• Phy 445 Oral Presentations
• Phy 515 Poster Presentations

The two forms of presentation, short talks and posters, each have advantages and disadvantages. One should be proficient in both forms.

The guidelines that follow are meant to be generally applicable. Some suggestions will seem absurd for this class because they are more appropriate to large meetings.

Disclaimer: The opinions presented herein are solely those of the author.

You will have a set amount of time, which generally includes about 5 minutes for questions. Usually the questions will be held until the end of your presentation, but you may be free to encourage questions, or a particularly boisterous audience may interrupt you. Ask the chairman of the session for guidance in advance.

• Do not read your talk. A talk that appears to be extemporaneous is much more engaging than a clearly memorized presentation. Emote. This is a presentation, and you are on the stage. Do not drone. Do not speak in a monotone. Inflect. Emphasize. Be conversational.
• Use visual aids. The distract attention from you, the speaker, and direct it towards your message. There are many types of visual aids:
  • Transparencies shown on an overhead projector are a proven technique.
    • transparencies are portable and reuseable
    • transparencies can be made in color
    • tranparencies can be edited up until the last moment.
    • the order of transparencies can be shuffled in real time, and they can easily be re-shown.
    • the technology is infallible (unless the bulb burns out).
  • Digital presentations, in Powerpoint, PDF, or HTML formats, are the current standard
    • Most venues supply a digital projector.
    • If the venue supplies a dedicated PC, then you need only carry your presentation in on a memory stick or CD; otherwise you need to carry your laptop.
    • If you have your laptop, you can edit the presentation until the last moment.
    • The technology is not bulletproof. Too often there are incompatibilities between your laptop and their projector.
    • Digital presentations enable the showing of animations/movies.
  • 35 mm slides are obsolete: few venues will supply 35 mm slide projectors unless specifically requested.
  • Other forms of presentation, including but not limited to the Greek Chorus, or animal acts, are generally inappropriate for scientific presentations.
  • The first slide should show the title of the talk and the name(s) of the author(s). It should show little else (perhaps a picture to set the scene), and should be easily readible at the back of the room.
  • Use as few words as possible. Use bullets rather than complete sentences Use figures and tables primarily to augment your talk.
  • Your final slide should summarize the talk.
  • If using transparencies, make sure the handwriting is legible. Consider generating the text with a typesetting program (e.g., Word, LaTeX) and copying it onto the transparency.
  • Choose a font size large enough that it can be read easily from the back of the room.
• Organize the talk in thirds:
  • Give an introduction suitable to a general audience. Not everyone in the audience is an expert.
  • Describe the experiment. Give illustrations. Show data.
  • Present your conclusions
• Conclude with a brief summary of the important results.
• Practice your talk. Time yourself. Aim to conclude in about 90% of the allotted time, because you will probably decide to add details as you actually give the talk.
• Practice your talk in front of a mirror. Do you have any annoying mannerisms?

When you give the talk:

• Stand at the side of the screen. If you stand in front of it you will block someone's view. Point at the screen as appropriate. Practice pointing to the side and speaking at the audience.
• Keep your hands out of your pockets.
• Always speak to the audience, not to the screen (or your feet). Speak up. Project your voice. You want to be heard in the last row.
• This is your dramatic (but not melodramatic) monologue. Converse with the audience. Do not drone or speak in a monotone. Evince excitement if appropriate.
• Do not stare at one point or, worse, one member of the audience. Shift your gaze. Engage the audience. Always speak to the back of the room - it will help with your volume and projection.
• An old actor's trick: - Look over the audience towards the back of the room. It will help you project and because you won't be looking at the audience, you may feel more relaxed.
• Move around. It will help you feel more relaxed. But do not move so much as to distract the audience.
• Do not swing the pointer. Do not shine the laser pointer at the audience.
• There may be questions. Wait for the question to finish before you start to answer it. If you do not know the answer, it is often better to say so, rather than beating around the bush until it is obvious to everyone that you do not know. If a questioner is peristing on some minor, perhaps even picayune detail, it is appropriate to suggest that this is better answered after the talk. Never show your disdain over the questioner's obvious ignorance, rather, you should complement the questioner on raising good points or important details that you just couldn't fit into the short time alloted.
• Remember: everyone in the room was nervous the first time they gave a talk, and they all survived.

At scientific meetings posters remain up for a set time - generally either one day (as at AAS meetings), or for the full conference (as at many topical meetings).

• An advantage of the poster, as opposed to a talk, is that the poster is up for a while; you do not need to be present at all times. Those whose schedule conflicts with yours, or those who merely wish to avoid you, can read the poster at their leisure.
• A disadvantage of a poster is that you are not always there to draw attention to your work. The poster must be constructed in such a way as to do that independently.

Posters are a visually-oriented medium. Posters should be colorful and attractive, so as to attract attention to themselves. The following should be kept in mind:

• The title must be prominent. It must be large enough that a member of the faculty, with failing eyesight, can read it from afar (say, 10-20 feet). At many meetings there are far more posters than any one person can be expected to read, so being able to see the title while walking past it is crucial.
• Take credit for the poster. Put your name on it (you might be amazed at how many presenters forget to do this). Your name should be in a large font just under the title. You might also consider putting a (small) picture of yourself on the poster, so people who do not know you by name can identify you.
• Make the poster visually appealing. Some people will be attracted to a poster by title alone; many will not. Include colors and pictures. Black text on a white background is boring. The more garish the better (within reason); the whole point is to get the potential reader interested in reading what you did.
• Posters are a visual medium. Minimize the amount of text; include pictures, graphs, etc. Use colors in your plots.
• Provide a concise abstract so that people who are attracted by your color scheme, or title, can figure out what you are trying to convey.
• Any text whould be in large fonts (corresponding to latex size /large or larger), so that it can be read easily by a reader (consider a faculty member with failing eyesight, or an umpire) at a comfortable distance of a few feet.
• In the body of the poster, eschew complete sentences. Use bullets. Use figure captions. Remember the old Chinese maxim: A picture is worth a thousand words
• Posters are not linear. Make sure that there is a clear path through the poster from beginning through end. Use section titles (e.g. Introduction, Observations, Conclusions) which are clearly distinguishable from the text. Use arrows to direct the reader's gaze.
• Remember to make the poster standalone: a general reader should be able to learn all they need about what you did by reading the poster. They should not have to come back and interrogate you. On the other hand, you can't put everything in a poster. A reader who needs to know more can always approach you, the presenter, sometime when you are present.
• Do not make a poster by gluing pages to a posterboard: the paper will wrinkle as the glue dries. Use tape. The more tape the better, since frayed/bent edges look unprofessional.
• In general, the less busy the poster appears the better.

If you plan to use the departmental poster printer, please read these Guidelines (a pdf file) first. All Phy 515 students are entitled to ONE and only one free poster.

A simple guide to how to use powerpoint to make a poster is given here

Last update: 11/20/06 by FMW