Tips for a good “Journal club” presentation In a dark room, consider a dark background with pale pastel text. Pale yellow and blue work well. White does not project well, particularly in large rooms with much magnification If the room will be bright, a pale background with dark text works well Overall, be careful with color. Use no more than 2 colors/slide for text and not many more for graphics. Red should be reserved for creating emphasis as the eye is immediately drawn to red in a slide.   Always strive for large differences in contrast between text and background, otherwise the slide will be difficult to read The “golden rule” is 5 lines with 5 words/line for text slides large blocks of text are to be avoided

This color is not bad for the title But as You Get Farther Down The page The contrast is getting less and less

Bad example I saw a seminar recently by a very famous scientist from UCSF It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme I saw a seminar recently by a very famous scientist from UCSF It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme

Fonts and Backgrounds are important Simple black and white is very good for journal club presentations Other high contrast combinations work well too White on black sometimes has too much contrast and does not always project well Pale pastels on a dark background project very nicely Yellow and blue work well, white less so Sans serif fonts are best. Mac people - no city names Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times Fonts make a big difference in clarity - Courier

Selecting fonts Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Courier Red text is to be avoided except for emphasis as it draws the eye Fluorescent colors are also to be avoided as they distract the audience Bold text does not project well when blown up as in a large meeting hall Bold white text is a complete disaster Particularly with serif fonts like Times

Use animations with extreme care Simple appears are ok As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience You get the idea, right?

Titles should be 28 to 32 point fonts (and summarize main point of slide) Text should be either 24 point Or 20 point Or rarely 18 point but Not smaller Do not make images too small

Don’t put too many panels of figures on slides! Cell Press journals are among the worst offenders

Use relevant panels of figures to make your point Tip: many journals put high resolution figures on web sites that you can download that are typically not in PDF versions

For more information An excellent Powerpoint tutorial can be found here http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/workshops/biomed/ppt/index.html Every person who has the need to convey information graphically, particularly quantitative information, should read “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward R. Tufte

Take home messages Don’t use too many words per line or lines per slide Remember 5 words, 5 lines guideline Use color sparingly for emphasis only Strive for high contrast text Titles should be large and convey message of slide Make figures large enough to easily see Break figures into multiple slides if necessary