codes for the presentation experience

codes for the presentation experience

Enhancing Presentation Experience with Codes

1. Introduction

In a very technical sense, portrayal software revolves around translating data into some form of imagery to represent it, which is static or interactive. Before a recent graphics seminar for a video game programming course, I had the 3DMark program open 15 minutes before a seminar, ready to demonstrate some point to no one in particular, and only shut it down when I realized it was a waste of time. The next day, the same thing happened: a friend who teaches the same course was using Chinese checkers and chess to demonstrate some AI algorithm to no success. An indication from him to me that maybe some form of AI vs AI battle in chess might be the best way to illustrate the algorithm. Given those examples, it’s clear that the message was still some game AI algorithm, but with less time and resources than the last video, it’s something that could be recreated more recently, and the eventual presentation was somewhat ignoring the simulated algorithm can battle the chess, which would be the best result. Thinking knowing that it is important to provide an effective means to produce imagery from data and that in some cases it is not possible to represent an image without a device to produce it.

An idea introduced to address many of the issues regarding the presentation of any information is that of separating content from style. If doing a talk in front of an audience, a speaker will plan to communicate a message to his/her listeners. This message probably originated from reading some information about the subject, but the end result will likely comprise mostly of what the speaker remembers of it and how they interpreted what they read. In general terms, it is the raw idea they are trying to get across. With current methods, this stage becomes mixed with exactly how to present the information, to such a stage as it is closer to imitating a program demonstration. Video can be an effective way, of course, but there are issues with this. The less time and resources to do a good video, the more chance that it will become a low-quality representation. Alternatively, portrayal software can be used, but this can become a temptation to let the software that was be the message rather than the actual information it was based on.

An effective presentation is one that is both understood by and interesting to the audience. Presentation packages such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint are used extensively in slides or presentation mode to display content to an audience. They provide a large number of features to allow the presenter to give a good talk on their subject including bullet points, images, speaker’s notes, and audience handouts. Using such a package can dramatically improve a talk, and more people have been using such tools for teaching purposes. It is also a common sight to see technical talks which come with a demonstration of a software package in action, usually by means of a captured video. The combination of the talk with the video can be effective, but the portrayal software has come a long way since the medieval method of caveman drawing and could be improved.

2. Benefits of Using Codes

The use of codes in creating and delivering a presentation has created a completely different dimension in the visualization of the presentation. By using code, a presenter is offered an option to harness the power of computation and use it to automate the visualization of their data. The flexibility of code also allows for the slide to be dynamic and updatable, thereby enabling uses such as a demonstration with real-time data. This has been evident from presenters at NASA and several top universities taking a huge interest in leaving PowerPoint and using the combination of code and a web browser to create slides with the ability to visualize complex data in real time from the internet. Audience these days are bored with slides full of bullet points, charts and graphs have been the savior of the bullet point slide. By using tools like R and D3, it is possible to leverage code to create complex graphs and plots aimed to enhance the viewers’ understanding of the data. The code may also be a central component of a technical presentation, and there are cases where the best way to show a piece of code and its output is to use the code itself. Traditionally, this has been done with the use of the command line and screenshots, but this can be visually unappealing and difficult for the presenter to get back to the same state. By using a literate computing environment like IPython notebook, the code can be explained alongside the output in a natural and interactive manner, as if it were a lab report. This method of presentation is also favorable when speaking at a teleconference where screen sharing is not possible. Code-based slides and data visualization are a huge step forward for computing and technical presentations. Code-aided data visualization provides the means to automate the generation of complex visuals and provide ease of editing. A technical presentation driven by code can provide a reproducible document that serves as both a live presentation and a set of deliverable materials.

3. Implementing Codes in Presentations

Whether you’re using HTML in PowerPoint, ActionScript in Flash, or JavaScript in a web-based slide show, the process of implementing code in a presentation can be quite simple. In general, there are two main areas of focus: animations and user-interactive content. Users of Microsoft PowerPoint will find that implementing code takes the least time and amount of knowledge – due in part to the macro recorder. This tool allows programmers to automate some task and/or have an event trigger an event without actually writing code, and also acts as a great educational tool. When a function is performed using any of the numerous buttons or menus, it is done the hard way. If it is accomplished with a short subroutine and a click of an assigned button, that is learning to be efficient. After a sufficient amount has been learned about what the sufficiency point is, complex code writing can be avoided. This method is all too simple for experienced programmers accustomed to writing code the hard way, as an efficient macro can often void any need to enhance coding skills with VBA. What is essential to remember about VBA is that efficiency is not always the goal. Though a developer can create many events and actions by writing code, the VBA-less methods are often faster and easier. But to enhance interactive content or create games and simulations, VBA is the only method. A very relevant slide with today’s economic situation. An excellent educational tool for programming in an environment similar to code writing for web content is Macromedia Flash. Users can now implement Flash content into PowerPoint, but the manner is not foreign to a web developer. The provided environments for creating animations in Flash or coding the timeline are quite intuitive. Dragging and dropping various lines of syntax from the ample reference panels provided often gives a good feel of actually not coding at all. With a little practice, events can be added to movie clips for interactivity and many useful subtleties of programming can be learned. Because Flash provides such visual pushing and immediate feedback of results, this method is a great way to entice a non-programmer into exploring further with actual code. Finally, coding for web-based presentations is relatively no different than coding content for a web page, and is often more direct. The main differing factor will be in complexity and what the default browser can handle regarding memory and load times. The array of possibilities is quite vast, so it really depends what the presenter wishes to convey and how far they are willing to go in amalgamating coding skills with skills related to the presentation medium.

4. Best Practices for Code Integration

There are several practices to keep in mind when integrating code into presentation slides. First, be sure to use a large, clear font for both your code and any text containing information about the code. This is important because it may be difficult to understand the code without reading the surrounding text, and it is frustrating to have to strain one’s eyes to read small-font text. Second, maintain a regular, consistent code format. This means that if you choose to use a certain color, font style, or layout for a specific type of code or information within the code, you should do so for all instances of that type of code throughout the presentation. Finally, be sure to clearly identify the purpose of the code in surrounding text. This will make it easier for someone looking at the slide to understand what it is you are trying to demonstrate with the code.

5. Conclusion

Because we value flexibility, we argue that using markdown, a lightweight and easy to learn format, is the best for technical presentations. With markdown’s ease in transforming to any format, it perfectly fits our initial wish for flexibility. Frequent presenters who do not wish to greatly alter their current workflows can take advantage of this by only having to make a few tweaks to their process. Markdown puts a focus on content, hinting an easy way to alter the content for the better. Future work can lie in developing a WYSIWYG editor that removes the necessity to know markdown, but ultimately still produces a markdown file. Finally, there is great potential in the greater automation of crafting these presentations. With the abundance of code analysis and representations of data, it is not too farfetched to think a tool could generate a presentation given the notes and data it would be based on. Imagine a live coding session that when finished, has a well-polished presentation ready to give. Overall, it is an easy leap to say that there is no better direction for technical presentations than that which codes.