The 5 Questions
All your public presentations (oral or written) should answer, in one variant or another, all 5 of the following questions:
- What is the problem?
- Why should I care about the problem?
- What is the approach taken to address the problem?
- What is new in your results?
- What is the impact of your findings?
The amount of time you spend on each of these will vary based on your audience--but you should practice them even during group meeting.
General Slide Making Tips
- All slides should have black text on a white background
- Arial should be used for all fonts, MINIMUM 18 pt bold for text (pref 20 pt), and 24 pt bold (pref 32 bold) for slide titles
- All images should include a labeled scale bar (not "image is 2 microns across")
- All graphs should have extra thick, bold lines, markers and ticks (use Igor whenever possible)
- All figure (graph/image) axes should be labeled IN Powerpoint so that it can be resized if necessary
- Label each trace rather than using a legend
- Include all relevant experimental info on the plot when possible (e.g. "measured under nitrogen with 475 nm illumination")
- All images should be inserted into Powerpoint with (insert-image) NOT cut and paste
- All images should be adjusted for contrast on a *projected* screen
- When David asks for a particular slide, send him both the powerpoint slide, and the original Igor data/jpg image as appropriate
- NEVER use yellow, pink, or light-green lines in plots
Making Posters
- All posters (unless otherwise dictated by the session) should use the group poster template with the high res. UW logo and the "Husky Purple" background
- All poster text should be black on a white background
- All posters should have an Abstract, Introduction, and Summary/Conclusion sections
- Have a third person proofread your final poster before printing it
- Print your poster with enough time in advance (about a day and a half) at the campus poster printing service