The power of “Rhetoric”

Marine and Environmental Sciences Faculty Av. República Saharaui, s/n 11510-Puerto Real (Cádiz) Phone: +34 956 01 6875 Fax: +34 956 01 6078

E-mail: emma.reyes@uca.es

University of Cádiz EMMA REYES REYES

Contact:

OUTLINES

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. What is “Rhetoric”? 1-3

1.2. The power of “Rhetoric” 4-5

1.3. The use of “Rhetoric” for Stakeholders 5-12

2. BASICS FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS 12

2.1. Content: Information to be included 12-13

2.2. Format: Information design 14-17

3. GIVING AN ORAL PRESENTATION 17

3.1. 10 Simples Rules for making a good oral

presentation (Philip E. Bourne)

17-19

3.2. Good and Bad practices 19-20

4. POSTER PRESENTATIONS 20

4.1. How to design a poster? 21-23

4.2. How to present a poster? 23-25

5. AKNOWLEDGMENTS 25

6. REFERENCES 25

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. What is “Rhetoric”? First, ask your students this question: What is “Rhetoric”?

Probably, more than half of the answers will have negative connotations. People

who are deceived and lured by hype are sometimes described as having

"succumbed to the rhetoric." If politicians make promises they do not keep,

those promises are likely to be criticized as "empty campaign rhetoric."

While it is true that rhetoric can have negative connotations, that is, rhetorical

skills can be used to deceive or to sway people unethically these conceptions of

rhetoric are misleading and fail even to scratch the surface of what rhetoric is all

about.

During the 4th century B.C., Aristotle wrote the Rhetoric in which he defined

rhetoric as discovering all available means of persuasion on a topic.

Thus, for Aristotle, rhetoric has a clear persuasive function, but also an

epistemic function. It serves as a way to discover what is known and what

can be known about a subject. Every time we use language, in speech or in

writing, we engage in a rhetorical act. Another way of saying this would be to

say that all communication is rhetorical. In fact, a useful modern definition of

rhetoric is simply the intentional use of language to influence an

audience.

Aristotle and other classical rhetoricians, both Greek and Roman, worked to

codify rhetoric, to identify its parts and its functions. Much of our modern

understanding of rhetoric is derived from these classical sources. Part of this

classical heritage is our understanding of the 5 canons of rhetoric:

1

Table 1: The five Canons of Rhetoric

Invention=>

prewriting

The Latin term inventio means "invention" or

"discovery."

It is a process of systematically discovering arguments

about a given topic.

It is refered to this part of the writing process as

"prewriting."

Arrangement=>

organization

The classical rhetoricians refered to this canon as

dispositio, meaning "disposition" or "arrangement."

It is the process of arranging the parts of a discourse in

the order that will be most effective to achieve the rhetorical

goal or intention.

It is refered to this as "structure" or "organization."

Style=> design

Because of their focus on spoken delivery, classical

rhetoricians refered to style as elocutio.

Particular elements of style are: word choice (diction),

sentence and paragraph length and arrangement, use of

imagery and metaphor, etc.

Memory=>

mental skills,

notes or

PowerPoint

slides

This canon gets the least emphasis in modern rhetorical

studies. In Aristotle and Plato's day, each copy of a text had

to be created by hand, and paper was much harder to come

by. Plato, in fact, distrusted writing because he believed that

it became a crutch, allowing rhetors to depend on the written

text rather than on developing their mental skills.

Classical rhetoricians stressed memory, what they called

memoria and used several mnemonic devices to help them

remember the parts of an oration.

We tend to rely on notes or PowerPoint slides!

Delivery=>

manner of

speaking or

communicating

Classical rhetoricians focused mostly on oral presentation

when they talked about delivery and refered to it as

pronuntiatio.

Visual elements as part of the message we communicate

2

One useful way for us to think about rhetoric now is to understand that every

rhetorical act, every use of language, occurs within a rhetorical context,

which includes at least 4 elements:

The speaker or writer's goal. The effect you want to have on a specific audience.

The topic of the rhetorical discourse.

The specific person or group of people you are addressing. The method of delivery, newspaper, flyer, radio or television broadcast, poster, letter, speech, academic paper, etc.

