Suggestions for Presentations

The following suggestions ("instructions") for preparation of poster and lecture presentations have been extensively plagarized from instructions included with American Society of Mammalogists mailings for their meetings. In any case, these "requirements" make good sense.

Tips for preparing posters --

Poster sessions are often crowded and busy, conditions which can make close viewing difficult. Therefore, posters should be easily read from 1 - 2 m, a distance that requires a character size to be about 1 cm at least . Suggested type sizes: use 84 pt for title, 42 pt for authors and addresses, 30 pt for section headings, 24 pt for text. Each figure should have (1) a large heading or "take home" message, one or two lines long which cummunicates the main content of the figure; and (2) a legend which should contain information that would normally appear in the body of a manuscript. Remember, a casual viewer of your poster should be able to understand the poster without having to read the legend; the legend is strictly for those people who want to gain more detailed information about the figure. Tables should follow the same general layout as figures. Tables should be simple and contain no extraneous material. For ease of viewing, try to convert any tables into figures.

Instructions for lecture presentations

Preparation of slides: Your oral presentation will be greatly enhanced and much more professional if your slides are clear and well designed. Computer-generated graphics and charts can greatly enhace your presentation, but beware of clutter.

Size and quantity of letters: Lettering is the most critical element in slide production. Some rules of thumb to follow are as follows:
a) 8 lines of type per slide maximum
b) 50 words per slide maximum
c) type styles that are plain, thus easier to read
d) space between lines at least double spaced
e) use contrasting colors for text and background (be aware that about 12% of your audience (those that are color-blind) will not be able to see certain color combinations).

Do NOT photograph entire tables from theses or publications. They will not meet these guidelines. Remember the 12-minutes time constraint. Carefully choose what you want to say and limit your slides to the number necessary to deliver that message. Give people enough time to assimilate the information on each slide. Your audience is intelligent but less familiar with your specific research.

Delivery of the oral presentation

• Oral presentations have slightly less than 15 minutes to do everything. [Symposium speakers may have some multiple of 15 minutes.] Time is very limited, and precious, it is important that it be used efficiently. We suggest dividing your time into 12 minutes of actual formal presentation and "almost" 3 minutes for questions or discussion. If you run over the 12 minutes a bit there will probably be no time left for questions to be permitted. The Session Chair, not the speaker, will ask for questions from the audience if time is available. You will not be allowed to run over 15-minutes.

• The Chair of the session will set the timer to go off at 11 minutes and then stand. The chair will stop you at 12 minutes (if you have not stopped already), and then will make certain that you are on your way back to your seat before the end of the 15 minutes. He/She has been instructed to keep the session on time (and not to start any presentation early or late).

• You can reduce the risk of having your presentation spoiled by "bad luck." Come to your session in advance (15 minutes before whole session starts or at the coffee break), introduce yourself to the Chair, teach the Chair how to pronounce your name (if necessary), and most importantly make sure that the projectionist has your slides. Slides can be organized in the slide preview room prior to the talk.

• Speakers are to present the projectionist (in the room where the presentation is being given) with slides 15 minutes before the start of the session. Each participant is responsible for proper insertion of slides in a carousel slide tray. It is best to bring your own. If slides end up upside-down or backwards, it may be best to go on rather than stop. Empty carrousels are available, if you have not brought your own.

• Make sure the Local Committee gets their trays back.

• Remain calm and continue your presentation even in the event of technical problems (e.g., a burned-out projector bulb, jammed or inverted slides, rebooting a computer). The session must stay on time, so 15 minutes is all that anyone will get.