Presentation Resources

Presentation Resources

This is a collection of resources to help you get through the presentations you will need to make for SIMCODES.

As part of SIMCODES students will be responsible for creating two presentations. The first presentation is an oral presentation which will be presented at the end of the seventh week. The second presentation is a poster presentation that will be presented at the end of the summer (exact date is set by ISU, but will usually be the end of the last week). This page collects resources that students may find helpful in preparing these presentations.

Oral Presentation

Note

SIMCODES will need to record a PDF of your presentation. So you must make slides.

Each student will be expected to create and present an approximately 10 minute oral presentation that briefly describes/includes:

  • Title slide with your name on it.
  • The importance/goal of the overall project.
  • The student’s role in the project.
  • What research the student has done to date.
  • What the student has learned (including not only background, but also skills, software, and about the research environment).
  • What the student hopes to accomplish in the remaining weeks.
  • Acknowledgements. Minimally this should be SIMCODES and NSF for funding, but you are also strongly encouraged to thank people that helped you with the research.

Each project has a mix of chemistry and computer science students associated with it. Students on the same project will present sequentially. Thus you are encouraged to coordinate among yourselves regarding who will present what; however, remember that ALL students must have an individual presentation.

Tips

  • For most people, it takes about 2 minutes to discuss a slide (thus you should be shooting for 5 slides). You should adjust this to your presenting style, e.g., if you talk faster, or like to flip through slides quicker you may average a slide a minute (and thus should shoot for 10 slides).
  • Presentations will be given a classroom setting that includes a projector, but no computer, i.e., expect to present from your laptop.
  • This is a short talk so there is no need to have an outline or summary slide.

Poster Presentation

During the summer, ISU hosts a number of undergraduate students for research experiences (most from other universities). To help celebrate and showcase your accomplishments, ISU organizes a poster symposium at the end of the summer. The symposium is open to all faculty, staff, and students and is usually well attended. Expect for people from a wide-variety of backgrounds to visit your poster. The capstone project of SIMCODES is to prepare a poster and present it at this symposium.

Note

Since the symposium is usually very close to the end of the summer it may be the case that some students may need to move out/depart Ames before the symposium. First, please try to avoid this. The poster session is often a highlight for many students. Second, all students must create a poster. If you are not able to present the poster, please ensure that other members of your team are able to display the poster for you (they do not need to present it).

Poster Preparation

Poster Dimensions

Posters should be 36 inches by 48 inches. This is a poster that is longer in the vertical direction than it is in the horizontal direction.

  • Typically posters are created using PowerPoint, though you are free to use whatever program you would like.
  • Templates are available here. Make sure you select the correct size!!!
  • Double check that the page dimensions are correct.
  • Due to the fact that many students will be trying to print posters at the same time, posters will need to be submitted for printing about a week in advance.