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Tammy Clark, Ph.D. Brown Bag Presentation - July 2014. Oral Research Presentations. What is the goal of your talk?. Disseminating info Graded presentation for a course Professional school interview Job interview. Who is the audience?. Why are they attending?
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Tammy Clark, Ph.D. Brown Bag Presentation - July 2014 Oral Research Presentations
What is the goal of your talk? • Disseminating info • Graded presentation for a course • Professional school interview • Job interview
Who is the audience? • Why are they attending? • How much do they know about your topic? • What would they like to learn? • Is it appropriate to interject personal revelations in the talk?
What is your story? • How much previous work should be included to set the stage? • Should you include all findings? • Have you come to a conclusion? • Have you uncovered more questions? • Make a general outline
A General Outline • Title Slide • Introduction and previous studies • Your question and experimental design • Your data • Data analysis • Your conclusions and unanswered questions • Future work • Acknowledgements Most sections will require more than one slide
Don’t Procrastinate • Start writing slides • Find pictures after text is written • Save formatting for later
Title Slide • Descriptive name of talk • Your name • Your advisor’s name (depending on venue) • Institution(s) that provided support • Include logo if available
Introduction and Previous Studies • Hook the audience • Relevance • Sufficient background to understand the question • Briefly outline previous work that led to the question • What was interesting about the previous study? • What was missing? The best talks will integrate these instead of discussing them separately
Your Research Question • Clearly state your hypothesis and/or goals (this is your question) • Convince the audience that your methods for discovering answers is sound by briefly stating your experimental design
Your Data • Concise graphics that clearly show the important aspects of your findings • Typically one slide per graphic • Title can be the type of data or the take-home message • Include error bars • Legible graphics for back of the room • Increase font size • Bold fine/thin font • Increase line widths • Avoid green and red (may not be differentiated by a color-blind person) • Discussion of the data analysis should occur on these slides
Conclusions & Unanswered Questions • Restate the take-home messages and if possible link them together for an overall sense of what was accomplished • Revisit the relevance of the project and connect it to your conclusions • Did you accomplish your goals? • Have you discovered more questions as a result of your research? This section should lead smoothly into the future work section
Future Work • What are the next steps? • You may not be the person who will continue the project, but you should still address where your research has led to • If plans have been made, it is appropriate to briefly discuss these (if time permits)
Acknowledgements • Research Advisor(s) • Co-workers who you have collaborated with • Institution • Anyone who has provided financial support for the project If appropriate, name the funding source: specific research fellowship, NIH grant number, etc…
Practice – Critique – Practice… • Develop your talk • Don’t be afraid to try different approaches • Avoid scripting • Use PowerPoint as your “notecards” • Think about the audience in choosing language
The Critique • Ask a few people to critique • Practice alone first • Give entire talk without interruptions • Peers take notes on rough spots • Afterward, go through slide-by-slide and discuss • Overall organization • Clear explanation of concepts • Appropriate level for audience • Legible font and graphics Allow for ~1 hour to critique a 10 minute presentation
Practice, Practice, Practice • You cannot practice too much! • Ask for laser pointer and for room access • Fine-tune the timing • Laser pointers • Stabilize with 2-handed hold • Point – don’t circle
Miscellaneous • Many PowerPoint alternatives (Prezi) • Avoid clutter and distracting transitions • Strive for uniformity in slides • Font sizes • Spacing • Mac vs. PC? • Copy and Paste PDF documents into slides
The Big Day • Dress Appropriately • Arrive early • Introduce yourself to moderator • Upload presentation • Bathroom break beforehand • Be confident because you practiced • Attend the entire conference Represent Viterbo Well!