MCEN 5208, Fall 2009 Introduction to ResearchUniversity of Colorado - Boulder Slide 1

Victor M. Bright

Research Presentation Guide

University of Colorado at Boulder

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boulder, CO 80309-0427e-mail: victor.bright@colorado.edu

telephone: (303) 735-1734http://mems.colorado.edu

MCEN 5208, Fall 2009 Introduction to ResearchUniversity of Colorado - Boulder Slide 2

Overview

1. Primary goals are to inform and to impress, the latter with finesse.

2. Secondary goal is to learn.

3. Other goals, such as to entertain or inspire, aren’t primary.

4. Your presentation should have two complementary components:

• speaking

• showing

MCEN 5208, Fall 2009 Introduction to ResearchUniversity of Colorado - Boulder Slide 3

Speaking

1. Know your time allocation and finish one/two minutes early.

2. Make frequent eye contact with numerous listeners during your presentation.

3. Use bulleted items on your slides as key points and as prompts.

4. Do not read from your slides; make your points in different words, improvise.

5. Keep it simple.

MCEN 5208, Fall 2009 Introduction to ResearchUniversity of Colorado - Boulder Slide 4

Showing

1. Allocate one/two minutes per uncluttered, readable slide.

2. Allow more time for conceptually important slides.

3. Incorporate a mix of bulleted items, equations, and figures.

4. Avoid tables.

5. Each bulleted item should make a statement.

6. First slide shows the title, authors, sponsor, acknowledgements.

7. Second slide shows the motivation for your research.

8. Third slide shows an outline and critique of previous work*.

9. Next slides show your research approach and techniques**.

10. Next set of slides show your results**.

11. Last slide summarizes your presentation.

12. Future work*.

* Only for longer presentations.

**If the research is segmented, these may be paired in segments.

MCEN 5208, Fall 2009 Introduction to ResearchUniversity of Colorado - Boulder Slide 5

For Reference Read:

Tips for Preparing Scientific Presentations,

by the Office of Naval Research and the Oceanography Society, 1995 (updated 2004).

http://www.onr.navy.mil/about/speaking_tips/