Introduction to Research Presentations

Sarah Taylor-Laine (BSc/MSc Biology)

Presentation Overview

• Getting Started• Presentation Formats• Preparation• Presentation• Overview• Questions?• Selected Resources

Research Presentations

• There are many reasons to present at a conference…– Inform your audience of new research

developments and results– Synthesize the state of current research to

argue a point or call to action– Add your point of view to a body of

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Why Present?

• To get feedback on your research from other experts

• To meet and network with other professionals

• To develop presentation and communication skills

• To gain confidence in your research areaGetti

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Where Do I Start?

• Choose a conference wisely– Institutional, Local, State, Country,

International?– Small and specialized (i.e. Society of Vertebrate

Paleontology Annual Meeting)?– Large and robust (i.e. American Chemical Society

National Meeting)?

• If you are unsure, ask senior students, colleagues, or your research advisor for suggestions

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How Do I Fund Myself?

• Attending a conference is expensive– Fees (registration, special events)– Travel costs (lodging, transportation, food)– Membership (optional)

• Departmental, institutional, or society grants and scholarships may be available– Plan ahead! Most funding is by reimbursement

• Volunteer at the conference

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How Do I Plan?

• Create a timeline– Registration and abstract submission dates– Funding application due dates

• Make travel arrangements early– For larger conferences, affordable lodging can

be limited

• Read everything sent to you by the conference planners and keep all documents

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What Kind of Presentation?

• Oral Presentation• Paper Presentation• Poster Presentation

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Oral Presentations

• Present a short lecture

• Best for research projects that have been completed or are nearing completion

• Captive audience

• Often 10-30 minutes in length

• Limited feedback during session

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Form

ats

Paper Presentations

• Present a paper

• Good for getting feedback on a manuscript before publication

• Captive audience

• Often 10-30 minutes in length

• Limited feedback during sessionPres

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Form

ats

Poster Presentations

• Present with others in a themed session

• Good for preliminary research or research not well suited to a formal presentation format

• Often will stand by your poster for 30-60 minutes

• Feedback is immediate and ongoingPres

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Form

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Choose a Topic

• Choose a conference that encompasses your research topic– Within the conference, choose a relevant

session/symposium/series

• Stay focused– What are the goals of the

conference/session/symposium?– What are your research goals?

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Prepare Your Work

• Research the presentation guidelines of your meeting

• Choose a presentation format

• Create and submit an abstract

• Submit all other required documents

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Abstracts

• A concise summary of your work– 150-350 words– Pay special attention to formatting and

word count guidelines– Be as specific and clear as possible. Vague

abstracts are often rejected!

• If you are unable to write a complete abstract, perhaps your work is not far enough along to present!

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Create Your Presentation

• Your presentation should be an overview of your research– Prioritize main points– You will not be able to include everything!

• Include an Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion section– Perhaps also Acknowledgements and

Literature Cited

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Audience

• Know your audience– Will you be speaking to specialists in your

field? Other professionals? The general public?

• Use language, examples, and a level of detail that are relevant to your audience

• Anticipate questions and comments

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Format

• Keep it simple– Do not have paragraphs on your slides– Only use images if they are helpful– Avoid distractions

• When presenting results, have only one graph or figure per slide

• Use high contrast fonts and color scheme

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This is a Model Poster Presentation LayoutStudent’s Name Advisor: Dr. Primary Investigator

Department of Your Department, California State University, Fullerton

Introduction Here you can explain your introduction in either paragraph form or bullet-point style (Citation 1). Make sure all of your text is readable from 10-15 feet away. Is this text size sufficient? Make sure your hypothesis or research question is clearly stated.

Discussion Here you will explain the implications of your findings, how your results compare to previous studies, and future work (Citation 4) You can also explain changes you would make to the methodology or any errors that may have occurred. Remember to be concise and save detailed textual explanations for your research paper. You can always explain things in detail to your poster visitors.

Results You can explain some of your results in text, but make sure you include mostly figures or tables, each with a figure legend (Citation 3).

Figure 1. Comparison of sugar content between apples and oranges. Apples were found to have significantly more sugar than oranges (T-Test: t-stat: -12, P-Value: 2.14 x 10-6)

Figure 2. Annual tree growth rate was found to be positively correlated with annual rainfall.

Literature Cited• Citation 1• Citation 2• Citation 3• Citation 4

AcknowledgementsWho helped you out? Who funded your research?

Oranges Apples0

50100150200250300350400

Suga

r Con

tent

(g)

40 50 60 70 80 90 100012345

f(x) = 0.078048780487805 x − 2.88536585365854R² = 0.999024390243902

Rainfall (mm/year)

Tree

Gro

wth

Rat

e (m

m/y

ear)

Methods Here you canexplain yourmethodologies,with appropriatepictures or diagrams(Citation 2). In this case,it appears weused a micropipetto run assays.A plate readerwas probablyinvolved at some point.

Rehearse and Plan

• Rehearse, hopefully with an audience, and ask for feedback

• Read over your presentation materials several times– Presentation, Paper, Poster, Notes, Handouts, etc.

• Plan for obstacles and technical difficulties– Bring a backup of all files and save files as PDFs (a

universal file format)

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The Big Day!

• Arrive early (to the conference and to the session)

• Familiarize yourself with the room and equipment

• Control your nerves– Think positively– Get excited

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Timing

• Most presentations are 10-30 minutes

• Plan to spend ~ 1 minute per slide

• Leave ~ 5 minutes for questions at the end of the presentation

• Avoid tangents, improvisations, diversions

• Never exceed the time allotment!

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Demeanor

• Look the part (comfortably)– Determine the conference dress code

ahead of time– Wear clothes that make you feel confident

AND comfortable

• Use a strong, clear, and expressive voice– Short pauses for interest– Repetition for emphasis– Be enthusiastic

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Demeanor

• Make eye contact– Look at all of your audience– Do not show your back to the audience

• Listen attentively to the other speakers– Make connections with your topic in your

presentation (if possible)– This will also help you to anticipate

questions

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Question and Answer Time

• Yield to experts

• Do not take criticism personally

• Do not engage antagonistic people– Or people who ask questions simply to

show how much they know about the subject

– Thank them for their comment, and move on

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Final Remarks

• Not only do you want to inform your audience about your research, but you want them to remember your presentation– Be prepared!– Be dynamic!– Be enthusiastic!

• Good presentation skills are only won through practice

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Selected Resources• http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/Conference_Success.pdf• http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/swan/SWAN_Presentation_Handout.pdf

• Alley, Michael. The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and

Critical Errors to Avoid. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2003.

• Edwards, Paul N. “How to Give an Academic Talk: Changing the Culture of Public

Speaking in the Humanities.” Michigan: Paul N. Edwards, 2004.

• McConnell, Susan. “Giving an Effective Presentation: Using Powerpoint and

Structuring a Scientific Talk” Dept. of Biological Sciences, Pew Foundation

Meeting. Stanford U. 2005. Lecture.

• Newton, Richard and Taylor, Gail. “Presenting Conference Papers.” Writing Center.

Claremont Graduate U. Video Webinar. <http://www.cgu.edu/pages/775.asp>