Instructions for Presenters

Preparing your speech and speaking in public

Choose one message

• What do you want people to know? What does your audience want to know or need to know to understand your message? Avoid trying to tell too much in a short time! It makes you incomprehensible.

Structure your presentation according to your abstract

• Background, research question/aim, methods, results, conclusion; if appropriate: open questions or points you would like to discuss

Speak to your audience

• Use a printout of your slides if you feel uncomfortable speaking freely. Avoid reading a text from extensive notes. Reading always sounds boring and is difficult to follow!
• Start your speech by introducing yourself and your background, people then know where you come from and have a chance to get used to your voice and accent.
• Speak slowly and loudly, use short and simple sentences.
• If you feel comfortable, use humour or examples.
• Look at your audience, not at your notes or slides.
• Explain your message to the audience like to a colleague or friend. Avoid lecturing.
• Allow the audience time to listen, read, think and react.

If you are not comfortable speaking English

• Remember that most of the audience feel just like you. They appreciate if the presenter speaks slowly and simply.
• Ask a colleague from your country to help with the discussion and act as an interpreter if necessary.

Preparing your visual support (powerpoint presentation or slides)

• Remember that your slides should just illustrate what you say. Avoid adding extra information which is not addressed in your speech.
• Limit the number of slides to a maximum of one per minute. Avoid “cheating” with overlapping animations or showing too many slides - people won’t have the time to read them and will not be able to listen to you.
• Use colour and animations to make your presentation lively, but use them sparingly. Too many animations, pictures or moving “gimmicks” distract from your speech. You want the audience to concentrate on your message, not on your “show”.
• Show blocks of text, not one line at a time. Otherwise people tend to concentrate on reading and are distracted from listening.
• Make sure your slides are readable:
  • o Use a clear, non-fancy font (e.g. Arial)
  • o Use a letter size not smaller than 20 points
  • o Put a maximum of 8 lines on one slide, and 8 words in one line
  • Use telegram style text, avoid long sentences and "filler words"
  • Figures are better than tables, tables are better than words

Tips for Poster Presentations

What to do

• Remember that your poster must be read quickly and from a certain distance
• Limit your message, all necessary information should be visible on the poster
• Use a clear structure: background, research question/aims, methods, results, conclusions, if appropriate: open questions
• Use telegram style text, avoid long sentences and "filler words"
• Use (preferably) figures or tables to present results
• Use an easily readable, large font (minimum 36, better 44 points for small text)
• Use bold contrasts between background and text or figures
• A plain background makes your poster easier to read

What to avoid

• Avoid using too many distracting pictures, photographs etc.
• Avoid long sentences and large bodies of texts
• Avoid printing a whole abstract or article on the poster
• Avoid long tables with too many numbers
• Avoid referring to information which cannot be seen on the poster.

Tips for 1S5M Presentations

The following advice may help you to prepare a successful presentation:

Choose one message

• What do you want people to know? What does your audience want to know or need to know to understand your message? Avoid trying to tell too much in a short time! It makes you incomprehensible. Concentrate on your research question and methods
• Do not explain the background of your study in detail.
• Focus on your objectives and methodology.
• Summarize results (if there are any; do not present details).
• Asking your most relevant question to the audience facilitates the discussion.

Speak to your audience

• Use a printout of your slide if you feel uncomfortable speaking freely. Avoid reading a text from extensive notes. Reading always sounds boring and is difficult to follow!
• Start your speech by introducing yourself, people then know where you come from and have a chance to get used to your voice and accent.
• Speak slowly and loudly, use short sentences, look at your audience.
• Explain your message to the audience like to or friend. Avoid lecturing.
• Allow the audience time to listen, read, think and react.

If you are not comfortable speaking English

• Remember that most of the audience feel just like you. They appreciate if the presenter speaks slowly and simply.
• Ask a colleague from your country to help with the discussion and act as an interpreter if necessary.

Limit yourself to one single slide

• Use a clear, non-fancy font and a letter size not smaller than 20 points to make your slide readable.
• Use graphic information rather than lengthy text.
• Do not cheat by using overlapping powerpoint animations.
• Do not overload your slide, a miniature-sized poster is not appropriate.
• Remember, you are only allowed ONE slide.