Guidelines and Responsibilities for Oral Presentations

Student Responsibilities

Presenters are to:

• Identify their faculty advisor.
• Submit a complete application (including the Abstract) by the deadline: 12:00 (midnight) Friday March 1^st, 2013.
• Prepare the oral presentation and accompanying PowerPoint.
• Be present for entire scheduled length of their presentation session.
• Limit the length of their presentation to 12 minutes with a 2 minute question and answer period. This will be strictly enforced by moderators.
• Have their completed PowerPoint presentation submitted to the GradExpo no later than Midnight the 25^th of March 2013.
  • All PowerPoints must be PC compatible that is able to display correctly on a PC. Information regarding making PowerPoint presentations PC compatible may be found here. Hints: Save all PowerPoints as *.ppt not *.pptx and embed all images as JPEGS. Test your PowerPoint on a PC before you submit it.
  • PowerPoints of less than 22MB may be emailed as an attachment to UMaineGradExpoSubmit@gmail.com, PowerPoints larger than 22MB must be placed on a DVD and in the GSG offices no later than 4:00 p.m. Monday, March 25th.

Faculty Sponsors

The faculty sponsors should verify that the proposed project:

• Qualifies as research as defined by the faculty sponsor’s discipline.
• Could be ready for presentation at the GradExpo.
• Has followed the appropriate ethical guidelines.
• Provide guidance to their student(s) about presenting a project. This would include feedback and recommendations about:
  • The written abstract
  • The oral presentation – including length and content
  • The PowerPoint presentation
• Has a well written abstract prior to submission as it will appear in the Program Proceedings.

General Information

Suggested links to preparing an oral presentation include:

• Giving an Oral Presentation an Oral Presentation (University of Canberra)
• A very good presentation in PDF format by Professor Edwards (University of Michigan)
• Effective Presentations for Chemists and Other Scientists (Lab Manager Magazine)
• Preparing Effective Oral Presentations (University of Kansas)
• Informative Speaking (Colorado State)
• Dos & Don’ts of Giving a Good 15 Minute Talk (Australian University)
• The Art of Communicating Effectively
• Impromptu Talks: Addressing a nonscientific audience (NC State)
• Ten Secrets to Giving a Good Scientific Talk
• Oral Presentations (Rice University)
• Dazzle ‘em with Style: The Art of Oral Scientific Presentation (Ohio State)
• How to Give a Bad Talk- Oral Presentation Advice (UC Berkeley)
• How Not To Give a Scientific Talk (York University)
• Dealing with Presentation Disasters (Strategic Communications)

Suggested Links for your PowerPoint include:

• Oral Presentations and Writing for PowerPoint (George Mason University)
• Advice for Preparing and Delivering Research Slide Shows (Swarthmore)
• Learning from Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs (Presentation Zen)
• Life After Death by PowerPoint (Funny video clip: How NOT to do PowerPoint)
• 14 Tips for Better Presentation Slides (Viget Labs)
• PowerPoint Is Evil (Edward Tufte in Wired Magazine)
• PowerPoint Does Rocket Science–and Better Techniques for Technical Reports (Edward Tufte)

Tips for Paper Presentation:

• Use your paper as the guide or outline for your talk.
• Use your PowerPoint as the guide or outline as you talk
• Provide , as in your paper, the following:
  • Introduction – key points,
  • Body – helps the audience understand the importance of your results; and
  • Conclusion – a summary of your key points.
• Practice – a lot.
• Minimize the number of graphics
• Simplify your PowerPoint. It is not a data dump – use to highlight – not to give your presentation for you!
• Write out your talk
• Use your script as a guide; don’t read —-talk!
• Practice, Practice, Practice – out loud, with family, friends, colleagues, in front of an audience
• Time your talk to make sure you stay within the allotted time
• Did we mention practicing?

If you have additional questions, please contact Charles Rodda, Expo Chair: charles.rodda@umit.maine.edu.