Preparing Oral and Poster Presentations

As a PhD student, attending conferences is an exciting part of academic life. Conferences are a chance to share your research findings, learn novel ideas or techniques and travel, whether that is locally, further afield or even internationally. A crucial aspect to conference attending is conveying your research to the wider scientific community, through either a poster or oral presentation. Preparing your research to present at a conference is a balance. You need to include the same details as you would put in a paper or report, but make it concise to fit reasonably in a poster format, or within a specific talk length, such as 10 minutes.

Generally, posters follow a bullet point style divided into four main sections: Introduction or Background, Methods, Results, and Discussion or Conclusions. A snappy title is a must, covering the basic outline of the study, yet being intriguing, making the viewer want to read on. The introduction covers the background details of the research involved, using current literature and references. The aims and objectives of the research must be in the introduction, and generally sits well at the end just before the method section to give a sense of flow. Methods covers what you did to achieve your results, including any ethical approval gained, participant numbers, genders and ages, statistical methods used, and any chemical names. Results need to cover all relevant findings, using tables or figures to show data, and including statistical p-values to show significances. The discussion or conclusion section highlights the key findings from your results in punchy language as a ‘take home message’.

For oral presentations, the same headings should be followed, with clear simple slides. Keep the number of slides to a minimum to keep the length of the talk on track. A good guideline is around one slide per minute. Set the scene with a clear introduction to the work, indicating the relevance of the study to the general scientific community. Highlight the study aims and objectives, and unlike a poster, you may want to include a hypothesis for further clarity. Diagrams may also help to describe methodology, and helps to keep audience attention as they must listen to you fully to understand the technique. Results can also be shown on graphs and figures, but be careful with tables, as these can appear daunting to the viewer, unless you clearly highlight the numbers or significances of importance to your work.

Whether you’re giving a poster or a talk at a conference, be confident. Who knows your work better than you? This will help you tackle any questions and comments posed, and give you a chance to meet fellow researchers and possible future collaborators. Project your voice, face your audience and above all enjoy yourself!