Poster and oral preparation guidelines

How to Make Your Presentation the Best That It Can Be!

Poster Guidelines:
Include a title as part of your poster! Use a logical presentation order. Arrange parts of the poster from top to bottom or left to right, and number parts or use connecting lines and arrows. The poster must make sense even when you are not there to explain it. Keep things simple. Keep the text brief and avoid excessive detail! With each illustration, include a brief description and explanation.

Contents of Poster: Each poster should contain (a) a straightforward statement of the objective, at the beginning of the poster; (b) materials demonstrating in some (not great) detail the work that was done, showing typical results; and (c) at the logical end of the poster, a statement of results and/or conclusions including the significance of the work.

Size: The area available for the poster is 46" across × 42" high. Note especially the size of the type to use: The title, author(s) and affiliation(s) should be 60-80 point. Lettering for body text should be no less than 28-32 point. Everything should be easily readable from a distance of 2 to 3 m.

Text Color: The main body text (including tables) should be in black. The background of your poster should be white or in a light color to provide optimal contrast with the text. Section headers (e.g. Introduction, Experimental, etc.) can be colored, again in contrast to the background, e.g., highly saturated colors such as green, blue or red.

Be Creative: Put your artistic talents to work and make your poster attractive! Use colored borders, colored photographs, visual aids. A limited amount of Velcro for affixing your material to the poster board will be available. Do not use tape or pins and do not write on the poster panels.

Practice: Well before the meeting, lay out your poster to check its size and plan its organization. Have others critique it. Follow their suggestions for improvements.

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Oral Guidelines:

Planning: Organize your talk logically. Define the problems and give brief background information. Describe methods only briefly. Summarize results, avoiding excessive technical details. Conclude by emphasizing your major discoveries and their importance.

Before the Meeting: Practice your talk for an audience. Do this early enough to make desired changes and correct errors in slides.

Time: You must stay within your allotted time of 20 minutes including at least 5 minutes for discussion.

Slides: The default medium for your presentation is 35-mm slides. Keep them clear and simple! Each slide should have a heading and a description of what is shown. Use a title slide and have one with conclusions. A 35-mm projector will be available. Remember, color combinations and choices that look good and are readable on a computer monitor may NOT be effective when projected (see "color" below). Be sure to preview your slides by projecting them in a lecture or meeting room. NOTE: Your slides should NOT be utilized as a mechanism to advertise your company or products. Logos or product names are prohibited.

When preparing slides, please note the following suggestions:

• Font—Arial is the most clear font to read from a distance when projected onto a screen.
• Size—Type for slide titles should be 36-40 point. Body text should be 32 point. Labels or annotations, e.g., on charts or embedded pictures, can be smaller than body text, but should be no less than 24 point. Use no more than 40 words per slide.
• Color—Dark blue background with bright yellow or white text is recommended. Avoid reddish hues for text or chart lines as these colors are not easily readable when using a dark background. Think about color contrast and color brightness or saturation when making your slide.

Vocal: Pitch, volume and rate, punch, pause and diction are all important considerations.

Verbal: Use descriptive language and short sentences.

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The American Association of Cereal Chemists

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