Paper Presentations

This guide is designed to help you prepare an effective oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cereal Chemists.

• Prepare all the material for publication first, then arrange the outline for your talk from the manuscript.

• Select and arrange the major points in logical order. The audience will probably be more diverse than the readers of the published paper, so avoid excessive technical details and extensive literature citations.

• Practice your delivery, first alone, then before colleagues. Ask for suggestions on improving organization, slides, and delivery. Stay within allotted time. Leave at least 5 minutes for discussion.

The Slides

• Prepare slides that support and supplement, not simply duplicate, what you are saying. Never read the slide text to the audience.

• It is preferable to use only one idea per slide or, at most, three or four supporting points. If several points are noted, consider making successive slides. The first slide within the group would have the first point highlighted. In the next slide, the first point would be subdued and the second point would be highlighted, etc.

• Keep messages simple; clear messages do not obscure the main idea.

• Slides should not be utilized as a mechanism to advertise your company or products. Logos or product names are prohibited.

• Design slides specifically for an oral presentation. Slides that are prepared for journal or book publication are seldom effective-and often not legible.

• Prepare horizontally oriented slides-wide rather than high-in 35-mm format. Most conference rooms and screen dimensions are too low to accept vertical format.

• Have a professional photographer prepare and mount the slides, each in a standard 2 * 2 (5.08 x 5.08 cm) slide mount.

• For typed material, use an area no larger than 4.33 x 2.95 in. (11 x 7.5 cm). Minimum lettering height is 9/16 in. (40 point or 1.42 cm). Use a maximum of 15-25 words per slide (six words per row, six rows per slide).

• Check for clarity of lettering. Do not use a slide unless you can read everything on it, without enlargement, at your normal reading distance.

• Keep contrast in mind. For best visibility, use black lettering on a light background or white lettering on a dark background.

• When using the laser pointer, don't hold button down and don't read with the pointer. Because the laser pointer is a sensitive tool, be sure to hold as steady as possible.

At The Meeting

• Use the speaker slide preparation room as soon as possible during the convention, but be courteous to your colleagues speaking early in the convention by removing the slide carrousels from the speaker preparation room only one day prior to your presentation. Be sure your slides fit the carrousel and are in the proper order and orientation upon giving them to the operator.

• Let the chair know you are there.

• To effectively present your ideas to the audience, you should talk about your results, not read them. Relay to the audience what is important about your research and use visual aids.

• Be careful when turning as your mouth may move away from podium microphone.

• When questioned, repeat the question and then answer.

• Try to use less time than you have been assigned and never use more.

Poster Sessions

AACC's poster sessions offer a mechanism for data to be presented in a more leisurely manner and an opportunity for direct, one-to-one dialogue. The results include more time devoted to each paper, fewer conflicts with other presentations, more opportunity to study the information presented, and a real chance to ask questions and obtain details. Your poster should concisely communicate the objectives of the research and the materials used, and should include clearly understandable results and a brief discussion.

• State the purpose of the project clearly.

• Write the methodology section in a few sentences, unless the subject of your presentation is a description of a method.

• Use the largest part of the poster area for the Results section of your material.

• Keep the discussion brief or even omit it; you will be discussing your work with meeting attendees.

• Keep literature citations to a minimum.

• Write the sentence for each conclusion to be drawn from the work, and number the list of sentences.

Author Guidelines

To make the poster easily readable from about 2 m, set subheading in 30-35 pt. Lettering for the text should be in 25-30 point in capital and lowercase letters; all lettering should be in black so that it is easily readable.

A poster should include some illustrations; the advantage of a poster session is that viewers can take time to look at graphic information. The minimum size for photographs should be 8" ´ 10" and for illustrations, 9" ´ 12". Photographs should have good contrast and sharp focus, with magnification scales, if appropriate. Computer graphics programs can produce quality final graphic materials. Prepare graphs, photos, captions, and text in advance so that at the meeting all you need to do is attach the materials to the poster board. Each illustration should be kept simple; include a caption. Materials should be mounted on material light enough in weight to be held by Velcro.

In planning the layout of text and graphics, remember that although you know your way through the material, a viewer may not. To clarify the sequence of text and graphics, consider the use of numbers or arrows and simple but prominent subheadings. Use white space in the poster area to display your material attractively. Some use of color may be used for emphasis.

You may prepare handout material with more detailed information, such as a reduced photocopy of the poster materials, selected data/conclusions, or other relevant material.

Let your enthusiasm about your work show, but do not be so aggressive that you overwhelm people who would like to discuss your work with you.

Materials Supplied by AACC

AACC will provide a panel for displaying your poster. The display area measures 48" wide * 42" high. Velcro for affixing your material to the board will be available in the poster session area. The author presenting the poster during the session will be identified with a ribbon or badge provided by AACC in the poster session area. The poster number will be on the upper lefthand corner of the poster board.

Poster Board Dimensions and Instructions

• Writing directly on the poster panels or using pins to affix materials to the panels is prohibited.

• Include the title when preparing the poster.

• The poster number will be provided by headquarters.

• SUBHEADING SIZE (30 pt.)

• Text Lettering (25-30 pt.)

• The area for poster presentation (including title): 42" high x 46" wide