Oral Presentation Guidelines
You are going to give an oral presentation about your project/work at a specified time; this
usually means you will be formally presenting your research or a professional internship
experience to an audience.
1. You should plan to make your presentation 10 minutes long. It’s important to practice
and edit your talk so that you convey the necessary information within the time limit. A
good guideline is to make your talk 7- 8 minutes long and leave 2 minutes for questions.
2. Typically oral presentations use a series of visuals to help viewers understand your
work. Since these visuals have to be seen in the back of a large room by the most distant
viewers, most oral presentations use projected slides (either photographic or Microsoft
PowerPoint). Be sure to specify your media needs in the REQUIREMENTS section of your
application form.
3. Accurately estimating the length of your finished talk, editing your talk, and practicing
your talk are all critical to a successful oral presentation. Many experienced presenters
estimate that they will allot an average of one minute to cover each slide in a
presentation. This means you should develop roughly 8 - 10 slides. Naturally, you may
need to dwell on one slide for a longer time and another for less time. Practice the talk
several times to determine if your oral presentation will fit the allotted 7 - 8 minutes.
4. Since you typically need about 1 minute for viewers to absorb information on each slide,
make the text simple and bulleted. Font size must be large enough to read easily from
the back of the room. You should provide more detail on each point than what is visible
on the slide. If you use graphics (photo images, maps, graphs tables, etc.), make sure
they are clear when projected and can be easily understood from the back of the lecture
room.
Readings and Performances Guidelines
You are going to give a presentation of your original literary work or original performance
(theatrical, musical, dance, etc.) at a specified time. This usually means you will be formally
presenting your original writings aloud to an audience or performing your work (or a portion of
it) for an audience.
1. Due to logistical limitations, you will need to complete the reading or performance in a 5
or 10 minute time slot. This may mean selective readings of a portion of the poems or
chapters in your writing project, or performing a limited number of acts in your
theatrical project.
2. Factor in a small amount of time to introduce or “set the stage” or provide context for
the excerpt of an edited performance or reading. Remember that you may know the
relevance of your performance, but many in the audience may not.
3. Although not entirely necessary, you may want to leave some time to answer questions,
provide reflections on the experience, or present a post-log for the piece.
Table Presentation Guidelines
Your presentation is similar to a poster presentation except that your display materials will be
placed on a table, possibly in addition to a poster on an easel or on the wall. Your presentation
can be a combination of poster displays and table-based displays. You will have both a table
and, if you specify it as a requirement, an electrical outlet at your disposal. You could use the
electrical outlet to power a lamp, laptop, microscope, or another safe electrical device you
require for effective presentation.
1. As with poster sessions, you will find your name listed under a certain time during the
Showcase program. During your scheduled time (about 1 hour), you will sit with your
table display or sculpture to briefly describe your work and answer questions.
2. If you plan on including any 2-dimensional graphics (a map, photographs, 2-D artwork,
or graphs), please be sure to specify your display requirements on your entry form (e.g.,
wall space size required, etc.).
3. Like posters presentations, your table talk should be accompanied by a display that
notes the project title and the author/creator(s). You should also consider producing at
least one text panel that explains the rationale/inspiration for the project and any
relevant reflection on the result of the project. This will help viewers to understand your
project when you are not available to discuss it.
4. You should plan to have any poster components of your display available all day, but DO
NOT leave your computer or other table displays there when you are not present.
Poster Presentation Guidelines
A poster presentation is basically a 2-dimensional version of an oral presentation that is
displayed on a wall. Posters may, in fact, be several small mounted panels of text and images or
one large computer-printed sheet of paper. This may include some 2-dimensional graphic arts
projects. Posters will be hung on walls, panels, or easels.
1. Be sure to specify if you need a specific wall space size or an easel in the
REQUIREMENTS section of your application form.
2. You will be assigned a specific timeframe (about one hour), during which you will stand
with your poster to explain the project and answer questions observers may have.
3. Although your poster will be displayed all day, do not expect to store any other
materials at the poster session site, as the location may be open to the public (not
secure). Bring all other belongings with you for your assigned poster session and take
them away with you when you leave. Poster sessions will NOT have tables or access to
electricity.