data can be compared
oak

cedar

Ensure an axis break is shown where data does not start at zero

Ref: Australian Engineering Drawing Handbook, Part 1, Basic Prinicples and

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA
Techniques, Revised 1982 Edition, Publisher: IEAust
Page 11
Legend

Note: velocity is red,

and acceleration is
in green.

Avoid depending only on the legend key in presentations –

they slow down the reading/processing of information
velocity (m/s)

acceleration (m/s2) velocity

(m/s)

acceleration
(m/s2)
check out the
shape tool in
powerpoint.
Making Data Meaningful Part 2 - A guide to presenting
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/writing/MDM_Part2_English.pdf
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 12
Tables –Good and Bad

The best table is

NO TABLE

Making Data Meaningful Part 2 - A guide to presenting

http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/writing/MDM_Part2_English.pdf
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 13
Summary - Clarity and wasted ink

Remove boarder, start y-axis at zero, put white

fill behind legend, change solid lines to dash/dot

Label axes, increase font size, bold axes title and

numbers, remove zeros on y-axis numbers Remove grid lines, replace legend with label on
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05 each plot
UWA Page 14
Transform your data to be linear when plotted

18
16 Proposed model
14 Does this obey ??
y-value (linear) 𝒚𝒚 = 𝒂𝒂𝒆𝒆𝒃𝒃
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
x-axis (linear)
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 15
Transform your data to be linear when plotted
Data should be presented in a manner to express a linear relationship
wherever possible
Showing your data is linear when
plotted on appropriate axes shows
the reader immediately that it fits
the expected trend
18
16 Proposed model
14 Does this obey ??
y-value (linear) 𝒚𝒚 = 𝒂𝒂𝒆𝒆𝒃𝒃
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
x-axis (linear)
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 16
 Scatter plots
A scatter plot is used to show the relationship between two variables. It is the most
accurate way to display correlations, as illustrated in the example below.
When using multiple markers
• Use markers of different style (circle
square, triangle) – note that crosses
should be avoided.
• Do not rely on color to make the points
stand out
• When multiple markers required, use open
markers first (no fill) & then use solid
(filled) markers of a smaller size than the
open markers. This ensures the markers
are all clearly identifiable.

use first use next

(large size) (smaller size)

avoid

Making Data Meaningful Part 2 - A guide to presenting

Australian Engineering Drawing Handbook, Part 1, Basic Prinicples and
Techniques, Revised 1982 Edition, Publisher: IEAust

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 17
Comments on units and significant figures
Data has too many zeros which can Data has less zeros, but use of
lead to mis-leading non-standard dm3 may easily be
missed (rotated text is hard to read)

Better: All values as Scale: ×104 cm3 Bold the important object
integers, with no trailing
zeros. However rotated
text can be missed.

Best : make scale very

clear = unambiguous

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 18
Representing data
Measured Data is always represented using MARKERS.
Do not connect the lines without a valid reason (model ?)
70


70


AxisMeasurancd, Yi

AxisMeasurancd, Yi
65 65
60 60
55 55
50 50
45 45
40 40
90 110 130 150 90 110 130 150
xi, Temperature (°C) xi, Temperature (°C)
Too few data Straight lines
points for a 70 between data
polymonial fit points implies
AxisMeasurancd, Yi

65 MODEL ??
(n=6, p≥3) 60 data which does
55
50
45
 not exist & is
discontinuous

40
90 110 130 150
Only plot the data
xi, Temperature (°C) that you know =
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
points
UWA Page 19
Representing data – with analysis
Once the data has been analysed, this information can be added to the plot to aid
readability.
70
y = 0.4114x + 6.5714
65 R² = 0.6197
Pressure (kPa)

60

55 P = 0.41×T + 6.57
50
R² = 0.6197

45 slope = 0.411 1/°C

40 y-intercept = 6.6 kPa
90 110 130 150
xi, Temperature (°C) scatter =±10.8 kPa
80

Which plot provides more 75

70

Pressure (kPa)
insight and analysis ? 65
60
55
50
45
40
90 110 130 150
xi, Temperature (°C)

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 20
Line plots

Solid lines should only be plotted when the data

represents a model for which continuous values can be
determined at every point on the plot.

The ideal gas law is given

by 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 = 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛. 120
Model of the ideal gas law
100 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 = 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛
This relationship is plotted 80 Where the constant
Volume (cm3)
to the right 60 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛=10 kPa.cm3
40

Always indicate in the 20

caption if the data is a 0

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
result of a measurement Pressure (kPa)
or a simulation.
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 21
Symbol mistakes
Beware of symbols
When expressing multiplication : Use symbol font ×
Not Time/Arial x

Numbers with units: a number followed by a unit must

have a space, e.g. 2 mm not 2mm

A temperature is expressed in °C or °F or K, not deg. or

degrees
The symbol °C for the degree No “degrees”
Celsius is preceded by a space.
symbol for
Microns requires the symbol 𝜇𝜇 [mu]. Kelvin
It is not the letter “u” – never use um.

For plus and minus don’t use +/-,using the symbol font ±
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 22
 Questions

This is a waste of a slide –always

end with your summary and
some images from your talk to
stimulate conversation

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 23
Conclusions […GIVE hard numbers and remind viewers of slides]

Aim: Development of Developed a simple,

high precision microfluidic technologies
with 1 μm feature resolution

You MUST
Technique havedemonstrated
- Hot imprinting page
numbers on your
slides !!!down to 1 μm
Mold production/features
(for question time)
Applications – channel mixing within 12
seconds

Measured surface profiles Flat surfaces with

a maximum radius of curvature of 1-5 mm
Dr. Adrian Keating © 05
UWA Page 24
 Write often !!!!

Dr. Adrian Keating © 05

UWA Page 25