Melissa Haendel's presentation focuses on creating effective scientific presentations, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and utilizing slides as prompts rather than relying on them for content. Key tips include minimal text, high-contrast color schemes, careful use of visuals, and engaging with the audience rather than reading slides. Haendel encourages presenters to practice thoroughly and remain adaptable during their talks.

1. Creating presentations that
don’t suck
Melissa Haendel
PMCB Retreat
09-20-13
Is this a good color scheme?

2. Hello!
Melissa Haendel
• Assistant Professor, DMICE and OHSU Library
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BA, Chemistry, Reed College
PhD, Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin
I build informatics tools for biologists
I like to garden and pick wild mushrooms

3. Hello!
Melissa Haendel
• Assistant Professor, DMICE and OHSU Library
•
•
•
•
BA, Chemistry, Reed College
PhD, Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin
I build informatics tools for biologists
I like to garden and pick wild mushrooms
Irrelevant information! Introduce yourself as is
relevant to the presentation

4. Start your presentations with:
What is the premise of your story?
The problem space you are trying to address?
The crux of your biscuit?
Telling a good scientific story is important
to be a successful scientist

5. Your slides don’t tell a story
You do.
Use your slides as prompts for your story, don’t
rely on them to do the job.

6. Key considerations:
Text
Color
Graphics
Pace
Attribution

7. keep your text
to a minimum

8. Chilean Fruit Exports
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Fresh fruit leads Chile's export mix - Chile emerges as major supplier of fresh fruit to world
market due to ample natural resources, consumer demand for fresh fruit during winter
season in U.S. and Europe, and incentives in agricultural policies of Chilean government,
encouraging trend toward diversification of exports and development of nontraditional crops
- U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Report
Chile is among the developing economies taking advantage of these trends, pursuing a free
market economy. This has allowed for diversification through the expansion of fruit
production for export, especially to the U.S. and Western Europe. Chile has successfully
diversified its agricultural sector to the extent that it is now a major fruit exporting nation.
Many countries view Chile's diversification of agriculture as a model to be followed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. remains the largest single market for Chile's fruit exports. However,
increasing demand from the EC and Central and East European countries combined may
eventually surpass exports to the U.S., spurring further growth in Chile's exports.
If you’ve read this far, your eyes probably hurt and you’ve been reading this tedious longwinded text instead of listening to me. I’m insulted- can’t you see I’m doing a presentation up
here? Look at me! Congratulations, however, on having such good eyesight.
No one will read this , and neither will you.
In fact, you wont’ remember what it says.

9. Slide text should only be enough to
help you remember your story
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Don’t use large blocks of text
Emphasize the main points
The “Six-by-Six” rule
Use pictures
Use a large font…at least 30-point or more
for most text

10. Lists and Bullets
• Don’t use bullet points for a single bullet
– Don’t complicate bullets with many indentations
This can confuse your audience
 Don’t mix bullet styles throughout the talk

11. ABOUT THEMES AND LAYOUTS
 Just because Powerpoint/Keynote has neato
themes doesn’t mean you should use them
 You can create your own background
 Not all slides have to be the same
 Fill the space, but don’t crowd the space
 Use white background when images have white
background

12. Querying across anatomical granularity

13. Querying across anatomical granularity

14. Use
CONTRAST

15. Dark
Background
Light
Background

16. High
Contrast
low
Contrast

17. Don’t do this!
• My personal favorite:
the Suzuki Savage
• Light weight (~380lbs)
• Adequate power (650cc
engine)
• Low seat height fits
most riders

18. Bad Color Choices
 Avoid loud, garish colors…dark text on light
background or vice versa is best.
 Avoid text colors that fade into background,
i.e. blue and black
 Avoid color-blind combinations:
– Red and green
– Blue and yellow

19. Photo: Andrew Bain

20. Image
Is
Everything

23. Everything you need to say is in the picture – little text is needed

24. We want to understand gene
function across taxa
Vertebrata
tetrapod limbs
Ascidians
ampullae
Echinodermata
tube feet
Arthropoda
Annelida
parapodia
Mollusca
Sticky-outy bits express distalless – deep homology?
CJ Mungall, C Torniai, GV Gkoutos, SE Lewis, MA Haendel. Genome biology 13 (1), R5

25. Overwhelming Pictures
 Use pictures, but don’t let them use you
 Keep slides SIMPLE! Too much diverts
audience away from content
 Too many pictures make saving difficult

26. Figure evolution 1

27. Figure evolution 2

28. Final Figure

29. Resolution
Matters

30. 72 dpi…

31. 300 dpi…

32. Graphs &
Charts

33. Bad VISUALIZATION

36. Animation
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transi_10.png

37. Racquetball Fundamentals
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2, 3, or 4 players.
1 player serves, other “returns.”
Only serving player can score.
Served ball must land past serving line and
cannot hit back wall.
• Ball can only bounce once before striking front
wall…but ball does not have to bounce.

38. Using too much Slide Animation
 Again, keep slides simple!
 Apply one Slide Transition style and one
animation scheme to ALL slides
 Busy presentations divert audience attention
from content.

39. Murphy’s Law
 Something WILL go wrong - test your
presentation
 Always have a backup of your presentation
 Be prepared to do the presentation without
the slides

40. Presentation tips
 Talk to your audience, not the slides
 Don’t read what is on the slides…
 Avoid apologizing for a presentation
shortcomings
 Know how to pronounce words in your talk
 Check spelling
 Don’t put things in slides you aren’t going to
talk about and then say you don’t have time
to talk about them

41. Presentation Pacing
 Don’t make too many slides
 Avoid the slide rush at the end of your talk
 Each slide takes 1-3 minutes average
 A 10 minute talk should have about 6 slides
 Look at your audience and adjust pace
 Leave time for Q & A

42. Attribution
 Where your images/quotes came from
 The people/animals you care about
http://commons.wikimedia.org/

43. Ontologies built for one species will
not work for others
http://ccm.ucdavis.edu/bcancercd/22/mouse_figure.html
Free image sites: mediawikicommons
http://fme.biostr.washington.edu:8080/FME/index.html

44. Sharing your slides
 Slideshare for sharing – Can reference in CV
 Attribute slides reused from Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/

45. Be a good audience too
 Are you annoyed when your audience
is chatting? Texting?
 Ask questions
 Make eye contact
Giving a talk is a two-way conversation

46. Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
Don’t practice
until you get it
right...
Practice until
you can’t get it
wrong.
- Your mother

47. Feeling the love?
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2008/07/05/mating-boxelder-bugs/
Thanks to Jackie Wirz and Nicole Vasilvesky