A

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Figure 1: Factors in a Rhetorical Context (ASAM)

To be an effective speaker or writer, you must begin by analyzing the rhetorical

context of your discourse:

Why are you speaking or writing?

What is your message about?

To whom are you speaking or writing?

How will your message be delivered or received?

These factors exert significant impact on what you will say or write and how you

will say or write it.

Suppose, for example, that you want to quit a job you currently have and take a

new job. You might explain your reasons to your friends and/or your parents

quite differently than you would to your current boss. Maybe you would tell your

friends and parents that you just hate the job or that you are not paid enough.

You would probably express yourself quite differently to your boss if he/she

asked for your reasons, especially if you wanted a job reference for your next

employer! This is just one example of how factors in the rhetorical context work

together to influence what is written or said and how.

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1.2. The power of “Rhetoric”

Within the rhetorical context, we, as speakers and writers, make three types of

appeals to our audience:

Table 2: Three types of appeals to your audience.

Ethos =>

You as

speaker

or writer

Ethos is the Greek word from which we get our word "ethics."

It is all about your credibility, reliability, and authority as a

speaker or writer.

It is your reputation with your audience and the strategies you

use to convince your audience that you should be believed or taken

seriously.

It had a lot to do with a rhetor's status in the community, for

the Greeks. For Quintilian, being a "good man" was equally as

important as having the ability to "speak well."

It focuses on you as the speaker or writer.

Logos=>

Message

or Text

Logos sounds a lot like our word "logic”

It focuses on the text or the message that is being delivered,

the data, examples, statistics, facts, reasoning, etc. which are part

of your message.

We often refer to the logos portion of writing as "support

material"

Pathos=>

Audience

The root of the word,"path", actually means "feeling or

suffering."

It is all about appealing to feelings or emotions.

Thus, the focus of pathos is on the audience.

Aristotle believed that the most significant of the appeals was ethos, that

someone will be believed because of his/her reputation or charisma even if the

facts of the message are weak.

Aristotle believed that ideally, people would be persuaded by logos, but he

acknowledged that most people are more swayed by what we feel and care

about than by what we believe to be factual.

A skilled writer understands that all three appeals work together within a

specific rhetorical context and uses all of them to accomplish his rhetorical aim.

4

Figure 2: The Three Rhetorical Appeals

Now that we do so much of our reading and writing online, we are paying a lot

more attention to the fact that the visual elements of a text are equally as

important as the language of the text in communicating meaning.

These are the two tools that speakers and writers use to make the three

rhetorical appeals: Language and image.

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Ethos

Pathos Logos

The person who understands rhetoric and who perfects his or her rhetorical

skills is the person who is most likely to get what is needed or wanted. When

you study rhetoric, as you are in this class, you are perfecting skills that will

influence every area of your life and work. These both sections have been

compiled on the basis of the E-book “An Introduction to Rhetoric” available on

the web site www.letu.edu/people/annieolson/online/intro.html.

1.3. The use of “Rhetoric” for Stakeholders

Rachel Thompson, Experienced Project Manager

"Stakeholder management is critical to the success of every project in

every organization I have ever worked with. By engaging the right people

in the right way in your project, you can make a big difference to its

success... and to your career."

5

The European Commission defines ICZM as “a dynamic, multidisciplinary and

iterative process to promote sustainable management of coastal zones. It

covers the full cycle of information collection, planning (in its broadest

sense), decision making, management and monitoring of implementation”.

ICZM uses the

informed

participation and

cooperation of all

stakeholders

(person or

organization that

has a legitimate

interest in a project

or entity) to assess

the societal goals in

a given coastal

area, and to take

actions towards

meeting these

objectives (ENCORA

Coastal WIKI).

Figure 3: Different kind of Stakeholders

(source: www.csr2006.cadburyschweppes.com)

The following information has been compiled on the basis of “Stakeholder

Engagement: A Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in

Emerging Markets” – Appendix 3 - belonging to the International Finance

Corporation -World Bank Group- and available on the web

www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/p_StakeholderEngagement_F

ull/$FILE/IFC_StakeholderEngagement.pdf)

As you become more successful in your career, the actions you take and the

projects you run will affect more and more people. The more people you affect,

the more likely it is that your actions will impact people who have power and

influence over your projects. These people could be strong supporters of your

work or they could block it.

