intro: giving research talks in engineering

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Perhaps the best advice for talks is that offered by Jean-luc Doumont: "maximize the signal-to-noise ratio." For an overview of ways to boost the signal of your talk and to edit out noise, please see my handout on delivering research talks.

For more specific advice, please see the links at right or click on the tabs above. As you consider this advice, keep in mind that such advice is are inherently global, but you're designing a talk, slide deck, or poster in a local environment (for a particular conference, about a particular research question, etc.). For best results, follow local conventions (e.g., the conference specifications for poster size and contents) and consult people with local knowledge.

Sharon Ahlers
Lecturer, Engineering Communications Program
sa258@cornell.edu

giving talks with slides

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For guides to giving talks and designing slides, see Prof. Michael Alley's Rethinking the design of presentation slides and Dr. Colin Purrington's Giving science talks. Both guides include downloadable templates.

For examples of effective presentation structure, speech, and delivery, see the videos & video analysis at Penn State's Effective Presentations in Engineering and Science: Guidelines and Video Examples .

For an overview of bad and good color contrasts in PowerPoint, see my Designing slides for the projector screen.

giving talks with posters

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For guides to designing and presenting posters, see Michael Alley's Design of Scientific Posters and Colin Purrington's Advice on designing scientific posters. Both of these guides include downloadable templates.