Making presentation slides

Things to remember when you are making a 15 min presentation slides for an Economics conference. 20 min each presenter is the norm, the last 5 min is for Q&A.

1. Motivates the paper. What is the question you are trying to answer? What is the answer? Why should we need to know? All these should be in the first few slides. How did you do and did you do it right is relatively less important.
2. The speed is proximately at 1.5 - 2 min per slide, which means 8 - 10 pages with phrases/formulas + 2 - 4 pages of pure graph or table.
3. Do not use arrow to show relationship, or +/- sign to show increase/decrease.
4. Minimize the number of Greek letters, and give each one an English name whenever it is mentioned.
5. Only important formula and notations, the less, the better.
6. Widely accepted abbreviations are your friend, e.g., nom. int. for nominal interest, avg. for average, std. for standard deviation, prim. for primary.
7. No period ".". Use phrases like silver bullet in your resume "verb ing + object", "adj + noun". Try not use full sentences, sometimes short sentences are OK "subject + verb + object", e.g., clearing the market, composites of goods, country 1 produce good a.
8. Sub title followed by 2 -4 bulletin points

Editing Drafts

Things to check for your fresh drafts:

1. Delete everything before conj. "that"; delete the unnecessary conj. "that".
2. Cover naked "this, these", e.g., this + WHAT?
3. No double adj., e.g., very novel => novel.
4. Use phd level words instead of high school level ones, e.g., use => utilize, several => diverse, use transitive verbs, e.g., look at => observe.
5. Rethink hyphen connected phrase, e.g., intra-firm trade => intrafirm trade.
6. Show off your vocabulary, use different words, e.g., wellfare weights = value-weighted index.
7. Assign a name to all lonely Greek letters, e.g., ... the elasticity of subsitution, theta, ...
8. To many "assume", use it carefully when you mean it, save it for things really modify the real world.
9. Use "where" for place, "in which" for model.
10. Why some words are in an emphasis format?
11. Do not use parentheses too often, e.g., when there is excess demand (supply), oil price went up (down) => blah blah, and vice versa.
12. Check very sentence: do they have all the basic elements? subject + verb + object.
13. Avoid contractions, e.g., won't => will not, isn't => is not, don't => do not.
14. Use formal/simple negative forms, e.g., not ... any => no, not ... much/many => little/few, not different => similar, not notice => overlook.
15. Replace long phrase with short one, break long sentences into short ones, e.g., in order to/for the purpose of => to, based on the fact that => because, at the present time => now, the present study => this study, there were several students who completed => several students completed, despite the fact that => even though.
16. Inner logic between sentences in a paragraph can be realized by either connecting words or starting new sentences by "this/these + summary word", e.g., this decrease/decision, these improvements/arguments.

A summary of linking words and phrases

• Addition: Furthermore, In addition (to), Moreover, What is more, (a problem the the solution, or claim) thereof, Not only... but also..., Gravitated to,
• Adversative: Although, Even though, However, Nevertheless, Whereas, Despite, In spite of, Err on the side of (caution/being overly inclusive), Nonetheless
• Causal: Because, Therefore, As a result, Consequently, Subsequently, Hence, Because of, Due to, As result of, Since, Thus, Map onto, For this reason,...
• Clarification: In other words, Put it another way, That is, Specifically, In specific, Particularly
• Compare: In contrast, On one hand ... on the othe hand, Conversely, Alternatively, Similarly, Unlike, Similar to, Consistent with, Like, In (much) the same way as, Equivalently, Be akin to
• Illustration: For example, For instance, be indicative of, rarely is this the case
• Summarizing: In a nutshell, Have posited, Express concern that, Conclude, Domonstrate, Mainly/Principaly
• Quantity: Increase fourfold, a pro rata share of

Useful academic level words

• Ancillary issue, side effect, double/two-edged sword
• Transparency, Transparent <-> Opaque
• Amorphousness
• Unscrupulous
• Drawdown
• Massage
• Detrimental Impact
• Domicile
• Bring ... to fruition