1. Please look in the Notes Section of this PowerPoint
for instructions and details on this template
Contents of This Template
Assertion-Evidence Slide Examples
Title Slide Example
Mapping Slide Example
Conclusion Slide Example
Templates to Build Your Own Slides
2 – 5
8 – 9 11
6, 7, 10, 12, 15 – 17
As a scientist or engineer, you often have complex data and information to communicate to a variety of audiences within and outside your field. In order to do this, presenters sometimes rely on word-heavy complex slides that do not communicate the information effectively..
Research has shown that typical bullet-point filled slides do not enhance – and can actually hurt – our audience’s understanding of our material. This template offers alternative styles for your presentation visuals so that your slides will work with your presentation and not against it. Using these styles requires more work from you as a presenter, but this investment will result in making your delivery and content stronger, in addition to helping your presentations become more engaging and understandable to your audience.
Please review this template for instructions on how to create your own presentation in the assertion-evidence style. I suggest coming to the workshop with at least 6 – 7 slides developed for your 10-minute talk to put you at a good point for your coaching session. Feel free to me at with any questions. 1

2. In an assertion-evidence slide, the headline is a two-line sentence stating the main message of the slide
Supporting photograph, drawing, diagram, film, or graph—no bulleted lists
Assertion-evidence is a style of slide design that is particularly good for presenting technical information. In this style of slide design, we organize our presentation content around key messages and support those messages with visual evidence. Supporting our talk on key messages forces us to be more specific as a presenter. In addition, supporting these key messages with visuals helps our audience better understand our information, since people understand visuals more easily than bullet points.
Overall, assertion-evidence forces us to think critically about the information we’re including in our presentation, how we’re going to structure that information, and how we’re going to deliver it. In assertion-evidence, there are two main parts to the slide.
The assertion is a complete sentence that goes at the top of the slide. This sentence is the main message or point of the slide, and is no longer than two lines. As a general rule, one slide contains one main message.
The evidence is your visual (photo, data, diagram, video, etc.) that goes in the body of the slide and supports what you’re asserting at the top of the slide. There are many options for what to use as evidence, but bullet points and excessive words are not good choices. When our slides are overly crowded with words, our audience has a hard time processing what the speaker is saying, because they’re also trying to simultaneously read the slide.
Here’s an assertion-evidence template for you to use as a starting point for creating your own slides. The slide above is the one you will likely use the most for slides in the body of your talk. This slide shows one orientation for the image and supporting text. Other orientations exist, as shown in the sample slides.
More information about the assertion-evidence style of presenting can be found in Michael Alley’s book The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer 2013) and on A tutorial on assertion-evidence and slide template are available at:
Following this slide, you’ll see examples of specific slides that are usually in every talk and how we format them in the assertion-evidence style.
Call-outs, if needed: no more than two lines 2

3. SLNs are a delivery system that allow for a controlled and localized release of a specific drug
Slide Example 1 (Main Body Slide)
Source: Elena Banegas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

4. SLNs consist of three basic ingredients: solid lipids, water, and an emulsifier
[4life.com]
Solid Lipids
Water
Slide Example 2 (Main Body Slide)
Source: Elena Banegas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Emulsifier

5. Galactic disks grow from the inside out
Inner disk: old stars, formed early
Outer disk: young stars, formed later
Slide Example 3 (Main Body Slide)
Source: Juan Carlos Munoz, European Southern Observatory

6. H- ions and electrons are pulled out of a plasma by a strong electric field
A strong electric field extracts negative charges and accelerates them to 45 keV
H- ions are produced in a hydrogen (H2) plasma p+
H2+ H- H-
H3+ e-
Slide Example 4 (Main Body Slide)
Source: Øystein Middtun, CERN e-
45 kV
Electrons are separated from the H- beam by a magnetic field

