The benefits of using case studies to teach technical presentation skills

Case studies built on examples of "poor" and "good" technical presentations are used in collaborative workshops of two to four-hours in length and a 14-hour course. The course is an expanded workshop in which the participants design and deliver their own presentations. The participants benefit from this approach because it provides practical examples which they can apply immediately to their academic or on-the-job presentations. Also, they can learn the special design and delivery skills that are required for technical presentations. The approach is custom-tailored to meet the specific needs of different groups of participants by selecting the most relevant examples. The role of a case study in delivering these benefits to the participants in a four-hour workshop is reviewed