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��How to give an effective presentation!�

Queen’s Cancer Research Club

March 21^st 2024

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Creating slides for a seminar

Use slide titles effectively

Animations are your friend

Use images instead of words when you can!

DCIS

IDC

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Creating slides for a seminar

Shape the ‘problem’ for the audience

Summarize key takeaway from slide

Break presentation up into sections ex. Aims

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Dividing presentations into sections

Hypothesis

Aim #1: Discuss seminar presentations

Aim #2: Discuss poster presentations

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Concluding Presentations

Remind us of how/why your research is important! Ex. Clinical application?

Remember the hourglass!

Let us know about your future research either at the end or after concluding an aim

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Tips and tricks

Pick a font and colour scheme 🡪 Be consistent!
Keep it simple
Remember your audience
Back-up slides!

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Giving an oral presentation

Rule of thumb: ~1 minute/ slide

Rationale and justification is important….but YOU are the expert

Keep good pace

Rehearse in front of peers!

Rule of thumb: 1 minute/ slide

Too much beyond that and you risk losing your audiences interest

Rationale and justification is important!

But don’t feel the need to explain everything you’ve ever done and the reasons why

YOU are the expert on this specific topic

Giving seminars on your own research are a bit different then presentations you might have given in undergrad on a paper for examples
You know the most, but you don’t need to tell us every detail you know

Keep good pace!

Pauses are important, it’s a marathon not a sprint

Rehearse in front of your supervisor, lab members, other grad students friends!

Strongly encourage you to practice in front of other students not in your lab because they are the ones who don’t know or understand what you are doing
They have the knowledge of the area but will be able to point out parts of your presentation that need more explanation and are not clear

Don’t overthink questions

Easy said than done, but chances are the question requires a more basic answer and will provide clarification
Don’t be afraid to say you aren’t sure but you think ex. this might be occuring

Ask for question to be repeated

Many times profs may give long winded explanations before actually asking the question, which can be confusing
Ask them to repeat the question, chances are they will give a much simpler version of what they just said

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Creating a poster

Queen’s Library has poster templates

https://guides.library.queensu.ca/posters/graphics

Font: Keep consistent across poster

Recommended sizes:

Title: ~72pt- 100+pt
Sub-headings:~36-72pt
Text: ~24-48pt

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Tips for designing a poster

Pay attention to size restrictions

Include a catchy & informative Title

Tell a story

Include relevant supporting data

Use your space wisely

Proofread, proofread, get a good night sleep and proofread again

Also proofread after printing to ensure there were no printing errors

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Introduction

Hypothesis/Aims

Methods

Poster Layout Example

Author list

Results

Conclusion/Future directions

References

Acknowledgements

Fig. 1. Figure title/ few words about figure

Samples	m/z	mRNA	Fold Change	Biological Role

Hypothesis: xxx

Aim1: x

Aim2: x

Table. 1. Table title/few words about table

Brief intro

-info necessary for understanding

Recommend step-wise instructions using images if you can

Fig. 2. Figure title/ few words about figure

Representative images (Ex. IF, IHC, proposed mechanism,

Brief conclusion/what did your research show?

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Giving a poster presentation

Rule of thumb: ~2-4 minute elevator pitch

Know your audience

Follow the direction of your poster

Highlight the most interesting results in your figures

Keep the language simple

Speak clearly, slowly and maintain eye contact

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Answering Questions at a Poster Presentation

Practice giving your talk and identify areas that might require further explanation in follow up questions.

Make sure you are familiar with all of your methods and why you used specific techniques

Familiarize yourself with recent published literature surrounding your own research topic

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Most Importantly

Be enthusiastic!!

This is your chance to share your hard work with fellow scientists.

Remember that most questions aren’t designed to stump you. People are genuinely curious about your work and want to learn more.

No one knows your project as well as you do!

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https://mk.bcgsc.ca/poster.design/

Martin Krzywinski

Staff Scientist

Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Center

For more tips on effective poster design:

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SASS Workshops or appointments

Supervisors

Fellow Grad students

Library has slide templates

Queen’s CRJC Peer mentorship

Resources