Preparing your research presentations Posters or talks? which is best?

You can do it! A conference presentation is your chance to show people what you can do! Think carefully about the title – it is your shop window, your advertising. If it is not interesting, no one will come to hear about your work. Think about the introductory statements – the first few sentences: this is where you must grasp the attention of your audience Think about the conclusions: these are the ‘take-home message’ – what you want people to remember.

Plan for the allotted time. Are you presenting a 10-minute talk? 3-minute thesis talk? 1-minute data blast? The time-limit is fixed! It is absolutely essential to stick to time. Are you preparing a poster presentation? This is more complicated – some visitors to your poster are generally interested, some want to know the details……..

Know your audience……. In general PhD students can assume the people in the audience have similar level of background knowledge as they have. However……. Introduction – carefully explain the title, speak slowly and deliberately pause between items to check the faces of your audience – are they following you? Be prepared to rephrase something if you can see it was not understood. Methods – particularly try to avoid jargon and keep abbreviations to a minimum (assume ATP and NMDA are Ok, anything else should be banned!) Discussion – the ‘take-home’ message. Speak even more slowly…….

For an oral communication, timing is of the essence! For a talk, practice at least three times For a poster, go through it with at least three different people