Recently I was looking for how
to prepare an effective scientific presentation, and I came across Dr. Susan
McConnell's video explaining the same. Dr. Susan is a professor in Biology at
Stanford University (https://web.stanford.edu/group/skmlab/page8/index.html). The video is somewhat 10 years old and I found it really
good. The length of the video is around 45 mins. I was taking down important
points while watching the video and thought I should share so that you can get
the important information within a short time. Below I have listed some
important points.
Avoid using capital letters - it's hard to read and do not capitalize each word of the sentence as this slows down the reading.
Background - dark letters in a white background or dark background with white/bright yellow letters or blue background with white/yellow letters. For a large audience use a dark background and for a small audience in a classroom white background is sufficient. Avoid red-green combination.
Don't put the institution or university logo and unwanted images on each slide.
The information should not exceed more than two-sentence in a slide, the exception is a quote.
Lists - The list should contain no more than 3 items. Unveil the list one by one using animation.
Be generous with empty space. Leave space at the boundaries.
Images - Try the best to include one simple image on every slide which is important to convey the message.
Each slide should make one or two points.
How many slides? - 1 slide per minute (45 slides for 45 mins) and no need for this every time. Don't drown the audiences with data, less is more = minimum essential data.
If you are not going to take the time to explain a particular graph or data chart, get rid of it.
Slide transition - avoid fancy transition between slides unless you have a good reason. We can use zoom-in transitions if necessary to focus on a particular part of a picture. Build content progressively using animation technique.
Add home slide to make transitions effectively and make the audience understand the concept.
Font style - sans serif (arial, comic sans, trebuchet)
Font size - 18 or larger (for references - 14 points)
Dr. Susan also talks about present a scientific presentation which I have not mentioned here. I highly recommend watching the video. If you have any valuable comments please feel free to mention them so that everyone can improve their presentation.
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