Developing and Preparing for Presentations By: Michelle McCabe

Ways to Present your Data  Papers  Talks  Posters

Why Should we do Presentations?  Get your research out there!  Then get feedback about what you have done  You can ask others in your field questions  Your goal is to get your audience to remember certain key points!  Be as CLEAR as possible!

Outline of Presentation Hourglass shape Introduction of the issue Background information Specific hypotheses Design Results Interpret the results General Conclusions Specifics of your study Broad

Preparing for Presenting  Consider your audience!  Collect all your materials  Pull out your main points for your audience to remember.  Camping trip analogy  You will initially have too much in your luggage.  You have to pick out the important things to keep.  Be prepared!

Guidelines for Poster  Must be able to read it from 6 ft. away  Use the hourglass to help build the poster  For Results Section:  Use bullet points and examples  Make sure to end with a few key points (3- 4)

Formatting Your Posters INTRODUCTION Not too much detail Main Points Hypotheses METHODS Participants Design Iv’s and DV’s Stimuli Examples TITLE Authors and Affiliations RESULTS Graphs/Table s Bullet Points of Main Results DISCUSSION/ CONCLUSIONS 3-4 main points Limitations REFERENCES If it’s cited, reference it!

Formatting Cont’d INTRODUCTIONMETHODSRESULTS CONCLUSIONS/ DISCUSSION REFERENCES

Poster Checklist  Initial Sketch/Outline  Rough Layout  Balance (text/pictures, data/conclusions)  Typography  Movement  Simplicity  Final Layout

Presentation Day!  Arrive early to set up  Author(s) stand next to the poster  Be prepared with a short “walk through” presentation.  Answer and ask questions  Have a request sign-up (sometimes a printed handout of poster)

Our Checklist  Content  Introduction  Problem of Interest  Very brief summary of past research  Basic purpose of experiment(s)  Hypotheses  Method  Clear and Concise  Design  Materials  Procedure (brief)

Our Checklist  Content  Results  Descriptive Statistics  Inferential Statistics  Discussion  Hypothesis rejected or hypothesis  Implication of Results  A few MAIN points  References  Tables and Figures  Useful info for the leader  Easy to Understand

Checklist  Format  Overall clarity  Organization  Font Size (remember read from 6ft away)  Figure/text balance  Title  Authors

Different Kinds of Talks  Research presentations  (typically 10 to 30 minutes)  Paper with Respondent  Speaker gives 30 min. paper; Respondent gives 15 min. response; Speaker gives 15 min. reply to response  Panel Presentation  3-4 Speakers; min. each. May have people who respond to the presentations  Workshop  Can last from 90 min-full day; make brief statements before delving into an activity

Content of a Talk  Create logical progression  Be brief, but concise  Use slides to help simplify points  Include graphics (pictures, graphs, etc.)  Don’t just read slides  Walk people through things if they don’t quite understand  Use terms people will know!

Talk Presentation  Make it flow (PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE)  Be careful of speed speaking  Make eye contact with the entire audience  Emphasize key points, make sure audience understands them  Point to slides if it helps  Beware, jokes can be a double-edged sword  Watch your time limit

Be Prepared for Questions  Repeat question in your own words  TRY not to be nervous  Through out your practices think of questions that could be asked and answer them.

Checklist for the Talk  Preparation  Analyze the audience  Choose your main points  Prepare final outline  Construct “speaking” outline  Notecards  PRACTICE!