Oral Presentations & Posters
BME 100
March 8, 2011
Overview
• Upcoming Schedule
– Important dates to keep in mind
• Posters (Position Papers & Hands-On)
– How to prepare for
• Oral Presentations (Literature Surveys)
– How to prepare for
• Review of Upcoming Schedule (again!)
Upcoming Schedule
• March 23 & 25: “in-class” project feedback
– Replaces structured tutorial activities
– Both Wednesday groups meet at same time
– Mandatory attendance if this is your regular time slot; optional (but
recommended) if it is not.
• March 30 & April 1: hand in projects (posters, writeups, etc.)
– Due on Wednesday for all Wednesday Tutorial students
– Due on Friday for all Friday Tutorial students.
• April 6, 8, 13, 15: in-class presentations
– Schedule set in mid-March
• April 5: open house
BME 100 Posters:
Considerations for BME Open House
What is a Poster?
• An advertisement
– For Science
– For Engineering
• Goal
– Attract attention
– Publicize your work
– Get audience to ask
you questions
This sure is
interesting!
Who is making posters?
• Students with the
– Position Papers
– Hands-on Projects
Requirements
• Approximately 30” x 40”
– Give-or-take 10-20%
• Be handed-in on time
– Before the Open-House
• Be mounted on light, stiff, hard backing
– Foam-core, plastic, etc.
– Can’t be rolled-up
• Follows the “Marking Guide” for Posters
– Refer to the webpage
Recommendations
• Clear & concise wording
– Don’t just copy your paper onto the poster!
• Use the same headings as in your paper
– Introduction, analysis & discussion methods, etc.
• Colour & Visually-appealing
• Computer-generated
– Unless you are artistic or good with your hands
• Spell-check!
Marking Guide
Include Chart of your Sources
• Indicate to the reader what the breakdown of your sources is (new requirement
in 2011)
• Bar-chart as shown below
• Journal, Conference categories are “peer-reviewed”!
• Popular media means newspapers, magazines, etc.
Percentage of Total
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Journal
Conference
Book
Web
Popular Media
Other
Typical Poster Layout
Title
Author Name
First Year Engineering; Faculty of Engineering Architecture and Science (FEAS)
Ryerson University
Picture
Column 1
(read here first)
Graph
Column 2
(read here second)
Column 3
(read here last)
Acknowledgements &
References
Alternative Poster Layout
Title
Author Name
First Year Engineering; Faculty of Engineering Architecture and Science (FEAS)
Ryerson University
Graph
Column 1
(read here first)
Column 2
(read here second)
Picture
Acknowledgements & References
Column 3
(read here last)
Alternative Poster Layout
Title
Author Name
First Year Engineering; Faculty of Engineering Architecture and Science (FEAS)
Ryerson University
Picture
Column 1
(read here
first)
Graph
Column 2
(read here
second)
Column 3
(read here
last)
Acknowled
ge-ments
&
References
Example Poster
Electronic Tools For Poster Making
• Professional
– InDesign, QuarkXpress, LaTeX
• Good Enough
– Corel Draw, OmniGraffle
• Free
– Inkscape
• Most Popular
– MS PowerPoint (90% or more of us use it!)
Poster Info & Resources
• http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~jasmith/courses/bme100/docs/UZH_pos
ter_guideline.pdf
• On-campus printing:
– http://www.ryerson.ca/acs/usersguide/print.html
• Off-campus printing:
– http://torontoprint.com/wide.htm
– Behind ENG Building
• Tools & Settings
–
–
–
–
Microsoft PowerPoint
Creative, Artitistic interpretation (pro-looking!)
Export to PDF for the printer
36” wide printer (36” x 48”)
• 1 - 1.5” margins
Printer Locations
• InkPort
– 55 Gould St. (on campus)
• Sherwood Digital
– 165 Dalhousie St. (on campus)
• TPH
– Atrium on Bay (near campus)
• Alicas Copy Centre
– 203A College (Near U of T; 15 min walk from Ryerson)
• TLAC Toronto Printing
– 233 College (Near U of T; 15 min walk from Ryerson)
• Or anywhere else that is convenient for you!
Time is critical!
• Print shop usually asks for
– 2+ days to make the poster
– 2+ days to mount on foam
• Therefore
– Have it ready in PDF
– One week before Open House
Acknowledgements
• Posters by BME100 students from 2009 &
2010
• Photos by Luis Fernandes & James Andrew
Smith
Questions?
• Do you have any questions about the posters?
Oral Presentations
•
•
•
•
•
Take place during the lab/tutorial sessions
Small group audience
Multimedia presentation @ the podium
Approximately 10 minutes + question time
Must use electronic presentation software
– Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat PDF
Tip 1
• Tell a story in logical order
– Follow your write-up headers
1.
2.
3.
4.
Introduction
Survey of the Literature
Conclusions, and
References
Introduction
• Indicate your motivation
– Why is it interesting to you?
