Speaker Information

Hints for making good slides

• Use contrasting colors for your text and background. Black/dark blue with white or yellow (or other lightly colored) text is recommended. If you decide go with a more entertaining background make sure you preview your slides in the same way that the audience will see them.  Immunofluorescent or snapshots of live movies look best on black backgrounds.  The colors stand out much better in a dark or half lit room
• Limit the slide to one (1) main idea.
• Standardize the slides throughout -- font sizes, font face, colors (eg., mutant data in yellow bars, wild type in white bars consistently throughout different graphs).
• Use bold face characters, sans serif (ex Arial, Helvetica, Gill Sans).
• Testing materials for legibility:  To be sure your material will be legible, look at the slide at arms length. If you can still read the slide, so can the people at the back of the room.
• Limit the slide to as few words as possible:  Maximum of 15 to 25 words, 6 to 7 lines of copy and leave space between each line equal to two lines of copy.
• Always use duplicates in your presentation if you need to refer to the same slide more than once.
• Use the whole slide, but leave some blank space.

BAD  BAD    BEST

Giving a Scientific Talk
Courtesy of Dr. Gilbert Chu, Stanford University School of Medicine

1. Don't talk without rehearsing. (Even Seinfeld rehearses, and he has nothing to say.)
2. Don't say too much. (The human brain sleeps when overwhelmed.)
3. Don't wiggle the laser pointer. (Inducing nausea is not good.)
4. Don't mumble with your back to the audience.
5. Don't show slides with a font smaller than 24 pt.
6. Don't show more than 1 slide per minute.
7. Don't use abbreviations without defining them. (This is not the government.)
8. Don't show data without the punchline on top. (It took centuries to decipher the Rosetta stone.  Your audience has 1 minute.)
9. Don't use invisible color combinations.

Home

CONFERENCE DEADLINES:

Abstract Submission: Monday, May 5, 2008 (for orals) and Friday, May 23, 2008 (for posters)Platform and poster notification assignments will be posted at the Meeting website on or around, Monday, May 19, 2008

Lodging Reservations (via registration site): Monday, May 26, 2008

Payments: All charges must be paid in full after Monday, May 26, 2008

Wisconsin Union - Conference Services
CE Neuro - 2008 Conference
800 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-265-8012
Fax: 608-265-8299
E-mail: ceneuro@union.wisc.edu

The University of Wisconsin Tax Identification Number is: 39-1805963
Please make checks/PO payable to: Wisconsin Union CE Neuro 2008