Presentation Guidelines

Oral Presentation Guidelines

1. Each speaker is given a maximum of 10 minutes to complete their oral presentation.  A 2 minute question period will follow.
2. Multimedia, slide projectors, and overhead projectors are available. Presenters are encouraged to use visual aids appropriately.
3. The audience for your talk should be considered 'lay'. Most of the attendees will have little familiarity with the subject matter you are presenting. Ensure that your presentation is accessible to judges and audience members.
4. Address a single issue or question during the prepared part of your talk. Avoid digressions. Make your purpose and conclusion clear. Leave the audience with a "take home" message.

Poster Presentations Guidelines

A poster presentation is a graphically-oriented summary of your research project.  It is designed to increase awareness of and interest in your area of research within the university and general communities. The poster should convey the essential details of your research, without the use of jargon or technical information not relevant to a general audience.

To accompany the poster, each presenter will be required to give a 1-minute maximum overview of their poster. In addition to the criteria listed below, presenters will be evaluated on their ability to accurately and effectively summarize their poster without exceeding the 1-minute time limit.

Content

1. The poster presentation should be self-contained and not require any additional oral explanation to be understood by a general educated audience.
2. Text should be brief and well-organized, presenting only enough data to support your conclusions.
3. The text should make clear the significance of your research.
4. The text should include (most likely as separate elements of the poster) your hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusions.

Design

1. The maximum size of each poster is 4ft/1.2m high by 4ft/1.2m wide.  Posters exceeding this size will not receive full marks by the judges.
2. A clear, simple, uncluttered arrangement is the most attractive and easiest to read.
3. All lettering should be legible from a distance of approximately 5'/1.5m.  Type size should be at least 24 point.
4. Illustrations should be simple and eye-catching, with unnecessary detail left out.  If possible, convert tables to graphic displays.  Pie graphs can be used to show parts of a whole, line graphs can be used to show trends or changing relationships, and bar graphs can be used to show volumes.

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