Doctoral training programme Preparing Conference Presentations Trevor Collins, Mark Gaved & Ann Jones Tuesday, 6 th May 2014

Session overview Conference introductions Breaking the fear barrier Content planning –Content tips and tricks –Slide guidelines –PowerPoint tips Summary and close 2

Conference introductions Task: Think of how you would introduce yourself to a someone at a conference What are the important things to say? –Who is the audience? –What is your purpose? Work out one or two sentences to introduce yourself professionally… 3

Breaking the fear barrier Task: In small groups, discuss the two questions below and make a note of your answers. Elect a member to report back –What makes you nervous about giving a presentation? –How do you deal with your nerves? Report back – using flip charts Review and summary of exercise & handouts 4

Content planning Content tips and tricks Slide design guidelines PowerPoint tips 5

Content tips and tricks Audience and purpose –Who is the audience? –What do the audience want? –What do you want to achieve by giving this talk? Story, plot and narrative –What is the take home message (see title & abstract) –What is the plot structure (e.g. introduction, conflict, resolution and conclusion) 6

Content tips and tricks Hint: Externalising your ideas helps you and others discuss them Methods: lists, concept maps, hierarchical trees, … Recommendation: Critique the story before you write the narrative 7

Slide guidelines Society for Information Science and Technology –“IS&T’s Guide to Effective Illustration: Images for Presentation and Publication” – conferences/guide_present /index.cfmhttp:// conferences/guide_present /index.cfm 8

Slide guidelines Checklist for slide masters and transparencies –Horizontal layout –Easy to read, bold font –36 point type for titles, 30 point and 24 point for text –Maximum of 9 lines of type or equations –Maximum of 10 words per line –Colours selected for high contrast 9

Slide guidelines Checklist for slide masters and transparencies –Curves bold, encoded by line pattern or simple labels –No grid lines underlying curves –Clear labels on graph axes –Text and labels on A4 size sheet readable at 8 feet –35 mm slides readable at arm’s length –Dots to identify bottom-left corner of right-side-up 35 mm slides 10

PowerPoint tips Screen layout –Top: Menu and shortcuts –Left: Outline and slides –Middle: Focus content –Right: Actions –Bottom: Shortcuts and drawing 11

PowerPoint tips Views –View tab Presentation Views –Normal –Slide Sorter –Notes Page –Slide Show 12

PowerPoint tips PowerPoint slide show controls –Mouse click to go forward –Arrow keys for forward and backward navigation –‘B’ for black screen and ‘W’ for white screen –‘F5’ to start the slide show (‘shift+F5’ to resume) –Type number N and press ‘return’ will jump to slide N –‘Esc’ to escape from the slide show Computer controls –Alt&Tab (or Apple&Tab) to switch applications 13

PowerPoint tips Use format and style consistently –View tab Presentation Views –Slide Master –Handout Master –Notes Master 14

PowerPoint tips OU templates –New Presentation My templates… –OU PP Templates 15

PowerPoint tips Slide design –Design tab Themes 16

PowerPoint tips Slide layout –Home tab Slides –Layout 17

Summary Conference introductions Breaking the fear barrier Content planning –Content tips & tricks –Slide guidelines –PowerPoint tips 18

Next time Student conference presentations (20 th & 21 st May 2014) –30 minutes each (20 mins talk and 10 mins questions) –Scope Introduce your topic, the key literature, your research question, applicable methods, challenges, progress to date and ongoing plans Contact details –Trevor, Mark and Ann 19