Using PowerPoint Avoid dark backgrounds that use up printer ink. Don’t put too much information on a slide—if necessary use additional slides so that your audience is not overwhelmed by a flood of information. Put reference material (where you got the material from) at the bottom of the slide in a smaller font. See the example below. Lustman, M., Wiesenthal, D. L. & Flett, G. L. (2010), Narcissism and aggressive driving: Is an inflated view of the self a road hazard? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40, 1423-1449.

Using PowerPoint PowerPoint has a Speaker’s Notes function where you can put information you might need that you don’t wish to present to the audience. Speaker’s Notes material might be additional references, specific statistics, or other information that you might need to answer a question. Speaker’s Notes appear on the bottom of the screen on the presenter’s computer. PowerPoint also has a timer function which I use when I need to tailor my talk at conference to the time allocation.

Doing a Presentation The goal of the presentation is to present additional material to highlight, dramatize, or present an alternative view to that of the required readings. Videos, other studies, or the view of a different discipline are some tools for enrichment. Seminar participants should provide the response to the questions posed for the assigned readings.

Doing a Presentation Divide up the presentation by assigning different aspects of your material to each member of the presentation team. Aim for an equal effort! Use the optional material I’ve included with each topic as a starting point for gathering ideas and material. Use the bibliographic tools we’ve covered to find interesting material for your seminar. Save your PowerPoint slides on a USB key as well as e-mailing your file as a back-up.

Doing a Presentation I will have my computer available for your presentation so that you will be able to see your material and access Speaker’s Notes. Alternatively, I can connect your laptop to the room’s monitor. Make certain you can access the laptop’s screen as well as the room monitor’s display. This may involve toggling with a function key. I will be happy to duplicate any handouts you might wish to distribute to the seminar as long as I get reasonable notice.

Note how this is difficult to read. A good example of a very distracting background—avoid!

Psychology Research Guide: http://researchguides. library. yorku Psychology Research Guide: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/psychology Guide to Cited Reference Searching (and Impact Factors): http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/citedref Guide to using PsycInfo: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/citedref And, if it's of interest, Guide to Finding Psychological Tests: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/psyctests Courtesy of Adam Taves, Reference Librarian, Scott Library

I hope our presentations have been a TREAT and not a TRICK!