Paper presentation at ARVO

[Merlin0082]

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Hey guys,

I'm an M4 presenting a paper presentation at ARVO this year. I've looked at previous posts on how do to a presentation, and the only tip I keep getting is to be super prepared.

But this is my first non-poster presentation, so would love to get some info on how exactly to structure my powerpoint and talk. Thanks a lot!

 

[RestoreSight]

Congrats. I did a paper presentation at ARVO as an M-4. It was super intense, but the most important thing is to be well prepared. You want you powerpoint to be interactive and you want to avoid speaking directly from the slides. They typically give you 8-10 min for the presentation followed by 2-5 min for questions. Be careful with how you answer questions. The claws can come out on controversial topics. Be sure to run everything by your mentors several times and let the entire research team see your presentation so everyone is on board. It can be a lot of fun to present a paper instead of a poster but its much more intense overall. Good job

 

[Corn Dog]

Congrats! Yeah, practice makes perfect. Try to practice in front of as many people as possible and also practice answering questions on the spot. Know your research backwards and forwards, and you will do great.

It can be a bit intimidating, but from my experience, the people who ask questions are genuinely interested in your research and are not malignant. If they offer advice or a different perspective, just remember not to get defensive. Accept them gratefully. They are usually sound and could help you to become a better researcher. My two cents.

 

[Lazyeye9]

I would be very well prepared, but I would not stress-out about "the claws coming out." I have seen people go at it several times at ARVO, but I have never witnessed someone going after a medical school student. Most of the time, if something is not clear they will give you helpful suggestions, and probably talk to you more about it afterwards. Also, if you do not know, it is fine to say, I do not know. I always find shorter presentations being harder to give than longer ones. When you have so little time you have to make sure that you are concise and clear. Having a summary slide that you can use during your presentation is always helpful and can allow the audience to better follow your talk and your thought process. I always start off with 1-2 slides stating the clinical relevance of what you are looking at and what the final goal of your research would be. I then place a summary slide that has my hypothesis and a couple of specific aims on how I will go about researching my hypothesis. As I transition from one specific aim to the other, I always have the summary slide come up to review the experimental question, what I have discussed and what I will discuss. At the end of my presentation, I have the summary slide come up one more time and review the results one more time. And then I have my conclusion slide, followed by acknowledgements. Good luck with the talk, I am sure you will do great!!!