Conference presentation

Research Poster

Research progress and outcomes are often summarized in a poster and presented at research conferences to allow feedback and consideration by peers and debate by the experts.

For a poster to be effective as a tool to disseminate your research message, careful consideration of a balance between content and layout is important. While an academic poster allows the inclusion of key points as text, visuals in the form of colourful graphs, schematics and illustrations are equally if not more powerful ways of attracting attention and conveying the essence of your research project.

Helpful guides to designing and preparing an effective and appealing conference poster are available online. We can recommend the following resources:

  • The University of Melbourne– Academic Skills (Australia): All about Academic Posters
  • The New York University –Research Guides (USA): How to Create a Research Poster
  • Science Presentations Made Easy – Dr Penny Hawken (Australia): Tips for scientists to improve their presentation skills - Conference posters (video)

Oral Presentation

Notre Dame research staff and HDR-students are also likely to be invited to communicate their research progress through oral presentations at conferences or work visits to other research institutions.  For some it may be a challenge to communicate often complex and technically detailed research outlines and findings with confidence and clarity.

Helpful resources on how to develop professional carefully designed Powerpoint slides for verbal dissemination of your work in a research environment are available.  Some present tips to address the general fear of speaking in public, while others consider research-specific DOs and DON’Ts.

We can recommend the following resources:

  • The University of Melbourne– Academic Skills (Australia): Presenting your research
  • ThinkWell (ebook) - Hugh Kearns (Australia): Presenting Your Research With Confidence: The step by step guide to powerful presentations
  • Science Presentations Made Easy – Penny Hawken (Australia):
    • Tips for scientists to improve their presentation skills - The problem with scientific presentations (video)
    • Tips for scientists to improve their presentation skills - Problems with powerpoint (video)
  • European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL): How to give a good scientific talk (video)