Submissions from all currently registered University of Waterloo graduate students are welcome. If you feel your research does not "fit" within any of the current theme areas, select "Other" on the Abstract Submission Form and the Program Committee will determine appropriate placement.
- Oral Presentation:
A total time of 20 minutes is allowed for each presentation, specifically 15 minutes for the presentation content and 5 minues for the question period.
- Poster Presentation :
A poster presentation is a graphically oriented summary of your research project.
Please note the manditory "World Relevance/Commercial Value/Human Value" field on the on-line form. This information will be published in the conference program along with your abstract.
Oral Presentation Guidelines:
- Your title should be appropriate for a general academic audience ; make it interesting and informative.
- Talks are scheduled at 20 minute intervals allowing for a 15 minute talk and a 5 minute question period. Rehearse your talk to ensure that it lasts no longer than 15 minutes.
- Multimedia, slide projectors, and overhead projectors and laser pointers are available upon request.
- The audience for your talk will be "general university". Few of the attendees may be familiar with the subject matter you are presenting. Ensure that your presentation is understandable.
- Presentations in the "judged" category will be judged by Faculty members only. Judging forms will be distributed to audience participants in all non-judged oral presentation sessions.. Judging will be based on delivery and design and content criteria, e.g., eye contact with your audience, movement and exposure, expression and articulation, the pace of your talk, clarity of your presenation, organization, audience analysis, summation and expressed research potential/world relevance.
(See photos from the previously conference to view poster samples)
Your poster must be put up and be on display in the Davis Centre Foyer
by 9:00 a.m. on April 3rd, and remain on display until the morning of April
6th when it must be removed by the presenter. Security is arranged to
safeguard posters during the conference off-hours.
A poster presentation is a graphically oriented summary of your research project. It consists of a collection of frames, pinned directly to a 1.2 m x 1.0 m ( 47" x 39") tack board, mounted at eye-level on one side of a large poster board. A poster is considered successful if it conveys a clear message to the viewers. The poster should provide clear information on objectives, the approach, the main results and the major conclusions of the research. Viewers should be able to grasp the message in a short time, e.g., less than one minute.
Judged presentations will be judged by Faculty members recruited to judge presentations. Judging will be based on setup and visual appeal, clarity of your introduction, organizational flow, conclusion statements, audience anlaysis, and convincing proof of research potential and world relevance.
Suggested Format
(Note: formats used at prior conferences are acceptable.)
- Title : Include a banner frame clearly stating the title of the poster.
- Abstract : Display your abstract on one frame, accompanied by your name, and department on one frame.
- Introduction : Specify the objective of your study, provide an overview of what you have done, and point out the significance and value of the research. Be succinct in this one-frame element.
- Method : Use at least one frame to present the methodology.
- Results : Indicate what your research has revealed.
- Conclusion : Include, in one frame, an explanation of the ways the results satisfy the research objective.
Suggested Layout and Design
- Your title should be appropriate for a general academic audience ; make it interesting and informative.
- The poster presentation should be self-contained and complete without additional oral explanation.
- Each frame of the poster presentation should contain a text block, a graphic, or a combination of the two elements.
- The poster presentation should clearly indicate the order for viewing.
- Text size should be at least 18 -24 points and be legible from 1.5 to 2 meters away. The title should be legible from 5 to 10 meters.
- Limit the number of colours used to avoid busyness and distractions
- Textual explanations should be kept to a minimum. Be creative in the graphical and pictorial representation of your research. At least 50% of the poster presentation should be figures (i.e., charts, graphs, illustrations). Try using a variety of figure types. Limit your use of tables.
- Limit poster presentations to 12 frames.
- Provide clear captions for all figures. The figures should be in pleasing visual proportion to the font size used for captions.
- Use colour to add impact and visual appeal.
Frequent Mistakes
Too many posters do not succeed in getting their message across. Here are some of the main errors presenters make:
- Too much text
- Unclear structure - make sure your objectives, approach, conclusions or perspectives are clear.
- Inappropriate structure - make sure to apply the standard structure of a written report i.e., title, abstract, introduction, experimental method, results, discussion, conclusion.
- Poor figures - make graphics/charts reader friendly
- Information overload - too much information.
( Note: See the IST - SAW website for information on "Posters With Powerpoint" courses offered by IST in conjunction with the TRACE Office.
Mandatory sessions are scheduled for students who are presenting an oral presentation to fulfill a seminar degree requirement. Students who want their presentations judged and eligible for prizes, must present their research a second time in the "judged" sessions.
A summary of mandatory submissions is provided to departments to determine order of presentations and accommodate department judging. Presenters in this category must submit their abstract through the Conference Abstract Website and follow the prescribed format for conference abstract submissions. These sessions will appear in a section entitled Mandatory Submissions in the conference program.
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