Presentations

Preparing an oral or a poster presentation: formal aspects

Most people are criticised for trying to press too much into a presentation. Less is usually more. Use a layout format of our clinic available on our server or provided by your supervisor. Show your supervisor the layout you envision right away (do not prepare you whole presentation without having asked). You may modify this in small degrees (change colours, change font size etc) but not the general design. Do not use fonts that have serifs (like Times New Roman). Use sans serif fonts (Arial, Verdana or else). Stick to a format with a white background and dark/black writing.
For some official presentations, you should use the University power point format. Please ask your supervisor.

Have names and affiliations of all involved on the first slide, and have a 'Thank you' slide at the end. Every slide in between should have a title. Numbering slides is recommended.
Try to have a common look. E.g. headings should always be in the same font size, colour, position throughout the presentation. This will happen automatically if you use the University template. Try to minimize text. If possible, do not use full sentences unless for special effect but use bullet points or similar structures. If you show a graph where a correlates with b, you do not have to write this in words in addition, but just say it when you show it.
Use citations more often than not. There are some cases where citations are not necessary or look ‘over the top’, but often citing sources is useful, and appropriate. You may do this using the style in which citations are made in the text of papers (no need to give the full reference), e.g. (Müller et al. 2009). The citation could be set in a different format, e.g. in italics and a smaller font size, or just a smaller font size.
Use large font sizes, large dot sizes and thick lines for graphs. NEVER use the Excel default setting for graphs.
Avoid animations unless they are really necessary. If you want new material to appear on the same screen as the old material, just copy the same slide and add the new material on the second slide; at least this is a strategy that avoids problems if a beamer setting does not understand the animations on your laptop. On the other hand, using animated lists reduces the size of your presentation file.
When copying material from old slides, don’t forget to translate if necessary.
Use scientific names in italics.
Don't overdo cute pictures, and only use text or pictures, which you will talk about.
Beware of colour combinations (red/green) that are difficult for colour-blind audience members.
Movies more often don’t work than do. Having movies in your presentations is cool. But not being able to show them is uncool. If you include a movie, make extra time to test your presentation on the conference presentation computer (NOT on the ‘speaker’s preparation computer), and have an alternative plan in case your movie does not work. Often, movies work in the morning when you test them but then later, on the same computer, do not work when you’re up stage (at least that is what people say whose movies do not work).
The introduction should not exceed 3 out of 10 minutes, and should finish with clearly testable hypotheses, which are later answered at the end of the presentation. It is a good idea to use tables/graphs with the questions/hypotheses that are later used again, with the added answers.
If possible, do not finish with a funny picture, a Gary Larson cartoon, or a picture with you holding a baby of the species in question. Rather use a funny picture (if adequate) inside the talk.
Do not put a slide with “Questions?” at the end because you do not know in advance how your chairman will handle the question section – directly after your talk or at the end of the session for all talks.
When presenting results, and you mention statistical significance, have that information on the slide (either as “p=0.043” or “n.s.”). Don’t show means without standard deviation. Don’t use three-dimensional diagrams (pie chart instead of circle chart, columns instead of bars) unless they give additional information.
When making bullet points, make sure the alignment is consistent, and you start either always with a capital or with a small letter. Bullet style should be consistent throughout the presentation. If animal experiments were involved, state the Animal Care and Use License.
Have some data, fotos, schemes ready in supplemental slides which you might use in the discussion section.

