Presenting An Effective Conference Paper Or Poster


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Presenting An Effective Conference Paper Or Poster
Sarah L. Roberts

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Attending conferences provides opportunities to learn about the work that other researchers are doing. Especially for graduate students, conferences can be a lot of fun and allow you to network with other professionals working in your field. You may also have the opportunity to present your work in a talk or a poster at a meeting. In order to make your presentation more effective, here are some important details to keep in mind. (Some tips will apply to both poster and paper presentations.)

First of all, it is important to keep your slides or panels neat and reasonably simple. If you are giving an oral presentation, organize your slides in a sequence that is easy to follow. Instead of having every slide with a title and bullets for each point, try to make your slides interesting by adding pictures and data. You can vary the style of slides while still keeping with a similar theme. One caveat to making interesting slides is to be careful not to make your presentation too distracting. Your goal is to highlight your results since they are what you want your reader or listener to remember. Finally, keep your equations to the bare minimum, since few things make people's eyes glaze over like the sight of slides crammed with equations.

A poster presentation needs some separate emphasis on particular points. Dr. Carl Koval, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, feels using type that is too small is the most common mistake people make when preparing a poster. He suggests using 18-point font at the minimum. Remember that people occasionally need to stand several feet away when they are trying to read your poster. Dr. Koval also suggests being creative with your poster by adding something extra to catch the eye, such as a photo or a sample, so more people will want to read your poster. A prepared one-minute description of the main points of your work will help to summarize your work for your audience. However, other conference attendees should be able to follow your poster if you are talking with another person or are not present.

Dr. Diane Diehl, a Senior Applications Chemist at Waters Corporation, recalls that some of the least effective posters that she has seen are oral presentations that have been transferred to a poster format. These types of posters do not contain enough information for the reader to fully grasp the work that has been done. A poster can generally have more detail than an oral presentation, because there are fewer time constraints. Keep in mind, however, that few people will take the time to read a poster that contains full paragraphs of text. It is also important to pay attention to the poster board dimensions that are given by the conference so you can fill the allotted space. It is important to include as much information as you can succinctly so your poster does not flow into other presenters' space. Finally, you might want to have handouts available if you have published a paper recently, or in case someone wants more information on your research.

The length of poster sessions varies from one conference to the next. At many conferences, posters remain up for several days so that attendees can browse at their leisure. A formal poster session usually lasts two or three hours, during which time the principal author should be available to answer questions. You should be prepared to remain near your poster for most of the session. After all, this is your time to talk to other researchers about your work. These discussions can be very beneficial to clarify your ideas, and to gain new insight and information from other scientists. It is acceptable to spend some time looking at other posters, especially if they are only accessible during the time of the actual poster session. Reading the abstracts in advance is a useful practice to determine which posters are of primary interest to you.

An oral presentation at a conference might be more difficult, and for most people is more stressful, than a poster presentation. Learning how to give an effective talk requires much practice and will be useful not only at conferences, but in all areas of your professional life. Public speaking, especially in the scientific forum, is an important skill that should be emphasized during the undergraduate and graduate school years. Tips for an effective presentation can be broken into two categories: the appearance of the slides and the presentation itself.

The appearance of your slides sets the tone for your presentation. Ideally, they should be guides to your listeners and provide supporting information. Dr. Diehl acknowledges, "One of my pet peeves is the appearance of the slides themselves. That is what people see and how you represent yourself." She likes to see the data clearly depicted, and suggests making sure that your slides will be readable in a large room. Dr. Koval adds that one of the most common errors he sees is having too much information on a slide. One of his pet peeves is not being able to read the slides, especially the axes on graphs. All axes should be clearly labeled, especially at international conferences where some attendees may only understand the numerical data that is displayed. It is extremely important to check data that you download onto a slide to ensure that the font is large enough to be comprehensible.

