Effective Scientific Presentations

1. Effective Scientific Presentations Lecture 4 G.J Mankey gmankey@mint.ua.edu

2. My Poster/Presentation My Name, My Collaborators, and My Advisor Department The University This project was funded by grants from X, Y and Z. Location and Date of Presentation.

3. Gary’s version of Ray's Rules for Talks • Organization • Appearance • Preparation • Presentation • Formatting (http://www.astr.ua.edu/white/webtalks/raysrules.html)

4. Organization • Outline • Introduction • Provide context for your topic. • What is the impact or implications of this work? • Who, what and hows of previous work? • Main Body • Make sure the organization is logical & flows well. • Emphasize key assumptions (rule of three), results, implications, etc. • Summary • What is the conclusion? • Explain the implications and impact. • Is there a need for any future work ?

5. Appearance • Use brief phrases & keywords to reinforce what you are saying. • A few complete sentences in a bulleted list on each slide. • Never make a slide with only a graph and no explanation. • Don't recite your text verbatim. • Use the MINT PowerPoint template. • Don’t use fonts less than 16 points. • Try reading it from the back of the room. • Do not use more than three font colors. • Don't put much on the page. • Don't display tables. • Use a histogram or graph. • Explain what's being plotted. • Describe each axis' units & range.

6. Preparation • Make sure you know how to use the equipment . • Fumbling is distracting, embarrassing & inefficient. • Make sure projection is in focus & FILLS the screen. • What is the point if we can't read what you display ? • Test slide show presentation before your talk. • Make sure font size & graphics are readably sized.

7. Cater to the audience's sophistication level. Avoid or explain jargon. Don't block the projector. Be aware of your surroundings. Face the audience. Don't talk to the screen Don't striptease your viewgraphs. It frustrates the audience. Vary the amplitude in your voice. Monotony stupefies. Reinforce the particularly important parts. Jump up & down to make them notice. Develop a narrative which builds expectation for your results. Make eye contact with all parts of the audience. Entertain the audience. Presentation

8. Formatting • Each presentation should be submitted as a single Power Point file with the slides in the correct order when viewed with the slide sorter. • Use the MINT Presentation Template-don’t change font sizes or colors. • Slides must be readable when scaled down to six per page, so use font sizes from the MINT Presentation Template (minimum 18 point) and scale graphics accordingly (details later). • All pictures must be in Windows Bitmap format (graphs too). • Presentations will be converted to html for the MINT web page using Power Point. • Page titles must be entered using the Slide Layout to make Table of Contents web page.

9. Insert Picture Guidelines • Windows Bitmap (*.BMP) is required format. • Maximum size is 500 x 500 pixels (as shown). • DO NOT RESIZE IN POWER POINT! • Resize larger images using Microsoft Photo Editor, Adobe Photoshop or Picture Publisher. • 256 colors are recommended for conversion to web files. • If pictures have more than 256 colors, notify office personnel.

10. OriginPro Graph • Format/Page/Print dimensions: 6 x 6 in. • Font sizes: title 24, axes title: 22, axes label and legend 20. • Export Page as Bitmap (*.BMP) • Export Options 72 DPI, 256 colors. • Insert Windows Bitmap picture into Power Point slide. • DO NOT RESIZE!

11. Sigma Plot Graph • Format/Size and Position/ 5.00 in wide x 5.00 in high. • Font sizes: title 28, axes title 22, axes label and legend 20. • Export jpeg: 72 Dpi. • Crop and save as Windows Bitmap using Microsoft Photo Editor (or equivalent). • Insert Windows Bitmap picture into Power Point slide. • DO NOT RESIZE!

12. KaleidaGraph Graph • Set frame size to 5.00 x 5.00 in. • Font sizes: title 20, axes title 18, axes label and legend 16. • Export Windows BMP - size: Same as plot window. • Insert Windows Bitmap picture into Power Point slide. • DO NOT RESIZE!

13. Equation Example Under Size / Define change font sizes as follows: Full: 24 Point. Subscript/Superscript: 14 Point. Sub-subscript/Superscript: 10 Point. Symbol: 36 Point. Sub-Symbol: 24 Point. Resizing affects formatting and makes some formulae unreadable…. The equation editor changes fonts on the print computer:

14. Special Fonts in Equations • Equations won’t print correctly if they include special fonts that are installed only on your computer. • To eliminate this problem, edit your equation in a Microsoft Word document, save the Word document as an html file into a dummy directory, and the equation will be saved as ImageNNN.gif in the dummy directory where NNN is an equation number assigned by the Word program. • Make sure you use font settings from Equation Formatting so the equation image is the correct size. • Use Insert Picture to place equation on the Power Point slide.

15. Explanatory Text • Some people won’t see your talk in person, so the slide should be self-explanatory. Answer these questions: • What is the sample? • What did you expect? • What did you get? • What does this tell you? • Use complete sentences. • Proofread and spell check.

16. Slide Titles Thin Film Processing 5/31/01 Click here to start Table of Contents Thin Film Processing Vacuum Why do we need a vacuum? Vacuum Systems Bayard-Alpert or Ionization Gauge Residual Gas Analysis Monolayer Time Vapor Pressure Curves… from: http://bama.ua.edu/~gmankey/vacuum/index.htm • Each slide title will be displayed on the Table of Contents Web Page. • Keep it short: 7 words or less. • Make the title a phrase. • Use terminology that will produce hits on search engines.

17. Presentation Content • All presentations should have a title slide, an introduction slide, the main body and a conclusion slide. • Outline the presentation before making the slides--it will save you time. • Limit the content to three main points--more than that will overwhelm the audience. • The introduction should state the problem and the method of approach to the problem. • The main body should include what you did and how you did it. • The conclusion should restate the problem and how your work has contributed to its eventual solution. • The conclusion may also include future work.

18. Important Details • Cite background work and similar work by other groups. • Follow a Style and Notation Guide from your discipline when formatting cited references. • Point the reader to your related published work. • Don’t advertise submitted papers--only cite references that are accepted for publication or published. • Emphasize your unique contribution to the solution of the problem you are addressing.