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There are two major elements to Stakeholder Management:

Stakeholder Analysis: it is the technique used to identify the key people

who have to be won over.

Stakeholder Planning: You then use this element to build the support that

helps you succeed, to work out their power, influence and interest, so you know

who you should focus on.

The benefits of using a stakeholder-based approach are that:

The opinions of the most powerful stakeholders

shape and improve the quality of your project.

Gaining support from powerful stakeholders can help you to win

more resources -> your projects will be successful.

The communication with stakeholders ensure that

they can support you actively when necessary.

You can anticipate what people's reaction to your project

may be, and build into your plan the actions that will win

people's support.

Figure 4: Scheme of the benefits of using stakeholder-base approach.

Probably, you have already learned or you are going to study Stakeholder

Analysis in other subject, it is not the aim of this case study. Once you have

identified who your stakeholders are, the next step is to work on their influence

and interest. We are going to focus on the “Stakeholder planning” element, to

plan how you will communicate with each stakeholder.

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Key principles for stakeholder’s engagement

Stakeholder engagement is about building and maintaining constructive

relationships over time. It is an ongoing process between a company and its

project stakeholders that extends throughout the life of the project and

encompasses a range of activities and approaches, from information sharing

and consultation, to participation, negotiation, and partnerships. The nature and

frequency of this engagement should reflect the level of project risks and

impacts.

The purpose of a Stakeholder Engagement Plan is to describe a company’s

strategy and program for engaging with stakeholders in a culturally appropriate

manner (whether it is for a single project or a range of company operations).

The goal is to ensure the timely provision of relevant and understandable

information. It is also to create a process that provides opportunities for

stakeholders to express their views and concerns, and allows the company to

consider and respond to them.

PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS

S

COMPANY

Partnerships

Stakeholder Engagement

Information sharing and consultation

Participation Negotiation

Figure 5: Scheme of the activities and approaches

of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

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9

STAKEHOLDERS COMPANY

Providing meaningful information in advance

Diemination information

Respect for local traditions Two way dialogue

Feed ackb

Reporting back

NO Intimidation NO coercion

Inclusiveness in representation

Clear mechanisms

Disseminating information

Key principles of effective engagement include:

1) Providing meaningful information in a format and language that is readily

understandable and tailored to the needs of the target stakeholder group(s).

2) Providing information in advance of consultation activities and decision-

making.

3) Disseminating information in ways and locations that make it easy for

stakeholders to access it.

4) Respect for local traditions, languages, timeframes, and decision-making

processes.

5) Two-way dialogue that gives both sides the opportunity to exchange views

and information, to listen, and to have their issues heard and addressed.

6) Inclusiveness in representation of views, including women, vulnerable

and/or minority groups.

7) Processes free of intimidation or coercion.

8) Clear mechanisms for responding to people’s concerns, suggestions, and

grievances.

9) Incorporating feedback (information assimilation) into project or program

design, and reporting back to stakeholders.

Figure 6: Scheme of the key principles of effective engagement

When developing stakeholder engagement strategies it is important to remember that no one size fits all.

Environmental Resources Management (ERM), recommends utilizing different approaches based on the scenario

(“Communication Strategies for Stakeholder Engagement” from Tanya Martin, Leah Anderson and Theodora

Overfelt which is available on the web site www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_08.htm).

The following table shows the stakeholder engagement strategies based on different scenarios, as well as their

goals, advantages and disadvantages to use them:

Table 3: Stakeholder Engagement strategies based on the scenario

APPROACH

GOALS ADVANTAGE DISADVENTAGE WHEN TO USE

ONE -ON– ONE

To talk to your stakeholders directly

Most intimate and two-way

Less danger of concern at voicing opinion

Relatively inefficient Singles out, may

legitimize some stakeholders

For highest priority

stakeholders When you have time

and resources Data collection

FOCUS GROUPS

Convened discussions with groups that have interests or characteristics in common

Stimulates interactive discussion among a small group

Places people in common

Requires expert facilitation

To solicit feedback from an important segment of community

OPEN HOUSES

Public comes to circulate freely among booths and experts

Allows for a flow of small group interactions

Stakeholders can seek information on what concerns/interests them most

Requires most logistical preparation

Less formal inseeking feedback

When communities expect a wealth of information plus time to interact individually with experts

