Learning and Teaching Conference: Oral and Poster Presentation

Guidance

Action to be taken before the Conference (oral presentations)

• Please ensure you submit your presentation to EDU no later than 2.00pm on Wednesday 17th June (c/o Vicky Martin v.martin@worc.ac.uk)

• This will enable us to load all presentations on to the desk tops in the presentation rooms

• Some PCs are ‘slow’ and loading your presentation just before you begin might significantly eat in to your allotted time!!!

Action to be taken (Posters)• Bring your poster to the Reception area in the

Conference Centre between 8.30-9.30 on the 18th June

• All posters are being displayed during lunch in the Pear Tree (Students’ Union)

• Student ambassadors will take care of the display and will return your poster to the Conference Centre where it can be collected at the end of the day – if you are unable to collect it, it will be

returned to the EDU admin office (WB117)

1- Oral Presentations

What are you trying to achieve?• Leave your audience better informed than

it was before you started to speak.• Remember - The purpose is not to

entertain, but it is to ‘bring your project to life’.

• Ideally by the time you finish the audience will want to know more!!!

Timings on the day

• Each presentation is allocated 15 minutes in total

• Presenters are given a maximum of 13 minutes to deliver their material

• Your remaining time will be communicated to you by the chair of the symposium

• The remaining 2 minutes will be devoted to questions

Timings (continued)• Clearly this is not a great deal of time, so please

put your contact details on you’re your final slide and suggest making yourself available for further discussion during lunch/coffee breaks

• Out of courtesy for the other presenters/delegates and the Chairs - please ensure you stick to the guidelines for timing

• Thank you!!!!!

Questions to ask yourselves?

• How will you start?• What is the purpose of your project?• What are the main ideas you want to

communicate?• How are you going to develop these?• How will you summarise/conclude?

Opening remarks

• Gain the audience’s attention (striking fact or finding?)

• Clarify or define your topic• Outline any benefits to the

audience

Rationale and Justification• This could be the heading for a slide, essentially a

‘purpose of the project’• Consider relationship between what the audience

sees and what it hears NB Little point in reading yourself what the audience sees itself.• Can you find a picture which captures the

attention of the audience, but still needs an explanation from you???

The Slides

• Good slides will only enhance your message

• They help retain interest and attentionThey also: • Need to relate to your commentary• Help you make your point

Key Points

Make use of ‘oral signposts’For example:“Now that I’ve discussed……………, I want to move on to…………………..”“The last point I want to make involves……………..”

Effective delivery

Essentially depends on 3 things:1. Non-verbal communication2. Speaking voice3. How you answer any questions

Non-verbal communication

• Make eye contact with as many of the audience as you can and smile!!!

• Show belief and enthusiasm from the start

• Maintain the energy throughout

Speaking voice• Your voice will almost certainly betray nerves –

this could mean to talk too quickly, too softly, too loudly or fail to give right emphasis and meaning to the words

• Be articulate and enunciate• Finish sentences and try to avoid letting your

voice fade…• Consider writing a commentary!!! Helps ensure

you stay to time, cover all the main points, you’re never lost for words!!!

Rehearsing/Practising• Very important to rehearse and practise

your presentation• If possible ask friends/colleagues to act as

the audience – could play a vital role in helping you predict questions

• Essential that you are familiar with the content

• Helps you check for timing, fluency and flow

Handling Questions• Arguably the hardest part because you don’t

know what they are going to say• However you will almost certainly be in a

symposium and there will be a chair to maintain order.

• If the question confuses you, don’t panic, ask for a repeat.

• But don’t worry if you can’t answer it. Thank the person for the question, say let’s discuss at the

end and move on to next question

2 - Poster Presentations• Posters are displayed during the lunch break in

the Pear Tree• The setting is informal and generally not

constrained by time• Delegates will browse, some will read your poster

and move on, others will pause and ask you questions

• If you sense you sense a queue building, you might tactfully suggest picking up the

conversation at a later date

Size and Structure of your PosterWe suggest posters be of the following size/dimensions:841 x 1189mm, 33.1 x 46.8 in (A0)While there is no prescribed structure for displaying your poster at this conference, you might find it useful to follow the structure of an independent study or dissertation (example on the next slide):• Title• Introduction• Aim(s)• Method• Results• Discussion• Conclusion• References