Tammy Clark, Ph.D.
Brown Bag Presentation - July 2014
 Disseminating info
 Graded presentation for a course
 Professional school interview
 Job interview
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Why are they attending?
How much do they know about your topic?
What would they like to learn?
Is it appropriate to interject personal
revelations in the talk?
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How much previous work should be included
to set the stage?
Should you include all findings?
Have you come to a conclusion?
Have you uncovered more questions?
Make a general outline
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Title Slide
Introduction and previous studies
Your question and experimental design
Your data
Data analysis
Your conclusions and unanswered questions
Future work
Acknowledgements
Most sections will require more than one slide
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Start writing slides
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Find pictures after text is written
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Save formatting for later
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Descriptive name of talk
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Your name
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Your advisor’s name (depending on venue)
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Institution(s) that provided support
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Include logo if available
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Hook the audience
 Relevance
 Sufficient background to understand the question
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Briefly outline previous work that led to the
question
 What was interesting about the previous study?
 What was missing?
The best talks will integrate these instead of
discussing them separately
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Clearly state your hypothesis and/or goals
(this is your question)
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Convince the audience that your methods for
discovering answers is sound by briefly
stating your experimental design
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Concise graphics that clearly show the important aspects of
your findings
Typically one slide per graphic
Title can be the type of data or the take-home message
Include error bars
Legible graphics for back of the room
 Increase font size
 Bold fine/thin font
 Increase line widths
Avoid green and red (may not be differentiated by a color-blind
person)
 Discussion of the data analysis should occur on these slides
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Restate the take-home messages and if possible
link them together for an overall sense of what
was accomplished
 Revisit the relevance of the project and connect
it to your conclusions
 Did you accomplish your goals?
 Have you discovered more questions as a result
of your research?
This section should lead smoothly into the
future work section
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What are the next steps?
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You may not be the person who will continue
the project, but you should still address
where your research has led to
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If plans have been made, it is appropriate to
briefly discuss these (if time permits)
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Research Advisor(s)
Co-workers who you have collaborated with
Institution
Anyone who has provided financial support
for the project
If appropriate, name the funding source:
specific research fellowship, NIH grant number,
etc…
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Develop your talk
 Don’t be afraid to try different approaches
 Avoid scripting
 Use PowerPoint as your “notecards”
 Think about the audience in choosing language
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Ask a few people to critique
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Practice alone first
Give entire talk without interruptions
Peers take notes on rough spots
Afterward, go through slide-by-slide and discuss
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Overall organization
Clear explanation of concepts
Appropriate level for audience
Legible font and graphics
Allow for ~1 hour to critique a 10 minute presentation
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You cannot practice too much!
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Ask for laser pointer and for room access
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Fine-tune the timing
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Laser pointers
 Stabilize with 2-handed hold
 Point – don’t circle
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Many PowerPoint alternatives (Prezi)
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Avoid clutter and distracting transitions
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Strive for uniformity in slides
 Font sizes
 Spacing
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Mac vs. PC?
 Copy and Paste PDF documents into slides
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Dress Appropriately
Arrive early
 Introduce yourself to moderator
 Upload presentation
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Bathroom break beforehand
Be confident because you practiced
Attend the entire conference
Represent Viterbo Well!