Designing the Best Slides

Communicating your research is an important part of presenting in a conference, and that is difficult to do without effective presentation aids. In this training, you will learn the best practices for creating and designing slides and posters.

Structuring Your Presentation

Your presentation will consist of three main sections: an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. What you include in these sections and how you transition between them can make or break your presentation.

Introduction

The introduction should take up about 10% of your slides.

Start with a strong opening. You can tell a short story related to your research, explain how you got interested in your research topic, or some other relevant attention-grabber.
Next, state clearly your hypothesis or thesis, if applicable.
Preview the main points you are going to cover. This lets the audience know what they should be looking for during your presentation and gives them a basis to know where you’re at along the way.
Give the audience a reason to listen. Explain why the research is important, what effect it may have, and why it’s worth their time.

Body

80% of your time will be spent on the body of your presentation.

You should have three to five main points, although because you have to talk about the problem, methodology, and other parts of your research, you may end up with six main points.
The main points when presenting on research will often look like this:
- The problem
- Why this research is important
- Theoretical grounding
- Research goals and methodology (include research questions)
- Key results/contributions (how your research contributes to the greater body of research in your discipline)
- Future directions (how will you study the same topic or use the research in the future)
Make each point very distinct. When you’re covering the problem, only talk about the problem.

Conclusion

The last 10% of your time should be spent on the conclusion.

In this section, provide a meaningful ending to your presentation. You don’t have to bring them to tears, but you should give them something to let them know the presentation is over. Having a strong conclusion will help make sure your presentation is understood and remembered.

Transitions

Transitions are an important part of presentations that are often overlooked. These are the verbal indications that you are moving through the points of your speech. For example, phrases such as “In addition to,” “next,” “first,” “moving on,” “now that we have discussed,” and “another important idea” give the audience a clear signal that you have finished one point and are moving on to the next. This helps them to stay focused and understand where you are at in your presentation.

Formatting Your Slides

How your format your slides plays a huge role in how engaged audiences will be. If they have a hard time reading your slides, it will be difficult for them to follow along and pay attention. Good slides are clear, big, and simple.

Make your information clear: Use an easy to read, standard typeface. Unique fonts may seem pretty or fun, but they distract from your content.

Use big fonts: Your font should be large and easy to read. Including only one idea per slide helps prevent you from trying to shrink your font to cram too much into one slide.

Keep things simple: Use color and animation sparingly, and use keywords instead of full sentences. Be sure to use words that everyone can understand instead of discipline-specific jargon. Relevant images can pique the audience’s interest and figures and are a great alternative to text.

Keep in mind that your slides are only an aid, which helps people follow along. You want the majority of the attention to remain on you as you are presenting.

Troubleshooting

Aren’t happy with your slides, but you aren’t sure how to fix it? Use this guide to determine what’s wrong with your presentation and how to fix it.
_______

Problem

They look just like they sound.

Solutions

Instead of using full sentences, use short, concise bullet points or a graphic to demonstrate your point. When you’re presenting, you can then explain more in-depth.
________

Problem

The data is difficult for many people to understand.

Solutions

Simplify your background and raw data. Instead of dumping your data onto your slides, emphasize relevant points and explain the results.
________

Problem

It doesn’t look very nice.

Solutions

First, try to fix the images you already have to make them more appealing. If you can’t, then try to find high-quality visual resources. You can also choose new fonts or colors to make the layout more attractive and easy to read.
________

Problem

There’s too much stuff.

Solutions

First, delete as much as you can. Delete, delete, delete. Once you get to a point where you feel you can’t delete any more, you can try to reorganize what you have. If you need to include it, at least make it visually appealing and easily digestible by your audience. Then make sure you are giving information in bite-sized pieces. Only give your audience one thing to process at a time, and then move on to the next piece.

Additional Resources

View resources from past trainings, including two workshops by Anna McEntire on creating amazing slides, a layout guide that will get you started on your own presentation, and handouts with great tips.

Designing the Best Slides

Structuring Your Presentation

Formatting Your Slides

Troubleshooting

Problem

Solutions

Problem

Solutions

Problem

Solutions

Problem

Solutions

Additional Resources

PowerPoint Trade Secrets

Creating Gorgeous Slides

Getting Smart About Posters and Slides

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