10/2/20

MAR461 (2020)

Scientific oral presentation using PowerPoint

Per Moksnes

To day’s lecture

1. How to structure a scientific presentation

2. PowerPoint basics
3. How to give a scientific presentation
• Preparation
• Delivery
• Questions & answers

Literature:
The Craft of Scientific Presentation by Michael Alley

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1. How to structure a scientific presentation

A presentation should include:

• Title slide (Name and affiliation)

• Introduction (General to specific)

• Methods (very brief)

• Results (as graphics if possible)

• Conclusions (Specific to general)

Title page

Logo (only first page)

Short and clear title

Name and affiliation

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Introduction

The broad and general picture

Context • Introduce the main ideas
• Put your work in perspective
The present scientific challenge
Complication • Explain what we know and don’t know
• Should lead to a question
The questions that addresses the problem
Question • Should be clearly presented
• Should lead to the hypothesis

Hypothesis The hypothesis of your study

• Clear and testable hypothis
• Provides the focus on the presentation

Methods
Keep it really short and simple
• Interested can ask questions about details later
Follow the structure from the introduction
• Use the research question/hypothesis as title for each study
Present a clear study design
• What, where, how data/information was sampled
• How it was analyzed
Include visuals
• Maps of study area, photos of the environment studied, field
sampling, experimental set-up, etc.

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Results
Follow the structure from the introduction and methods
• Use the same titles for each result
Use simple and clear slides and graphics
• No more than two graphs per slide
• Make sure all parts of a graph is readable and explained
(take time to explain the axes of graphs)
• Avoid or minimize tables

Summary and Conclusions

• Go from your specific results to broader implications

• Repeat you questions/hypotheses and present your answer

• Verbally describe the broader implication

• End by describing possible next steps in new studies

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2. PowerPoint basics
General points
Less is more
• General rule of thumb: 1 slides per minute
• 1-2 scientific points, graphs etc. per slide
• 3-5 bullet points per slide (key words – not full sentences)
Keep it simple
• Use simple and easy to read fonts, color, graphics and layout
• Avoid clutter – use simple graphs and figures
• Avoid fancy animations and slide-transitions
Use visuals – not text
• An image says more than words and is more engaging

What font to use?

Use easy to read Sans Serif fonts (without “ledges”):

Arial, Comic Sans, Trebuchet
(avoid e.g. Times)
Use readable sizes of text
Use 28-40 points for headlines [28 points]
Use 18-28 for text points for text [20 point]
Use 12-14 points for references [14 points]

Avoid using CAPITOL LETTERS (hard to read; signals shouting)

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Color
Use the simplest possible background (avoid fancy pattern, photos)
Use letters that give high contrast to the back ground
White background with dark letters

Dark background with light letters

Avoid strong colors, in particular red-green combinations

Red-green color blind cant read this

Layout

• Every slide should have a heading (simple statement)

• Limit text to only 2-3 lines per text-block
• List should contain no more than three items (use animation)

The reason for limiting text blocks to two lines is that

Darkabackground
when with
text block goes onlight
and onletters
forever, the audience
are going to try to read the text, which will preclude them
from paying attention to what you are saying. They don’t
know whether to listen to your read this text. You have
lost control of your audience!

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Layout

• Be generous with empty space

(don’t overwhelm the audience with too much information)

• Avoid placing information too close to the edges

(it may not be visible)

• Try to include a simple image on every slide

(text, audio and visual image should deliver the same message)

3. How to give a scientific presentation

1. Preparation
2. Delivery
3. Questions & answers

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Preparation
Consider your audience
• Prepare you talk for the knowledge of your audience
What is your take-home message?
• Build your presentation around this message
What results, figures etc. should be included?
• Less is more – think about the time-limit.
Check spelling and typos
• Bad impression to show a misspelled word repeatedly
Practice, practice, practice
• Practice by giving the talk (alone and to friends & colleagues)
• Focus on the introduction, transitions and conclusion
• Learn to deliver the main point (not word-by-word)
• Time it and remove parts if it is too long

Delivery
Nervousness
• Be well prepared – know your audience
• Use “power-poses” prior to enter the stage to boost confidence
• Breath slowly and deeply for a few minutes, visualize a good talk
Set the stage
• Get your equipment ready and test-run your slides.
• Get up on the podium and test microphones, laser-pointer, etc

(See TED talk by Dr. Amy Cuddy about the use of power poses)

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Delivery (cont.)
Presentation
• Walk and stand tall with your chest lifted,
• Speak up and talk slow. Take your time (pauses are important)
• Smile (it reduces stress) and be enthusiastic and engaging!
Face the audience
• Face the audience (not the screen)
• Make eye-contact with a friendly face (helps you relax)
Keep the time
• Keep track of the time. Memorize a slide that should midway
• Skip slides if you running out of time (don’t rush through them)

Questions and answers

Listen to the question
• Listen to the whole question (let the person finish)
• Take time and think about what the person wants to know
• Give a direct answer if possible
Admit ignorance (don’t make things up)
• Tell you will try to provide an answer later (give contact info)
• Tell it is beyond the scope of the study