INFORMATION FOR PRESENTERS

The following information has been prepared for presenters of oral presentations, conference workshops and posters. If after reading it you have further questions please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  if your enquiry relates to oral presentations or posters, and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  if your enquiry relates to a conference workshop.

 

Oral presentations

Oral presentations will take place in simultaneous, themed sessions on Monday, Tuesday and the morning of Wednesday.  Each session has a chairperson. There are between 5 and 8 presentations in each session.

Before the session: At least 2 hours before the presentation, presenters should report to the Speaker Ready room to hand in their presentation to the technician. All oral presentation rooms are networked, and presentations will be uploaded to the relevant room. Presenters should report to the room allocated to their session at least 15 minutes before the start of the session.

During the session:  Students will be available in each room to help set up the presentation. Each presenter has 10 minutes to present, followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. A computer with sound, and a data projector are provided. Presenters should use the computer provided rather than their own.

 

Conference workshops

Participants who have had a conference workshop or mini-workshop accepted will be contacted about their requirements by Alex Mechaber, Workshop Coordinator who may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Posters

Posters are available for viewing throughout the Conference, and additionally will be presented in simultaneous, themed sessions on Monday, Tuesday or the morning of Wednesday. Each session consists of around 15 posters, with a chairperson to facilitate. The date and time of each session will be given in the final program which will be on the website at end March.

Poster mounting and specifications: Posters should be a maximum of 4 feet x 4 feet (metric: 120 cm x 120 cm). A poster board and fixing materials will be provided. Posters can be mounted between 2-6 pm on Sunday May 16, or before 10am on Monday May 17. They should remain in place until the end of the Conference and should be removed by 4pm on Wednesday. It is suggested that presenters consider preparing a one-page handout which may be left by the poster for participants to pick up.

Poster presentation sessions: Each presenter is asked to attend the relevant poster session, which will take place by the posters, as indicated in the final program. The presenter should give a 2 minute introduction to his/her poster and be prepared to answer any questions from the group.  Whilst not compulsory, presenters may like to stand by their poster during a lunch or coffee break, to talk with participants who may not have been able to attend the session.

Hints on preparing posters

The Ottawa Conference welcomes a range of poster styles and encourages authors to be adventurous. The only essential requirement is that the poster does not exceed the maximum size indicated above.  The following are some hints on preparing good posters.

A successful poster provides just enough information to convey the key point(s) clearly and succinctly. It is important to get the message across quickly – you may only have a short time to capture the viewer’s attention. Too much information on a poster can cause confusion and will be time-consuming to read.  It may be better to focus on one key point, unless subsidiary points are essential to its understanding.  Those sufficiently interested can always request further information via the contact details given, or discuss the work at the poster session. The poster should be attractively laid out, and logically sequenced, with visual representation preferable to large chunks of text.  Careful use of colour and size of text is important.

Posters may report research results, or may be descriptive, eg, presenting a theory, a new curriculum/course or teaching method.

Research posters: The following components are usually included:

  • Introduction and identification of need;
  • Objective(s), purpose(s), research questions(s);
  • Methodology (sample, methods for data collection and evaluation): It is more important to communicate the results and conclusions than to go into detail about the methods.  If participants show a particular interest in the methodology they can always request further details to be sent, eg a copy of a questionnaire used in the study;
  • Data analysis;
  • Results/Discussion: It may be appropriate to report only some of the more important results, in the interests of space. Complex argument is not appropriate for a poster.  Tables and figures are a good way of communicating results rather than blocks of text as they are frequently easier to understand, visually more attractive and less space-consuming.
  • Conclusion(s)/Take home message(s): It is recommended that only conclusions clearly supported by the results are displayed on the poster, and more speculative conclusions should not be included.

Descriptive posters: The content and structure of descriptive posters are more flexible and will largely be decided by the purpose of the poster. It is suggested however that the following aspects should be considered in relation to content:

  • Introduction to the topic/identification of need;
  • Objectives/purposes of the work;
  • Description of what was done;
  • Discussion of what was achieved and how the work has advanced understanding of the topic;
  • Conclusions/take-home messages.

Style Guidelines

Layout:

  • The title of the poster, name(s) of authors, address where the work was carried out and contact details should be prominently displayed, together with a logo if appropriate;
  • It is not necessary to cover the whole poster with information – use of ‘white space’ provides a pleasing contrast, particularly where a large amount of colour is used on the poster;
  •  “Reader gravity” – the natural way in which the reader’s eye is drawn to look at the poster, suggests that information should be laid out either from top to bottom, or left to right;
  • Small blocks of text of up to 75 words are recommended, and use of appropriate level of headings makes the poster easier to read;
  • Abbreviations should be explained the first time they are used;
  • Bulleted lists are frequently a good alternative to blocks of text;
  • Visual representation is preferable to text wherever possible. Diagrams, tables, photographs, arrows etc can aid readability and add to the attractiveness;
  • An appropriately sized poster is preferable to a number of separate sheets put together.

Font and colour:

  • Sans serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica are generally considered to aid legibility for posters. Between 20-28 point is recommended for text and at least 72 point for the title.  The title should span the width of the poster.  Font should be consistent throughout the poster, and appropriate levels of headings should be used. References should be limited to 5, and the font size should be smaller than the poster text.
  • Judicious use of colour is recommended, with a maximum of two or three primary colours (eg, red, blue, green or yellow) introduced (however some shades of yellow may be difficult to read).  Black type on a white background is standard practice, and patterned backgrounds should be used with care.

 Figures and graphics:

  • Figures and graphics should be of good quality and should be appropriately labelled with short legends;
  • Graphs and charts should have an appropriate scale and labelled axes.

AMEE Guide No 40 by George Hess, Kathryn Tosney and Leon Liegel available for purchase from the AMEE website http://www.amee.org/index.asp?lm=103 provides some useful hints on preparing posters.