Posters, Presentations, and Abstracts

Dr. Paul Lipton UROP Director July 31, 2017

1.  Posters 2.  Oral Presentations 3.  Abstracts 4.  20th Annual UROP Symposium

Posters, Presentations, and Abstracts

Posters vs. Oral Presentations Posters l  Roaming audience l  Interactive discussion: small

groups or often 1-on-1 l  More informal, not

structured l  Flexible content, depending

on listener l  <5 minutes

Structure of a Poster or Presentation l  Title and names

l  What is your research about and who is involved? Make a conclusion if you can.

l  Introduction and Objective l  Why did you do this research?

l  Methodology l  How did you do the research? l  What steps did you follow?

l  Results l  What new information did you learn?

Use figures to illustrate.

l  Summary and Conclusions l  Why are your results important and

how do they contribute to the bigger picture?

l  What are the key things that were learned. Use bullet points.

l  Future Directions l  What studies should follow from your

work?

l  Acknowledgments l  Sources of financial and technical

support

Structure of a Poster or Presentation

Poster Presentation Tips l  Be prepared—know more than is displayed on your

poster

l  Don’t assume observers have prior knowledge of project

l  Try to figure out the level of understanding of the listener

l Content should be easy to see

l  Explain graphs and figures

l  Engage your audience

Font Choice

l  Big enough to see from 4-6 feet away!

l  Highlight important points with CAPITALS, bold, color or italics

l  But: Don’t use too many fonts or colors on same page l  ALL CAPITALS ARE HARD TO READ AND GIVE

THE IMPRESSION OF YELLING.

Common Poster Mistakes l  Font size is too small to be useful

l  Too many design features l  Too much text l  Poster elements exceed space

l  Graphs or data charts are not labeled l  Elements of the poster appear randomly l  Assuming too much knowledge of audience

Electronic Posters

E-Poster Examples

Posters vs. Oral Presentations Posters l  Roaming audience l  Interactive discussion: small

groups or often 1-on-1 l  More informal, not

structured l  Flexible content, depending

on listener l  <5 minutes

Oral Presentations l  Audience focused on

speaker l  Content is targeted toward

the specific audience l  Formal and structured l  Set amount of time to

present (~12-50 minutes) l  Q&A session at end

Effective Oral Presentations

l  Tell a story! l  Slide is a tool, not the message l  Remove all irrelevant information from slides X

Effective Oral Presentations

l  Be nervous

l  Practice your introduction and speak slowly, especially at first

l  Don’t be afraid to tell a conclusion up front

l  Don’t read directly from the slide or notes

l  Use the pointer properly

l  Ask for questions at the end

l  Let person ask question fully, repeat question

Common Talk & Slide Mistakes

l  Font size is too small on slides

l  Overuse of color or too many design features

l  Poor choice of background and text

l  Too much text on slide l  Presentation is too long l  Slides have more

information than necessary

l  Images are not labeled l  Titles of slides do not

give a take-home message

l  Overuse of animation

l  Font size is too small on slides

l  Overuse of color or too many design features

l  Poor choice of background and text

l  Too much text on slide l  Presentation is too long l  Slides have more

information than necessary

l  Images are not labeled l  Titles of slides do not

give a take-home- message

l  Overuse of animation

Common Talk & Slide Mistakes

l  A short description of what you did and learned

l  Should be informative and interesting

l  Keep to the requested format (for UROP, <250 words, ½ page)

l  Write for a broad audience: explain key concepts

briefly and spell out abbreviations on first use

l  Don’t assume reader knows why your work is important

l  Don’t get caught up in numbers - include only numbers that are most important

Preparing Your Abstract

Abstract Layout l  Introduction

l  1 sentence placing the study in context l  1-2 sentences explicitly stating what the study investigated and

why it was special

l  Body l  1-3 sentences summing up the approach, or the most important

methods used to investigate the problem

l  Results and Discussion l  1-3 sentences that summarize the MAJOR results and potential

future applications

l  Summary l  1 sentence that summarizes why your results are significant and

perhaps what you will do in the future

Common Abstract Formatting Mistakes

l  References to other literature l  References to figures or images l  Overuse of abbreviations or acronyms

l  Repetition

l  Including unnecessary or vague sentences

l  Going over (or way under) the word limit l  Not following abstract guidelines (font, length, title, authors)

Abstract Submission l  Abstracts due Friday, August 11th l  Follow the abstract format EXACTLY for

inclusion in the symposium booklet

l  Formatting instructions and template emailed & available at www.bu.edu/urop

l  Abstracts submitted via electronic form

l  Abstracts must not exceed one half page (250 words)

l  Friday, October 13, 2017 l  Friends & Family Weekend l  GSU Metcalf Hall l  11AM – 1PM

l  Poster Presentations l  two 1-hour sessions

l  Electronic Posters

l  Mentor Awards

20th Annual UROP Symposium