This talks gives some basic pointers on how to give power point presentations that are effective and get your point across. Great for young scientists, or really any academic field.
2. Hello!
Melissa Haendel
• Assistant Professor, DMICE and OHSU Library
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BA, Chemistry, Reed College
PhD, Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin
I build informatics tools for biologists
I like to garden and pick wild mushrooms
3. Hello!
Melissa Haendel
• Assistant Professor, DMICE and OHSU Library
•
•
•
•
BA, Chemistry, Reed College
PhD, Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin
I build informatics tools for biologists
I like to garden and pick wild mushrooms
Irrelevant information! Introduce yourself as is
relevant to the presentation
4. Start your presentations with:
What is the premise of your story?
The problem space you are trying to address?
The crux of your biscuit?
Telling a good scientific story is important
to be a successful scientist
5. Your slides don’t tell a story
You do.
Use your slides as prompts for your story, don’t
rely on them to do the job.
8. Chilean Fruit Exports
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Fresh fruit leads Chile's export mix - Chile emerges as major supplier of fresh fruit to world
market due to ample natural resources, consumer demand for fresh fruit during winter
season in U.S. and Europe, and incentives in agricultural policies of Chilean government,
encouraging trend toward diversification of exports and development of nontraditional crops
- U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Report
Chile is among the developing economies taking advantage of these trends, pursuing a free
market economy. This has allowed for diversification through the expansion of fruit
production for export, especially to the U.S. and Western Europe. Chile has successfully
diversified its agricultural sector to the extent that it is now a major fruit exporting nation.
Many countries view Chile's diversification of agriculture as a model to be followed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. remains the largest single market for Chile's fruit exports. However,
increasing demand from the EC and Central and East European countries combined may
eventually surpass exports to the U.S., spurring further growth in Chile's exports.
If you’ve read this far, your eyes probably hurt and you’ve been reading this tedious longwinded text instead of listening to me. I’m insulted- can’t you see I’m doing a presentation up
here? Look at me! Congratulations, however, on having such good eyesight.
No one will read this , and neither will you.
In fact, you wont’ remember what it says.
9. Slide text should only be enough to
help you remember your story
Don’t use large blocks of text
Emphasize the main points
The “Six-by-Six” rule
Use pictures
Use a large font…at least 30-point or more
for most text
10. Lists and Bullets
• Don’t use bullet points for a single bullet
– Don’t complicate bullets with many indentations
This can confuse your audience
Don’t mix bullet styles throughout the talk
11. ABOUT THEMES AND LAYOUTS
Just because Powerpoint/Keynote has neato
themes doesn’t mean you should use them
You can create your own background
Not all slides have to be the same
Fill the space, but don’t crowd the space
Use white background when images have white
background
17. Don’t do this!
• My personal favorite:
the Suzuki Savage
• Light weight (~380lbs)
• Adequate power (650cc
engine)
• Low seat height fits
most riders
18. Bad Color Choices
Avoid loud, garish colors…dark text on light
background or vice versa is best.
Avoid text colors that fade into background,
i.e. blue and black
Avoid color-blind combinations:
– Red and green
– Blue and yellow
24. We want to understand gene
function across taxa
Vertebrata
tetrapod limbs
Ascidians
ampullae
Echinodermata
tube feet
Arthropoda
Annelida
parapodia
Mollusca
Sticky-outy bits express distalless – deep homology?
CJ Mungall, C Torniai, GV Gkoutos, SE Lewis, MA Haendel. Genome biology 13 (1), R5
25. Overwhelming Pictures
Use pictures, but don’t let them use you
Keep slides SIMPLE! Too much diverts
audience away from content
Too many pictures make saving difficult
37. Racquetball Fundamentals
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2, 3, or 4 players.
1 player serves, other “returns.”
Only serving player can score.
Served ball must land past serving line and
cannot hit back wall.
• Ball can only bounce once before striking front
wall…but ball does not have to bounce.
38. Using too much Slide Animation
Again, keep slides simple!
Apply one Slide Transition style and one
animation scheme to ALL slides
Busy presentations divert audience attention
from content.
39. Murphy’s Law
Something WILL go wrong - test your
presentation
Always have a backup of your presentation
Be prepared to do the presentation without
the slides
40. Presentation tips
Talk to your audience, not the slides
Don’t read what is on the slides…
Avoid apologizing for a presentation
shortcomings
Know how to pronounce words in your talk
Check spelling
Don’t put things in slides you aren’t going to
talk about and then say you don’t have time
to talk about them
41. Presentation Pacing
Don’t make too many slides
Avoid the slide rush at the end of your talk
Each slide takes 1-3 minutes average
A 10 minute talk should have about 6 slides
Look at your audience and adjust pace
Leave time for Q & A
42. Attribution
Where your images/quotes came from
The people/animals you care about
http://commons.wikimedia.org/
43. Ontologies built for one species will
not work for others
http://ccm.ucdavis.edu/bcancercd/22/mouse_figure.html
Free image sites: mediawikicommons
http://fme.biostr.washington.edu:8080/FME/index.html
44. Sharing your slides
Slideshare for sharing – Can reference in CV
Attribute slides reused from Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/
45. Be a good audience too
Are you annoyed when your audience
is chatting? Texting?
Ask questions
Make eye contact
Giving a talk is a two-way conversation
Overview/workflow pictures are very helpful when describing your research. But they can be hard to make. Here it the evolution of a workflow figure we made for a paper.This one is pretty bad!
Starting to get better…
Finally finished here… much better! But we went through many iterations.
