Oral Presentation details

• 12-minute time limit for the presentation
• Up to 3 minutes for questions, for a total time of 15 minutes
• Slide details: slide presentation, widescreen format, 16:9 (width:height)
• The Convention Center computers have Microsoft PowerPoint for PC. Your slides must be uploaded in advance. All presentations will have live closed-captioning.

Goals of an oral presentation:

The purpose of an oral and slide-based presentation at ASV is to convey your scientific results to an audience of fellow scientists. To do this, a good oral presentation should convey the context for your science, your approach, what you found, and why it is impactful. It takes preparation and practice to present scientific information in a clear and engaging oral- and slide-format. This is a great opportunity to learn and practice your skills!

How to give an oral- and slide-based presentation:

1. Be clear about your science – convey the context, the approach(es), the key findings/conclusions, and the overall impact.
2. Optimize your slide design and talk structure to focus on your key points. Use a font size of 18 point or larger everywhere, to ensure readability. 24-28 point is ideal.
3. Stick to the time limit, so that you have time for questions and don’t get cut off early.
4. Practice in advance, so that you can achieve #1-3.

There are great recommendations online about how to build your slides and how to give a great scientific talk. Here are just a few:

Dr. Jean-luc Dumont has a great lecture on “Creating effective slides” for scientific talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meBXuTIPJQk

EMBL (the European Molecular Biology Laboratory) has a set of tips on how to give a good scientific talk: https://www.embl.org/about/info/course-and-conference-office/2018/12/15-tips-for-giving-a-good-scientific-talk/
…which is distilled in this 4.5-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFxVihJ1KSo

ASBMB (the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) has a blog and tips on giving an effective talk, assembled by Adriana Norris, a recent Vanderbilt PhD graduate: https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/030823/19-tips-for-giving-an-effective-talk
Her tips are also in a video (22 minutes) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPbekjvJvPw

Finally, here is a piece from Cell Mentor on giving a successful science talk: https://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/tips-for-giving-a-successful-scientific-presentation