Suggestions for Presentations
Oral presentations
Oral presentations
Clarity
Make sure your title reflects the content of your talk.
Remember to put your name on the title slide.
Face the audience, not the screen.
Don't read slides or read your talk.
Don't talk too quickly, but don't spend all of your time on one slide. Pacing is important to keep people's interest.
Be careful not to use too much jargon or too many abbreviations.
If you have many complex or difficult concepts, limit the scope for this talk and spend time discussing only one or two.
Indicate when the talk is finished ("Thank you…")
Organization
Limit the number of slides you have. A good rule is to have no more than one slide or overhead per minute (depending on the slide). This allows you time to explain each slide.
Often people complain that they cannot absorb the information on slides because the slides go by too quickly. (This also keeps down the cost of making slides.)
Include a map slide clearly showing the location of your site.
Spend more time on explaining the statement of purpose, relevance for management, and conclusions, and spend less time on methods and site description.
Have an introduction slide that explains the purpose of your research.
Have a conclusion slide, even if you are only starting your project.
Have a slide about management implications.
Graphics
Make sure your slides are clearly visible from the back of the room-the HUB West Ballroom is a large, long room.
Make the orientation of the slide horizontal. Vertical slides are hard to read.
Limit the amount of text on each slide. Text heavy slides are dull and unnecessary.
Use a large size for font (we recommend at least 28 point). Some people use 40 point font size when they have few words on the slide.
Use a sans serif font (like Arial), which will make the text easier to read.
Use contrasting colors to make the text/graphs visible (such as yellow font on a blue background, red on green, white on blue, etc.).
Pick a style and stick with it (don't change colors and styles - it is too distracting). Too many words, graphs, and colors on a slide can distract from the main point.
Make sure all lines (including tick marks) are thick enough to be seen from far away. Don't use dark backgrounds for slides with graphs. Make text describing the axis bold so that it is easier to read. Making bars contrasting colors helps the people in the back read your graphs easier.
Make your slides interesting. Adding pictures of nature, or your field site, livens up your presentation.
Practice with a slide projector on a screen - often your bedroom wall is deceiving in what the slides will look like - and remember to stand at the back of the room when evaluating; just because you can see everything does not mean the audience can.
Other suggestions
Clear statement of purpose (answers the "so-what" question.
Demonstration of management relevance/application
Conclusions and/or future directions for projects getting underway
Poster presentations
Clarity
Make sure your title reflects the content of your talk.
Remember to put your name on the poster.
Be careful not to use too much jargon or too many abbreviations.
If you have many complex or difficult concepts, limit the scope for this poster and spend time discussing only one or two.
Organization
Layout the poster in an easy-to-follow format (e.g., introduction, objectives, methods, results/discussion-be sure to include management applications).
Include a map clearly showing the location of your site.
Have an introduction slide that explains the purpose of your research.
Have a conclusion slide, even if you are only starting your project.
Have a slide about management implications.
Graphics
Use large font (24 point for text, 48 point for headers, 96 point for title).
Use bullet points to break up long chunks of text.
Make sure all lines (including tick marks) are thick enough to be seen from far away. Make text describing the axis bold so that it is easier to read. Making bars contrasting colors helps the people read your graphs easier.
Make your poster interesting. Adding pictures of nature, or your field site, livens up your presentation.
Remember, some white space is good.
Present data visually when possible
Other suggestions
Clear statement of purpose (answers the "so-what" question)
Demonstration of management relevance/application
Conclusions and/or future directions for projects getting underway
Have someone proofread your poster.