Poster Presentations: Poster presentations provide students with the chance to connect directly with their audience through organized conversations with attendees.

• Designing Posters
  • Poster presentation designs vary. Posters are printed on a large format printer so that presenters are able to provide a clear visual overview of their research project.
  • Elements to include:
    • Title of project, student's name, mentor's name, GVSU department information
    • Abstract, abridged version of the literature review, methodology, results
    • Images, graphs, and/or tables that help explain the project
• Presenting Posters
  • Poster presentations are more conversational than oral presentations since presenters will be interacting directly with attendees.
    • Begin by telling attendees about yourself, your area of study, then begin explaining your project.
      • Provide background information about the project
        • Previous research that supports the rationale for your project
        • Why your project/research topic is important to investigate
      • Explain the method used to collect data
        • Describe participants (if applicable)
        • Clearly explain the steps of the method used
      • Review the results of your project
        • Explain the results
          • Use the images, tables, graphs to help explain results
          • Don't rely on the images, tables, graphs or attendees ability to interpret them
      • Describe the practical value that the results provide
        • How do your findings compare to those of your supporting researching?
        • Who is impacted by your findings?
        • How are they impacted?
      • Ask the attendee if they have questions

Oral Presentations: Oral presentations are an opportunity for students to present their project to a larger audience. Presentations are 20 minutes followed by 5 minutes of Q&A. Oral presentations are more formal and structured than poster presentations but some of the information above (poster presentations) can be used to help organize oral presentations; provide, explain, review, describe.

• Presenting
  • Presentations should not be fully scripted, outline the presentation using key words to help keep you on track
    • Organize presentations using a clear format, with an introduction, well organized main points, and a conclusion
    • Introduction should begin with a well crafted attention getter
    • Main points should be strategically organized and formatted
    • Conclusion should bring everything together in a cohesive way
• Visual Aid
  • Slides can help to convey information, depict and illustrate portions of the project as a tool for the audience but should not be used as a crutch for the presenter. Avoid overly wordy slides
  • Use images, graphs, and tables to help explain areas of the project
  • Pro tips:
    • Begin with a blank, black slide
    • Clearly explain what a graph or table depicts
    • Practice using your visual aid
• Delivery
  • Oral presentations should be well organized and delivered with a conversational tone in a formal style.

Speech Lab consultants are here to support each step of your journey as you prepare for poster presentations and oral presentations. 

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