There are many ways to make your slides more interesting, but you do not have to be fancy. While adding color and graphics to your presentation can enhance your slides, be careful not to overdo the graphics, as it can detract from what you are trying to say. You do not want to appear as if you spent more time on your presentation than on your research. Also be cautious when choosing colors, as some colors do not project well and certain combinations do not work well together. Furthermore, when you are preparing your talk, Dr. Koval recommends that it is key to know your audience and aim your talk to their level. If they cannot follow you for the first few minutes of the introduction and background, then they will probably tune you out for the remainder of your presentation. Additionally, if you know that you will be speaking to a large number of non-native English speakers, you may want to add some text so that they will have an easier time following you. One final note that Dr. Diehl adds is to provide references when applicable, and to acknowledge your co-workers.

The slides set the tone for your talk, but your actual presentation of the material needs to clearly convey the information that your slides contain and tell the story of your research. One of the most important ways to prepare your presentation is to practice. By doing so, you can be sure that your talk is within the appropriate time limit. Dr. Diehl notes that speakers who are significantly over or under the time limit look unprepared. At many conferences, the session chairperson will interrupt if you extend past the allotted time. If this occurs, you may not reach your most important data or conclusions, thus reducing the effectiveness of your presentation. If you are permitted to finish, your overextension is discourteous both to the speakers who follow you and to the members of the audience who may wish to attend other sessions. Dr. Koval advises having an absolute maximum of one slide per minute (and usually much less). He adds that it is useful to practice ahead of time with another person so that you receive some feedback, and can make any necessary adjustments. Practicing your talk will also help you become more familiar with your slides and help you develop a good flow for your presentation. You will be able to expand upon the information on your slides without stumbling over your words. If you are comfortable with your talk and know what information to emphasize, you will probably feel less nervous and be less likely to forget key points. Adequate practice should help you to speak more slowly and clearly, and to reduce rambling and excessive verbal pauses.

In addition, it is essential to have a strong beginning and ending for your presentation. As Dr. Koval points out, "A sign of an inexperienced speaker is that they repeat their title slide. A better strategy [to begin your talk] is to write the first two or three sentences and memorize them. A lot of the nervousness will go away after the first few minutes." It is important in the beginning to tell the audience where you are going, although it is not essential to have an outline slide in order to do so. Dr Diehl observes that most abstracts are written so far in advance of a conference that they may change by the time of the meeting. She suggests explaining why your research is being done and what makes it important. At the same time, she emphasizes that it's also important to have a good conclusion in which you highlight the main points of your work. Dr. Koval adds that people will remember the last few sentences you say, so it is key to expand upon your conclusions and have a strong finish.

In general, it is important to have your slides in the correct order and ready to be put up in whatever medium you choose (overheads, photographic slides, or via computer using PowerPoint). Get to the meeting room in advance, if possible, to make sure that the equipment you are using is set up and working, and you are satisfied that your presentation can be seen from any vantage point in the room. There are few things more distracting than listening to a presentation where the speaker had to fumble around to find each slide or had to stop to attend to the equipment. Remember to address the audience, rather than the wall or projector. Dr. Diehl cautions against overusing the laser pointer by pointing to every piece of data or statement.

Finally, try to be polite and succinct when answering questions. Most people simply want more information or clarification about your work, or feel that they have some knowledge that might be useful to you. If you expect a certain question to be asked about your work, it might be helpful to prepare a slide that you can use to answer the question.

Besides providing the opportunity to share your research results with others, conferences give you the chance to expand your horizons in many ways. Reading the abstracts before or upon your arrival will allow you to plan the sessions you would like to attend, and gives you some time to locate the meeting rooms. Conferences allow you to meet people who work in the same field, both the current and future principal investigators. Dr. Koval advises asking questions at oral and poster presentations, and suggests identifying yourself before asking your question. He appreciates it when people do this, and adds that you never know how it might affect your career in the future. He does suggest being friendly and polite when asking questions, and try not to embarrass the speaker. In addition, Dr. Diehl suggests taking advantage of the opportunity to attend interesting workshops if you are able, although she advises checking who is leading the workshop to be certain that they are truly qualified.

For myself, I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to attend conferences as a graduate student. Preparation for each conference was stressful, but I gradually gained more experience in giving presentations. I found that the more I prepared I was, the more relaxed and confident I felt. The comments of other researchers were often helpful and I was also glad to learn more about the research at other institutions.

Sarah L. Roberts received a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame in 1994, and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000. She now lives in the Washington, D.C. area.