In conjunction with Town Hall

10

11

TOWN HALLS

Like a political town hall with microphone

Can convey messages to large group at one time

Stakeholders can listen to and respond to a public exchange

Very public – you “have the floor”

Most vocal and strident stakeholders can dominate

Requires skilful facilitation

Very public – you're most exposed

At key milestones – later stages of an impact assessment, when a big announcement needs to be made

PANELS Public comes to hear panellists interact among themselves and to ask questions

Expert group, discussion more focused

Inevitably excludes stakeholders not on panel

Dependent on participation of panellists

Does not seek formal feedback

When technical information needs to be shared and there is some distrust on all information coming from The Company

COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARDS

Insert more formal description of this

Empowers communities with decision-making power

Requires expert facilitation to establish governance

Empowerscommunities with decision-making power

When project needsto give stakeholders decision-making ability to gain “social license to operate”

When there is a pooof representative and skilled members

l

There are many forms of stakeholder engagement. To be an effective speaker

or writer, you must begin by analyzing the rhetorical context of your discourse.

It means, you have to take into account the four factors in a Rhetorical Context

(section 1.1), it says, who is going to attend to the conference, the effect you

want to have on this specific audience, which is the subject of your conference,

and how are you going to present is.

In order to make your work better understood and be ready for participation,

basic communication skills should be developed as follow:

• Basics for oral presentations

o Information to be included

o Information design

• Giving an oral presentation

o 10 simples rules for making a good oral presentation

o Good and bad practices

• Poster presentation skills

o For the 7 seconds scientist walking by

o For the 30 seconds scientist walking by

o For the 2 minutes scientist fully stopping

o For the “I will read it later” scientist

2. BASICS FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS

2.1. Content: Information to be included

Making presentations to small or large groups is an essential task for planners

or managers (and really for any profession). Presentation skills are honed

through practice. Still, there are some “tricks of the trade” that enhance the

quality and effectiveness of presentations.

RESEARCH

Know your audience and relate your talk to it.

Know your time limits and stick to them.

Know your context (other speakers and what they are saying).

PREPARE

Each theme should be the subject of a small number of slides (a good

working assumption is that three slides for each theme is about right).

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Each slide should have clear heading. A question is often a good way of

winning attention, but, in that case, make sure you answer the question in

the body of the slide.

Clarify 3-5 key points: introduce them, discuss them, and conclude with

them.

All these key points should have a clear structure, which should be detailed

in the outlines as follow ( “Oral Presentation Advice” by Mark D. Hill, 1997,

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html and “How to make

a good presentation” by Roger Darlington, 2006

http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/Presentation.html ):

1.- Introduction (1 slide), the event and date, your name and position.

2.- Central proposition of your presentation.

3.- Forecast (1 slide): the gist problem “Abstract”

4.- Outline (1 slide): the talk structure

5.- Background

- Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2 Slides)

- Related Work (0-1 Slides)

- Method (1 slide)

6.- Results (4-6 slides)

7.- Summary (1 slide)

8.- Future Work (0-1 slides)

9.- Backup Slides (0-3 slides): to answer expected questions

10. - Set out your contact details: certainly e-mail address and possibly snail

mail address, the web site of your organisation, and any personal website or

weblog if you have one.

Before giving your oral presentation:

– E-mail your presentation to the event organisers in advance.

– Ask them to load it onto a laptop, run it through, check that it looks fine,

and confirm that with you.

– In addition, it enables the event's organisers to run off copies of your

slides, so that they are available to them in good time and they can take

notes simply by annotating the slides, instead of having to note down all the

information on the slides. For a large audience, people at the back may not

be able to see the screen clearly and would really appreciate having copies of

the slides.

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2.2. Format: Information design

The aim of this section is to learn how to use effectively audio-visual tools

(overheads, slides, Power-Point, handouts) to clarify your main points and to

help the audience visualize your message.

Here you can find in six points some advices from Davis Jones of the

Meteorological Service of Canada, modified from the original version by Victor

Chen (www.cmos.ca/effectivepresentations_DJones_files/frame.htm)

1.- Make it Big

Be sure to make your presentations easy to read!

