Fellows Research Day - Oral Presentation Guidelines

 Guidelines:

• Oral presentations must be electronic (PowerPoint) in PC/Windows format - no Mac.
• No MP4 files.....only MP3.
• Oral presentations must be no more than (8) eight minutes in length followed by a (2) two minute question-and-answer session.  An official timer will be seated in the audience holding up signs as to your remaining time - please pay strict attention to your time.
• If you go over your allotted presentation time, points may be deducted from your score.  To be fair to all presenters, we must keep to our schedule.
• Arrive the day of your presentation in enough time to discuss any issues with the A/V support team and to have your presentation loaded.

Helpful Tips:

1. For a 7-8 min talk, in general you should plan 1 min per slide with likely 15 sec for your title slide and acknowledgment slide. So, aim for 10-12 slides for your talk and please time it such that it does not go over. 
 
2. Title each slide in such a way that it makes a statement that summarizes the point of the slide rather than just generically describing the method. So, instead of a title that says "Kaplan-Meier survival curve with CRT" say something like "5 year survival is improved with CRT."
 
3. The last sentence that you state about a given slide (before going to the next one) should be some sort of summary statement about the essence of the slide (could even be a repetition of the title of the slide) and/or a transition to where you are going to the next slide. 
 
4. Best to use fonts like Arial or Helvetica bold.
 
5. Limit the number of words you have on each slide. Best to describe with pictures or diagrams rather than a wall of numbered text or lists. 
 
6. If you choose to show data, graphs, charts, make sure fonts and data are large enough to see from the back of the room. Remember that there is no point in putting up data if the audience cannot read it. 
 
7. Similarly, if you choose to show data or charts, make sure that you describe the data. It can be confusing if it is on your slide but you don't mention it specifically when speaking. 
 
8. The point of the talk is to discuss your project, not an exhaustive literature review. So, keep the introduction short (3 slides max) to only the most salient points and get onto your project. You want to give the audience enough to understand your project and they can ask you questions about the rest. 
 
9. Finally, remember you are telling a story. You want to draw them in and give a punch line at the end. Punch line is the significance and impact of the work. Why is this important and why is this exciting. Is this the first time anyone has ever done this, is this a question that has existed for a long time and never been answered, how will this improve clinical management, etc.