7. Title of Presentation in Initial Capitals: 36 Points, Calibri Bold
Replace this box with key image to introduce talk’s scope, importance, or background
Name
Institution Date
Title slide template
Most presenters rush through their title slide, spending very little time orienting the audience at the beginning of a presentation. As a result, many audience members are lost as soon as the presentation begins.
Consider including a key image from the presentation in your title slide, or use the image to help set up the importance of your talk. Think about how you can use your title slide to have an engaging opening for your presentation.
This template shows one layout for the slide. You might want to rearrange the placement of the body’s wording to accommodate a different sized image, or you can consider using a full screen image.
Replace with
your Logo

8. Resource Assessment and Tidal Farm Optimization
Simon Funke
This example title slide comes from a slightly technical talk on Open Tidal Farm by Simon Funke. Note that Simon used this full screen image to introduce the audience to tidal farming and explains some of the background behind it.
Full screen images can be really effective in capturing your audience in the content. However, you have to make sure that the picture is high enough resolution and provides the necessary contrast for the words.
Slide Example 5 (Title Slide)
Source: Simon Funke, Open Tidal Farm
6. November 2014
ICOE 2014, Halifax

9. Automatic Detection of Avalanches in High Resolution Optical Satellite Data
Photo: ESA
Siri Øyen Larsen
Section for earth observation
Norwegian Computing Center
4 March 2013
Slide Example 6 (Title Slide)
Source: Siri Øyen Larsen, Norwegian Computing Center

10. This presentation focuses on… (complete sentence, but go no more than two lines)
Image for
Topic 1
Image for
Topic 2
Topic 1
Topic 2
Image for
Topic 3
Image for
Topic 4
Mapping slide template (note that other slides may precede this slide, though this slide should come early in your presentation)
When presenters provide an outline or agenda of their presentation, these outlines are generally shown as a very long bulleted list that the audience forgets as soon as the presenter leaves the slide. Mapping slides are an alternative to the traditional outline slide and take advantage of the power of images. These images are usually repeated in the corresponding section, and help the audience keep track of where they are in the presentation.
In addition, mapping slides restrict you to having no more than three to four main sections in your presentation. This is much easier to remember and follow.
Topic 3
Topic 4

11. Object classification
This talk presents an approach for automatic avalanche detection from optical satellite imagery
Pixel based classification based on texture filters
Slide Example 7 (Mapping Slide)
Source: Siri Øyen Larsen, Norwegian Computing Center
Object extraction and description
Object classification

12. Image that supports conclusion
In summary, this sentence headline states the most important assertion of the presentation
Image that supports conclusion
1 – 2 Sub points could go here, or
Presenter contact info or website
Conclusion slide template
To have a strong ending, spend some time developing your conclusion slide. After all, this is usually the slide that’s on the screen the longest in the presentation and through Q&A. Use the assertion to state the main conclusion from your presentation. Begin the sentence with “In summary...” or “In conclusion...” so that the audience can see that this is the end of the presentation. Use an image to support your assertion. Usually, the visuals and assertion on the conclusion slide come from the most important point or part of the presenter’s talk, so they are not new content, but a summary of an important point you discussed. This thoughtful content will help you summarize your main point and end strong.
Questions?
Logo

13. In summary, stars can be significantly rearranged
during a galaxy’s lifetime
Bars and spiral arms induce radial stellar migration through resonances.
Slide Example 8 (Conclusion Slide)
Source: Juan Carlos Munoz, European Southern Observatory
Questions?

14. In summary, SLNs touch critical aspects of our everyday lives
Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics
Agriculture
Food
This is another example of a conclusion slide. Note that the presenter had defined SLNs in another portion of the presentation before using the SLN abbreviation.
Slide Example 9 (Conclusion Slide)
Source: Elena Banegas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Questions?

15. Insert sentence assertion here
Slides are additional assertion-evidence template slides for you to use. They have the same formatting as the template on slide 2, but they are an empty canvas for you to enjoy. 15

16. Insert sentence assertion here
Slides are additional assertion-evidence template slides for you to use. They have the same formatting as the template on slide 2, but they are an empty canvas for you to enjoy. 16

17. Insert sentence assertion here
Slides are additional assertion-evidence template slides for you to use. They have the same formatting as the template on slide 2, but they are an empty canvas for you to enjoy. 17