Presentation Guidelines

The following presentation guidelines should be used as a resource to assist you in crafting a relevant, concise, professional presentation of your scholarly work. If you have questions on the creation of your presentation or need additional assistance, please email [email protected].

For general information on conference presentations, see:

• Creating an Effective Conference Presentation
• How to Give Successful Oral and Poster Presentations

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations must be created as a single 3 ft. x4 ft. PowerPoint slide. Posters should highlight the main points of your scholarly work. You will participate in a display of your electronic poster for one 30-minute session dedicated to poster presentations only. Poster presentations provide the opportunity for you to both expand your audience and interact individually with interested viewers. We will provide a projector and a small table for your laptop; there will be no display boards as all posters will be displayed via digital projection.

Content Decisions in Creating a Research Poster Presentation

Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and Presentations (6th Ed.)

Ask yourself the following questions to guide developments of the contents of your poster presentation:

• What is the main point I want to make?
• • To avoid making the poster overly complex, secondary points should be made only if they are necessary.
• What are the key pieces of information people need to understand my hypotheses or arguments (e.g., previous studies, theoretical models, terms to define)?
• • The answer to this question will decide what is presented in the first sections of the poster.
• Are there any crucial details of my methodology that need to be mentioned?
• • This decision will be influence by how conventional the methods are. If participants and procedures are typical (e.g., college undergraduates, questionnaire study), then little poster space is required for explaining them. If they are unusual, then a more lengthy explanation may be needed.
• Are there aspects of my methodology that should be illustrated with examples?
• • It may be useful to provide explanations of stimuli, question asked participants, rating scales used, and so forth.
• Which of my results are the most important to present?
• • Because poster space is limited, a few key findings should be chosen to present on the poster. If a visitor is really interested in the specifics of the data, he or she can discuss it with the presenter or follow up after the conference in more detail.
• What conclusions can I realistically make?
• • A poster presentation is not the place to speculate about the implication s of research findings. Conclusion should be limited to those what are strongly supported by the data.

Oral Presentations

Oral presentations are 15-minute presentations in which you share information related to your dissertation study. Each 15-minute presentation should include 10-12-minutes of presentation time with 3-5 minutes for questions, answers, and discussion with the audience. Oral presentations should be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation highlighting key features of your study. We will provide a projector and a small table for your laptop.

Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of an Oral Presentation using PowerPoint

Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and Presentations (6th Ed.)

The following guidelines help to ensure an effective, non-distracting presentation of your research when using PowerPoint as a visual supplement:

• Use sound effects and animation only to enhance a particular point in the talk.
• If possible, use a remote mouse. This will allow you to move away from the computer while speaking.
• Make sure the contrasts between text and background are good under any lighting conditions (a dark or bright room).
• Practice going back to a particular slide in the presentation sequence. An audience member may ask a question that requires you to show a slide from the middle of the presentation. Also, during the presentation you might accidentally advance the slides and wish to back up.
• Make sure that the presentation is set to advance slides with a mouse click. Presetting a time (duration) for each slide makes the presentation hands-free but also requires the presenter to stick to a very strict schedule for the presentation.
• Is using a new version of a software program, make sure you also create  a separate file for the same presentation and save it as an older version of the program so that if the conference does not have the latest version of the program, you will still be able to open your file.
• Time your presentation so that you know how long it will take.
• Determine beforehand which material you would delete from your presentation if you had less time than you originally thought.

Ethical Compliance Checklist

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition)

• Have you obtained permission for use of unpublished instruments, procedures or data that other researchers might consider theirs (proprietary)?
• Have you properly cited other published work presented in portions of your manuscript?
• Are you prepared to answer questions about institutional review of your study or studies?
• Are you prepared to answer editorial questions about the informed consent and debriefing procedures you used?
• If your study involved animal subjects, are you prepared to answer editorial questions about humane care and use of animals in research?
• Have all authors reviewed the manuscript and agreed on responsibility for its content?
• Have you adequately protected the confidentiality of research participants, client-patients, organization, third parties, or others who were the source of information presented in this manuscript?
• Have all authors agreed to the order of authorship?
• Have you obtained permission for use of any copyrighted material you have included?