Preparing the Presentation

This section will cover

Ø General tips for presentations

Ø General information and links to sites about preparing presentations

Ø Outline preparation (applies to everyone)

Ø PowerPoint slide show information

Ø Poster board preparation

Ø Web page preparation

Ø Formal paper preparation

---

General Tips for Presentations

Simplicity is key. Depending on the venue, you may have anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes in which to make your presentation. You will not be able to present all aspects of your research. You will need to learn how to boil your key points down to the essential elements and present them succinctly.

The three keys to success are

Ø preparation: start from an organized outline, regardless of your presentation format; end up with an easy-to-follow (for you) outline to use when making your oral presentation, whether visual aids accompany it or not

Ø practice: once your first “draft” of the presentation is ready, practice, practice, practice – making sure that you are able to complete the presentation within the time limits. You may need to have a script of sorts to remind you to adhere to the points, without rambling off topic, but you should not read from the script

Ø presence: regardless of your visual aids, you are still the presenter, the speaker; you need to have and maintain presence and a high profile. If you are not by nature a dynamic speaker, your best ally in this area is practice. Practice builds confidence and helps you eliminate problem areas of your presentation.

Back to Top

Preparing Different Types of Presentations

For information about presentation preparation, including getting started (covered in detail in Planning the Presentation), the use of scripts or note cards, different kinds of software, and general tips, see the info at http://partners.mce.be/wbt/mmedia/preparation/list.htm.

For general information about making presentations, see Presenter’s University, at http://www.presentersuniversity.com/index.php.

Outline Preparation

The outline is the most important part of your presentation, because this is the vehicle you use to organize your information. A useful link regarding outline preparation can be found at Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL):

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/outline.html.

Click here to see an example of an outline regarding the topic of Walkability in the Sunnyside Neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

Back to Top

PowerPoint Slide Show Preparation

This site provides some excellent examples for PowerPoint slide shows: http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html.

It also includes two templates:

Ø a dark-on-light template, at www.writing.eng.vt.edu/speaking/slide_template_light.ppt

Ø a white-on-dark w template, at www.writing.eng.vt.edu/speaking/slide_template_dark.ppt

This next site goes over some of the basics of a PowerPoint slide presentation, including a slide show that gives examples; it also offers a tutorial on how to make a PowerPoint slide presentation: http://oregonstate.edu/instruction/ed596/ppoint/pphome.htm.

This is another tutorial on how to make a PowerPoint slide presentation, by Dr. Bianco: www.marthabianco.com/Courses/Cities/Present/MJBPowerPoint.htm.

Back to Top

Poster Board Preparation

The following site provides an excellent step-by-step discussion of how to create a poster for a conference or convention. Your poster won’t need to meet all the rigorous specifications, but you’ll certainly get the general idea, at http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters.

Very helpful are the examples at http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/examples/, many of which include some discussion of the pros and cons.

This site takes you through step-by-step instructions, from draft through finished product and also provides a number of great examples: http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/posterpres.html.

A site above, which provided instructions on PowerPoint slides, also provides poster instructions and examples: http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/posters.html.

This Women in Science Project at Dartmouth site offers some excellent advice, as well as excellent examples of posters: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~wisp/PosterShow/index.html.

Also see Keys to a Successful Poster, by Martha J. Bianco, Ph.D., at www.marthabianco.com/Courses/Cities/Present/poster.html.

Here is a template for a poster.

Materials for poster preparation: Click here to see a list of items you are likely to need in order to make an impressive poster within an acceptable budget

Back to Top.

Web Page Preparation

Formal Paper Preparation