– Why is this interesting to others?
– Why is this important?
• Get their attention by making it as relevant as
possible
• Give an overview of what you are about to
cover
Introduction
• Who is your audience?
– Their background is important
– Tailor your presentation to them
– Are they experts in your topic?
• Probably not. Define key words & subjects.
Definitions
Hydraulic valve deck: a set of electronically-actuated
valves which permit fluid flow to hydraulic motors
Survey of the Literature
• What are the main themes of your survey?
– Name two or three explicitly
– Can you provide a visual link?
Theme 1b
Theme 1
Theme 1a
– Colour-coding controversy is good
Survey of the Literature
• This includes the analysis
– How do your different themes tie together?
– Did you encounter any “dead-ends”?
• Research is effectively done and concluded
• Nothing left to be done
• Make sure that you were thorough enough before
making this kind of statement!
– Did you encounter “room for improvement”?
• Are there still open-ended questions?
• Are there mysteries to be solved?
• Are issues unresolved?
Conclusions
• Be brief and clear
• Don’t introduce new topics or analysis here
• Go over the main points & results
– What are the implications of your research?
• Three to five points (in bullet form) are best
• This is the lead-in to your questions
– Further details can be discussed then
– Can you set up your conclusion to be asked
obvious questions?
Tip 2: 10 slides for 10 minutes
• One minute per slide
• Rule of thumb:
– One minute per slide
– Speak for 10 minutes
– Have 10 slides
• Extra slides: put at the end and use if you are
asked a specific question
Tip 3: Practice!
• Practice in Private
– Practice in front of your mirror or dog
– Get the timing right
• Practice if front of live people
– Get their feedback
– They’ll point to logical & presentation flaws
– Don’t practice on the bus
• People will think that your crazy!
Tip 4: Minimize Equations
•
•
•
•
Not a problem in most BME 100 presentations
Keep them to a minimum
Keep them simple
You can’t explain most equations in less than a
minute
– Remember one minute per slide
Tip 5: Face the Audience
• Don’t talk with your back to the audience
• Either
– Look at them in the eyes
• If you’re not shy
– Or look slightly over their heads
• If you’re shy or easily distracted
• Speak at your audience
–
–
–
–
–
Don’t mumble
Don’t speak too quickly.
Take
Your
Time
Tip 6: Include a “punchline” with
the graphs
• Include a once sentence conclusion with each
graph.
Profits over time: Profits are starting to go up again
Tip 7: Contrast
• Make sure that the text “contrasts” with the
background
– Black text on white background
– White text on black background
• Minimize distracting backgrounds
Tip 7: Contrast
• Make sure that the text “contrasts” with the
background
– Black text on white background
– White text on black background
• Minimize distracting backgrounds
Tip 7: Contrast
• Make sure that the text “contrasts” with the
background
– Black text on white background
– White text on black background
• Minimize distracting backgrounds
Backups
• Create two copies of your presentation
– One PPT (Powerpoint)
– One PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
• Have two physical copies
– One on USB stick, one on CD/DVD
– Or two different USB sticks, etc.
Marking Guide
Fonts
• Don’t use “serif” fonts
– Letters end with “cute dongle
things”
– Times New Roman
– Easy to read up-close
– Hard to read at a distance
• Use “sans-serif” fonts
–
–
–
–
–
“without serifs”
Arial, Helvetica, etc.
Harder to read up-close
Easy to read at a distance
This font is “Calibri” (on a Mac)
Times New Roman is a “Serif” font
http://www.loiterink.com/i-shot-the-serif/362/
Include Chart of your Sources
• Indicate to the audience what the breakdown of your sources is
• (new requirement in 2011)
• Bar-chart as shown below
• Journal, Conference categories are “peer-reviewed”!
• Popular media means newspapers, magazines, etc.
Percentage of Total
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Journal
Conference
Book
Web
Popular Media
Other
Test ahead of time
• Try out your presentation on two
different computers
– One Mac & one Windows PC
– One school computer, one home
computer
– Etc.
• Why?
– Images sometimes don’t save
properly
– Fonts change from computer-tocomputer
– Video “CODECs” often aren’t
compatible
• Missing “DLLs”
• Use MPG1 or MPEG2 only!
• mediacoverter.org or zamzar.com
Error!
videoXYZ.dll not
found!
Sources & Resources
• Ten Secrets to Giving a Good Scientific Talk
– http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/agu/scientific_talk.
html
Upcoming Schedule
• March 23 & 25: “in-class” project feedback
– Replaces structured tutorial activities
– Both Wednesday groups meet at same time
– Mandatory attendance if this is your regular time slot; optional (but
recommended) if it is not.
• March 30 & April 1: hand in projects (posters, writeups, etc.)
– Due on Wednesday for all Wednesday Tutorial students
– Due on Friday for all Friday Tutorial students.
• April 6, 8, 13, 15: in-class presentations
– Schedule set in mid-March
• April 5: open house