Creating an Effective Research Presentation

Presenting your research at a symposium can be both an exciting and stressful milestone in your academic journey. Whether you're delivering a presentation orally or sharing a poster, presenting publicly is an incredible opportunity to show off your hard work and practice the essential skill of scientific communication. 

Having presented in both formats, I have learned that an effective presentation is less about perfection and more about compelling visuals, storytelling, and confidence. In this article, I aim to share tips and tricks for creating a presentation to showcase your research.  

What is the purpose of a Symposium Presentation?

Despite what it may look like, a presentation is not just about showing anything and everything that you did or found – it's more important to demonstrate why your work matters. Your audience may include experts in your topic, researchers from adjacent disciplines, students, or even community members. Thus, it is important to present information that appeals to all of them. This means that your presentation —whether oral or poster—should:

• Focus on the big picture
• Minimize jargon
• Emphasize Motivation, methods, and implications

In addition to showing off your hard work, symposiums create a space to:

• Learn from experts in your field
• Receive feedback on your methods, results, or framing
• Network and establish potential future collaborations 

Should I present a Poster or an Oral Presentation?

When deciding on whether to present a poster or an oral presentation, it is necessary to take both your area of study and comfort level into account. Presentation norms vary widely across the different fields where posters are more common in STEM research and occasionally used in the social sciences. In the Humanities, posters are rarely used and oral presentations are preferred.

Posters Presentations:

• Typically less formal and are meant to be conversational
• Allow for one-on-one or smaller group discussions between the viewers and presenter.
• Ideal for new presenters because they encourage interactions and reduce the stress of being in front of a large audience.
• Are ideal for in progress projects because they give a space to discuss methods and preliminary results without the need of a polished and full narrative.

Oral Presentations:

• They are built to deliver an organized talk within a set time limit to a larger audience.
• Suited for projects with a clear and cohesive story/timeline (full results and conclusions).
• Generally offer less room for feedback than posters because questions are asked at the end and are still expected to fit within the time limit.
• Ideal for presenters who want practice with formal speaking.

Designing a Poster Presentation

• What makes a good poster?:
  • Clear title: A viewer should be able to read and understand the topic from several feet away and feel compelled to walk over.
  • Logical flow: Posters are typically read top to bottom and left to right in a columnar format.
  • Visuals: Figures, maps, photos, and diagrams are much more effective communicators than text
  • Minimal text: when text is necessary, use bullet points and short sentences. A common rule of thumb is: "If it takes 30+ seconds to read a section, it's probably too much text."
  • Organization: Below are the common sections found on a poster in the order of how they should be presented:

1. Introduction or background: provides context for the research by explaining the broader topic, why it matters, and the study's objective.
2. Methods: Describes what tools/skills were used to conduct the research.
3. Results: Presents the key findings of the study using concise figures, graphs, tables, or text.
4. Discussion: Interprets the results by explaining what they mean and how they relate to the question.
5. Conclusion: Summarizes the overall main takeaways from the project and highlights broader impacts, limitations, and future directions.
6. Acknowledgements: Recognizes the individuals, institutions, and funding sources that supported the research.

• Tips for Presenting:
  • You prepare a 2-3 minute “elevator pitch” to summarize the information on your poster.
  • Let the viewers guide the conversation to inquire about topics that they want explained further.

Designing an Oral Presentation

• Tips for presenting:
  • Know your time limit and stick to it! Moderators usually cut off presenters who max out their time, and you should always leave space for questions. Presentations typically last 8-15 minutes, depending on the symposium.
  • Design the slides with minimal text and large, readable figures. Slides should support your speech, not replace it!
  • Try to talk slowly and clearly.
  • Make eye contact with the crowd.
• Presentation Structure: The typical slide structure includes
  • Title Slide: Title of the project goes here
  • Background/Motivation: provides context for the research by explaining the broader topic, why it matters, and the study's objective.
  • Methods: Describes what tools/skills were used to conduct the research.
  • Results: Presents the key findings of the study using concise figures, graphs, tables, or text.
  • Discussion/Implications: Interprets the results by explaining what they mean and how they relate to the question. Summarizes the overall main takeaways from the project and highlights broader impacts.
  • Future Directions: Expands upon how the project can be built upon by addressing limitations or proposing new questions.
  • Acknowledgements: Recognizes the individuals, institutions, and funding sources that supported the research. 

Overall Tips

• Define key terms when necessary: remember that not everyone you present to will have the same background knowledge. Level the field by providing this information.
• Framing: If you are ever stuck on how to organize your presentation, remember that it should be framed as: 1. The problem/question you are addressing, 2. How you addressed it, 3. What you found/learned.
• Practice!!: Practicing will help you know how long your presentation will take and ensure that you effectively manage your time.
• Preparing for audience questions: Questions from the audience can seem daunting, but they are really just a testament to their interest in your topic. If you are nervous, try repeating the question out loud to give yourself time to think.
  • If you don't know the answer, try saying this!:
    • "Wow, I've never considered that! But it would be interesting to investigate."
    • "I have not had the opportunity to investigate that, but hope to in the future."
    • "Unfortunately, that is outside of my scope of knowledge, but I would love to look into it."
    • "I do not know how to answer that, but [insert name of someone who may know] might be able to shed some light on it!"

Resources

COME TO RESEARCH AMBASSADOR OFFICE HOURS: Our job is to help students with anything related to research. Whether it be deciding if it is right for you or helping you find opportunities, WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!!!!

We can assist you with

• Designing your presentation, whether oral or poster
• Practicing presentations
• Finding symposiums/conferences to present at

Sign up for an appointment with Nyrobi on WCOnline.