The title should have the biggest font size (between 48pt. and 36pt. fonts for titles)

The rest of the text should be bigger than 18 font size (between 24pt. and 18pt. for text)

2.- Keep it simple

Without many colours and without many FONTS AND

Styles (it should be included fonts such as Arial, Helvetica,

Tahoma, Gill Sans MT, Calibri, Segoe UI, Lucida Grande, and Lucida

Sans for presentation, as they are modern, smooth, and of course,

easy to read.)

The 6 x 7 rule: Each slide should normally contain around 25-35

words, unless it is a quote (when you might use more) or contains

an illustration (when you will probably use less).

o Not more than 6 lines/slide

o Not more than 7 words/slide: Don’t just have text! Nothing is

more boring than a text only presentation. Too many words

and your audience will have trouble reading the material

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3.- Make it clear

Serif and Italics fonts are difficult to read on screen

Sanserif, normal or bold fonts are clearer

Underlines may signify hyperlinks

Use colours to emphasize

ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE READING THIS ALL-CAPITAL SENTENCE?

Mixed case is much easier to read

Use numners for lists with sequence. For example: How to put an

elephant into a fridge?

1. Open the door of the fridge

2. Put the elephant in

3. Close the door

Use bullets to show a list without

o Priority

o Sequence

o Hierarchy

Each bullet point should consist of an intelligible phrase, rather than

merely a word or two that is meaningless on its own or conversely a

complete sentence that is better delivered orally. Consider this test:

your slides should make sense and be useful to someone who was

not present at your presentation.

Increase the contrast

o Are you having trouble reading this?-

o This is dark on light

o This is light on dark

o There colours do not complement

o There colours complement

Graphs and images: Make appropriate use of pictures. It is a good

idea to break up text with illustrations and it is true that a picture is

worth a thousand words.

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o Size matters: not so small neither so big

o Size implies importance: give to the graph enough importance

o Focal points direct attention: locate the graph in the middle of

the slide

4.- Be progressive

Use different types of instructional Tools like the animations (appear and

disappear options) to make it progressive and focused

5.- Be consistent

Differences draw attention

☺ Differences may imply importance

o Use surprises to attract, not distract

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6.- And finally

Communication the key

Text support communication

Pictures simplify complex concepts

Animations for complex relationships

Visuals support, not distract

Sounds only if necessary

3. GIVING AN ORAL PRESENTATION

Once you have included the information with the appropriate format, your

presentation is ready to be put forward. For giving a good oral presentation,

follow 10 simple rules given by Philip E. Bourne

(www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077 )

3.1. 10 Simple Rules for making a good oral presentation (Philip E.

Bourne)

An excellent oral presentation does not require a brilliant orator - you can do it.

Winston Churchill is commonly regarded as one of the greatest speakers in the

English language, yet he regretted the lack of practice in public speaking that he

would have gained had he gone to university and he suffered from a slight lisp

and a stammer. The key is preparation.

I.Talk to the audience

Take eye contact with the audience when you present.

Regularly sweep your eyes left-centre-right and back and front-middle-rear

and back, so that you engage all members of your audience.

Be sure you know who your audience is and what are their backgrounds and

knowledge level of the material you are going to present.

Deliver what the audience wants to hear.

II.Less is more

Do not try to say much. The British aristocrat Lord Brabazon once said: "If

you cannot say what you have to say in twenty minutes, you should go away

and write a book about it".

You do not have to prove to the audience that you know a lot.

Be clear and concise for a better expression of your knowledge.

Let time for the question-answer session when the audience becomes active

participants.

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III.Only talk when you have something to say

Remember the audience’s time is precious and should not be abused by

presentation of uninteresting preliminary material.

Tell your audience things they did not know: research some salient, accurate

and up-date facts and figures.

And/or give them insights they did not have: look at the subject differently.

IV.Make the Take-Home message persistent

Make the audience able to remember the key point you were trying to get

across with the correct emphasis.

V.Be logical

The presentation has a logical flow, like a story; a clear beginning, middle

and a big finish.

VI.Treat the floor as a Stage

Presentations should be entertaining, but do not try to be humorous if you

are not. Try to tell anecdotes and captivate the audience.

