How to Design an Effective PowerPoint Content Production Revised December 2009, OHSU slides and originals

The Anatomy of a PowerPoint Title (First slide) Abstract (check requirements) 1 slide (For Fair only) Introduction ( 2-3 slides) Hypothesis ( 1 slide) Purpose (May be on the hypothesis slide) Methods (1-2 slides) Results (Depending on graphs 2-3 slides) Summary ( one slide) Conclusion (one slide) References (one slide) Acknowledgments (one slide)

PowerPoint slides should quickly orient your audience to your content Lots of images help Grab them with a snappy title www.csm.ornl.gov/ SC2K/eunokpix.html www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ conference/photos.htm

Grab attention with your title Make it assertive, clear and interesting Questions often work well For example: Why do dogs scratch flea bites? Not so good: Studies of the effects of Siphonaptera bites on canine motor neurons.

Introduction Reduce your background introduction paper down to no more than 3 brief paragraphs on three slides 1st paragraph lays out the problem 2nd paragraph gives background/history 3rd paragraph gives justification for work (“Therefore this study was designed to…”)

Hypothesis and Purpose State the testable question (“Proteases are involved in ovulation.”) Purpose - The specific problem that you tested (“We tested for the presence of a specific protease in the ovulatory process.”) (will overlap with last paragraph of intro)

Methods Subcategories (keep these brief and to the point!) Animals Tissue extraction Real-time PCR (include diagram of the portion of the sequence that you used in your work), immunocytochemistry or other specific technique that was employed (acknowledge the source of specific reagents) Statistical analysis

Results Report your major findings as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc. Use graphs, pie charts or other good visual presentation methods. Avoid tables, if possible. Include a one to two sentence “punchline” (legend) under each figure. Check with Joel to see if there are special printing issues you need to address with any symbols you have typed in PowerPoint.

Summary Prose version of the Results listed in three or four bullets

Conclusions How did your findings address your hypothesis? (conceptual rather than descriptive) What is the BIG PICTURE (clinical relevance, etc.)? Two to four bullets max. (i.e., overall concept and clinical relevance)

References What are the key papers in this area? (most will be in the Introduction, perhaps a few in the Methods section of your poster) Format: In text: can be numbers or authors. In the Reference Section: list authors, journal, date of publication. Title may or may not be included, as you prefer.

Acknowledgments Recognize those individuals not included as authors on your poster Lab technicians Animal technicians Joel Ito Anyone who donated reagents, protocols by name and affiliation Funding sources (Murdock Trust, NIH grants, Saturday Academy, etc.) Any personal acknowledgments (not usually included in scientific meetings).

How to present your poster Be enthusiastic and HAVE FUN! Write what you want to say ahead of time out on note cards. At least write down speaking points. Practice 2-3 times with family member of a good friend. Serious effort at a rehearsal will help you relax when you give it in class because it will be the third or fourth time you will have given your presentation. Relax and do the best you can. Everyone can always improve. Practice being a student and “fail forward” in other words learn and do better the next time.

Resources http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Presentations/PstrStart.html http://www.asp.org/education/Howto_onPosters.html