Effective Presentations of Research

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Effective Presentations of Research

• Valerie Balester and Candace Schaefer
• University Writing Center
• Holly Gaede
• 491 Research Writing

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Overview

• Comparing posters and oral presentations
• Effective poster design
• The basics of poster presentation
• Effective design of an oral presentation and
  slides
• Student Research Week requirements
• Resources
• Poster rubric

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Poster or Presentation?

• Poster
• Oral component is less structured, more
  interactive, depending on viewers questions and
  comments
• Viewers come and go
• Some will happen by
• Some will seek out your poster
• More opportunity for extensive discussion with
  genuinely interested, informed people
• Can be displayed when youre not there to explain
  it

• Oral Presentation
• Oral component is structured, not interactive
• Brief question period
• Audience is captive
• Not necessarily there to hear you
• Handouts can be used like a poster, to remind the
  audience of your points or to inform those who
  could not attend

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What Do I Cover?

• Both posters and oral presentations should
• contain the same basics as a research
• paper
• Background
• Purpose
• Methods
• Results
• Interpretation
• Conclusions

Schowen, K. B. In The ACS Style Guide. A Manual
for Authors and Editors. 2nd ed. Dodd, J. S.,
Ed. American Chemical Society Washington,
D.C., 1997 pp 27-38.
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Posters Text Visuals

• Posters combine textual and visual elements
• to get a message clearly and concisely to a
• viewer.
• Create them in Power Point and save as a pdf
  file.
• Use a process of drafting, revising, and editing
  just as you do to write a paper.

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An award winning poster

• The poster that follows, Southern Flounder
• Exhibit Temperature Dependent Sex
• Determination Behavior, won an award.
• Still, its not perfect. What do you think?
• What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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http//www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/examples/examp
le11.html
http//www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/examples/examp
le11.html
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Visuals Are Key to Posters

• Visual elements should be
• Legible from a distance
• Numbered, titled, and referenced in the text
• Designed to get the gist of your message across
• Use Color with a purpose.
• To show connections
• To guide the audience through the poster
• To highlight

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Poster Design

• Use a layout that is easy to follow.
• left-to-right flow in vertical columns
• two fields in contrast
• left-to-right flow in horizontal rows
• a centered image with explanations
• Blank space
• Frames the area it surrounds
• Graphic hierarchies (font sizes, line widths)
• BIGimportant smallless important
• Indenting
• Creates blanks space hierarchy

http//www.tamu.edu/ode/graduatewritingproject/res
ources/design.pdf
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Text

• Write for the audience e.g., scholarly, popular,
  technical, lay.
• Use bullets, white space, italics, bold,
  underlining, and headings to guide the eye. Use
  them consistently.
• Make paragraphs and sentences short.
• Rewrite for the poster (dont recycle from a
  paper).
• Watch for typos and errors.

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Keep it concise and use parallel structure for
lists.

• Original
• The ideal anesthetic should quickly make the
  patient unconscious but allow a quick return to
  consciousness, have few side effects, and be safe
  to handle.

• Revised
• Ideal anesthetics
• Quick sedation
• Quick recovery
• Few side effects
• Safe to handle

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Posters Need Legible Fonts with Concise Wording

• All labels should be legible from at least 3 feet
  away.
• Keep headings of same level of importance same
  size and type of font.
• Title (96)
• Headings (36)
• Text (32)

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Consider the strengths and weaknesses the
following posters

• Do they contain long chunks of text?
• Are the colors consistent, pleasant, meaningful?
• Are they too busy or too plain (too much white
  space)?
• Do you know immediately what they investigate and
  why it is significant?

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http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/images/gall
ery/cell_proliferation_md.gif
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http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/images/gall
ery/andreas.gif
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http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/images/gall
ery/meshrepair.gif
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http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/images/gall
ery/fallen_women_md.gif
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http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/images/gall
ery/vitaminC_md.gif
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Poster Presentation

• You will have to present your poster to judges
  and interested viewers.
• Practice short (2 minute) and long (10 minute)
  versions of your explanation.
• Anticipate questions you might get and how you
  will answer.
• Do not block the poster or read from the poster,
  but do point out figures and use them in your
  explanations.
• Make sure you can sum up your posters key points
  and conclusions in 2-3 sentences.

http//www.owlnet.rice.edu/7Ecainproj/presenting.
html
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Student Research Week Poster Details

• What are the size limits of the poster?
• 4 x 4
• Who judges the poster?
• For the SRW prizes, one judge in your field, and
  one lay judge for the University Writing
  Center prize, lay judges only.
• Where can I have my poster printed?
• Kinko's and Copy Corner
• File in pdf format
• How much should I expect to spend?
• 10 per square foot for a color printout. 
• Laminating and mounting cost extra
• Can print poster on smaller pages and then
  assemble those pages
• May I use my Scholars research money toward this
  expense?
• You may use your Scholars money toward SRW
  materials.

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Oral Presentations

• Use the same basic visual techniques.
• Descriptive headings, white space, italics, bold,
  underline, and lists to guide material and
  organize
• Pictures that supplement text
• Color that creates a theme or is visually
  pleasing.
• Text should be concise.
• In lists, using parallel structure
• No telegraphic style use phrases or complete
  sentences
• Make it legible from 6 feet away (unprojected).
• Be professional!
• No cute, but irrelevant clip art
• No distracting backgrounds, animations, borders
• No misspellings, typos

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3-Part Structure

• Introduction--Tell the audience your topic, the
  points you will cover, and the reason your topic
  is important to them.
• Body--Discuss each point. Accentuate each point.
  
• Conclusion--Repeat the key ideas you want your
  audience to remember.

Elizabeth Tebeaux. The Basics of Oral
Presentations. http//www.tamu.edu/ode/graduatewri
tingproject/resources/speech_files/frame.htm
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Introduction includes topic, motivation, and
organization

• Establish rapport with your audience interest
  them in your topic.
• State the main purpose of your presentation.
• Motivate the topic why should anyone care about
  this research?
• Forecast your organization.

Elizabeth Tebeaux. The Basics of Oral
Presentations. http//www.tamu.edu/ode/graduatewri
tingproject/resources/speech_files/frame.htm
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Main Section

• Present only the main ideas.
• Present one idea per slide.
• The slide title should state the topic or main
  idea
• Do not include information you wont have time to
  discuss.

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Conclusion

• Leave the audience with a take-home message.
• Plan out a confident ending.
• Not Thats it.
• Leave time for question/answer.
• Always listen carefully to the questions and
  answer ONLY what was asked.
• Dont get defensive.
• Thank your host and your audience.

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Student Research Week Oral Presentation Details

• Use Microsoft Power Point or PDF file.
• Do not bring your own computer or projection
  equipment.
• All presentations must be uploaded in person
  during one of the scheduled SRW Upload sessions.
• Oral presentations will be broken into 3 hour
  sessions.  
• Each oral presentation is 10 minutes, with 2-3
  additional minutes of questions.

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Resources

• http//www.io.com/hcexres/textbook/oral.html -
  Part of an online technical writing textbook,
  this site provides step-by-step instructions as
  well as numerous helpful examples.
• http//www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Present
  ations/110.html - Maintained by the Kansas
  University Medical Center, this tutorial focuses
  on how to design a poster for an oral
  presentation and includes helpful tips grouped
  under appropriate menus.
• http//www.tamu.edu/ode/graduatewritingproject/ -
  A Texas AM site, it includes poster
  presentations as well as oral presentations, with
  plenty of tips, advice, and examples.
• http//www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/examples/
  -The strength of this site is its excellent
  examples with detailed commentary about their
  strengths and weaknesses.