Giving a presentation
Staying within the given time limit is the prime objective. You should never underestimate the importance of keeping in time. There is no excuse not to. Please practice and shorten your presentation until you are absolutely sure you can stay within the given time limit. Do not say that you “rush through” the material due to time limits, or that you feel you do not have enough time. Finishing one minute earlier in your test runs is what you should aim for. As a rule of thumb, one slide per minute is adequate. Higher numbers of slide per minute require a really good presentation style and will expose you to automatic criticism if you have time problems. Do not make up for time by speaking fast. Speaking too fast is rude.
Always thank the chairperson briefly, don't read the title again (unless the chairperson forgot that).
Present as a team, highlight what you did yourself, but clearly credit what was done by others. A typical bad impression is when a presenter says 'we collected these samples in 20 different zoos' and later, when asked how the samples were transported, has to admit that 'actually, the sampling itself was done not by me but someone else'.
Most times, the audience will be less familiar with the topic than yourself. Failing to present in terms they can easily understand is a major problem of presentations. It is not sufficient to just explain, once, that FXc5v is a special receptor, and then just use that abbreviation from then onwards - you should always speak of 'that special receptor I mentioned'.
People are different. Some need more rehearsal than others. Usually, if you are a beginner, you should rather rehearse a bit more. Practice your presentation with one of your supervisors. Plan ahead that you have time to make the changes and practice the revised presentation. If you observe that your talks are better if you do not rehearse out loud (but maybe only ‘in your head’), follow that path. Rehearsing out loud or in your head will indicate problem zones to you. Do not cheat yourself by thinking ‘and then I will link to the next slide’ but actively – loud or in your head – DO it, use the words that shall form the link. At the beginning, you might be surprised how often you do not find good words spontaneously. Therefore, going over your talk in your head is helpful.
When giving the presentation, SMILE. Have a reminder that says “SMILE” with you if you are not a natural smiler. Ensure you talk to the audience, not towards your screen or laptop.
Do not apologize. Not for your English, not for short time available, not for not being an expert ... If you really need to state that you do not know something, just do so without apologizing.
Using the exact words in speaking as are written on the slides is something you should only do in very carefully selected situations, such as reading aloud the conclusions (one can even introduce this with “now I am going to read the conclusions”). Having a presenter always repeat exactly what is written on the slide is boring, and sometimes makes the audience get a bit disrespectful. If it does not come natural to you, train yourself to use slightly different words or sentences than the one written on the slide – but of course not so different that the audience cannot make the connection any more. If you use slides with bullet points, it is a good strategy to phrase full sentences in which your bullet points are included. It is good to use completely different words once or twice, but do not use different words from your bullet points all the time, just phrase them into full sentences.
Maybe, it is cool to say things in a different sequence than the bullet points on your slide. This should not be by accident but planned, and if at all, only do this once per talk.
Think about what you will do with the pointer. Make notes about pointer use. Practice using the pointer in a fashion that you hit your target or can make your way across the slide in a calm, direct line – do not use the pointer to wildly circle around on the slide. Pointer movements (like circling an important word or data point) should be SLOW (so that the audience can read the word, evaluate that data). If you have problems controlling shaking in your hands, use the pointer as little as possible.
One strategy is to use a pre-fabricated pointing system – copy the same slide and have the special word/data/picture highlighted, e.g. by a red circle, on the second slide. This works if you practice presenting it (often, one explains everything using the pointer on the first slide nevertheless and then has to skip the second slide). It is a good tool, best used in combination with pointer use.
When giving the presentation, mention all your co-authors at the beginning in a respectful way. Don’t skip this because of time problems – skip anything but your co-author mentioning. Also be respectful in the acknowledgement slide – do not put 100 names there and then say ‘I thank all these people’ because no one will be able to read the names. If you acknowledge someone, pronounce the person’s, institution’s or grant agency’s name.
When presenting a graph, explain the axes. But do so in a reasonable manner – if you have the same kind of graph in 5 successive slides, and the x-axis is always the same, don’t explain it every single time in the same manner.
Ask for dress-code limits. Be yourself, but consider if you want to be the only one in a suit in a room full of T. rex t-shirts, or the only one in sports shoes amongst tie-and-suit-guys. You may choose to do so but rather only do it if this is “you” and not by accident.
When not experienced, make a checklist that you tick off when coming to the venue of the talk: Do you have to start beamer, darken room, work the microphone yourself?
Check out the projection, the pointer, and the stage in advance. Check out your possibilities for movement. If you have a microphone fixed at a station, it is not adequate to move around and not even to turn around (to point out something at the screen). If you are a beginner and are given the choice, always use the portable microphone, because turning around to face the screen is something you may not be able to control.
Actively contact your chairman; having a piece of paper with your name, affiliation, and main CV points (only 3 – where do you/did you study, where did you graduate, where are you affiliated now and is this a thesis?) that you can give to your chairman is a good idea.
I have seen people faint during their presentations. If you are extremely nervous, rather admit it, stop for half a minute, drink some water – rather than becoming more and more distressed. Know what to say. If you say something, say it loud and clear. If something is not important, don’t say it. Don’t say something and then drop your voice and add something by mumbling. A typical flaw of presentations is that the presenter shows something “and therefore, this is very important”, forgets that “important” is the end of the sentence, so he/she has to keep talking “important … so we have to give it a lot of attention …” and again the last word is not pronounced as if the end of a sentence, so that a “yes” (or similar) is inserted with the function of closing the sentence. Try to have your sentences come to an end without unnecessary doubling.
If your career will involve oral presentations on a continuous basis, actively try to improve – by checking out methods of presentation of your peers and supervisors. Try to plan your talk like an actor – when to move, when to smile, when to ask a question or say “… and the results are” and then wait a bit to get suspense. Using gestures can improve your presentation seriously. It is a good idea to think of something funny to include (in the talk, not at the very end, unless it really suggests itself), and part of the art of giving good presentations is to have some sequences in there where you only talk, without an illustrating slide – so to speak, the moment where you do not “present” but actually talk to the audience. It also reflects well on you if you can pick up anything from the moment – the previous talk, other presentations or comments during the conference, the room you are in, the coffee break – and use that for your start, or even in your presentation.
When answering questions in the discussion, seriously keep the answers short. If you have additional slides prepared, use them for short answers, not for a next oral presentation. Don’t start every answer with 'this is an interesting question'. If you need more time to think about the question, thank for it and say so - 'I have to think bout that'.