VII.Practice and time your presentation

This is particularly important for inexperienced presenters. The more

presentations you give, the better you are going to get. Laboratory group

meetings are fine forum for training a talk.

So make sure that the title of your speech is catchy and then people will be

looking forward to it even before the event.

You should have been thinking of themes and points, noting down ideas and

sources, crafting phrases and sentences.

You should have finalised the notes or text or slides at least the day before,

so that you can concentrate on reading through the material.

VIII.Use visuals sparingly but effectively

Prepare good visual materials, such as graphs and charts, to captivate the

audience with them.

If you have more that one visual for each minute you are talking, you have

too many and you will run over time. The visual should support what you are

saying either for emphasis or with data to prove the verbal point.

IX.Review audio and/or video of your presentations

There is nothing more effective than listening to, or listening to and viewing,

a presentation you have made. Seeing what is wrong is easy, correcting it the

next time around is not.

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X.Provide appropriate acknowledgments

People love to be acknowledged for their contributions. It is often

appropriate to acknowledge people at the beginning or at the point of their

contribution so that their contributions are very clear.

Good indicators:

The metric of depth and intensity of questions

The off-line follow-up

3.2. Good and Bad practices

In the following table, you can learn what to do and what not to do during your

oral presentation compiled on basis of my own experience :

DO IT! DO NOT DO IT!

Before your oral presentation

Expectation shapes reality Never admit to feeling

anxious, unsure or unwell.

Do not make a rambling

opening

If you feel nervous…

Pause for a couple of

seconds and breathe.

Do not extend your pause

and do not leave the

people waiting for you for

half an hour.

Without microphone

Speak sufficiently loudly

Move around a little

Do not speak to yourself

Do not stay in the place

With microphone

Speak at normal volume.

Speak a little more

slowly.

Do not shout in front of

everyone.

Do not move around.

Attracting the attention

Make a dramatic opening

with the very first words

Do not ask a question that

invites a cynical answer

from your audience

In the middle of the presentation

Occasionally alter the

speed, volume and tone

of your delivery.

Be convincing, dynamic,

enthusiastic (ask

Do not add many dramatic

effects.

Do not give a monotonous

speech.

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question, provide

answers)

Get moving Use a laser or stick

(keeps one hand busy)

Do not put hands into

pockets.

Never turn your back to the

audience.

Speaking Articulate, speak clear

and loud.

Give intonation into voice.

Do not speak unclear.

Do not be monotonous in

the intonation.

Behaviour Be self confident but also

humble.

Be ready and open to

critics, comments and

sometimes,…compliments

Never be arrogant.

Do not get angry because

of the critics and

comments.

Timing Respect time constraints

imposed.

Do not spend your time

with uninteresting material.

Questions Transform questions for

which you do not know

the answer into positive

constructive comments

for future investigation.

Do not answer a question

for which you do not know

the answer.

Be honest.

Finally Let time for the questions Do not breathe a sigh

4. POSTER PRESENTATIONS

This section has been compiled on basis of the information posted on the web

site by Kathryn W. Tosney about “ How to design a poster“ available on

http://www.bio.miami.edu/ktosney/file/Good8X10.pdf and the E-book “Ten

Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation” by Thomas C Erren* and Philip E

Bourne available also on the web

http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/events/BioInfoSummer07/talks/Poster.pdf.

Posters are a key component of communicating your science and an important

element in a successful scientific career. Posters, while delivering the same

high-quality science, offer a different medium from either oral presentations or

published papers, and should be treated accordingly.

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Posters should be considered a snapshot of your work intended to engage

colleagues in a dialog about the work, or, if you are not present, to be a

summary that will encourage the reader to want to learn more. Many a lifelong

collaboration has begun in front of a poster board. Here are eleven simple

advices for designing and presenting an effective poster.

4.1. How to design a poster?

An effective poster is simple FOCUSED

SIMPLE

GRAPHIC

ORDERED

– It focused on a single message

– It avoids saturating the viewer with text

– It does not tell, it shows: graphics dominate.

– It uses a visual hierarchy for emphasis.

Below there are some advices how to reach these objectives:

Table 4: Advices for Poster design

Design for 3

audiences

Your competitors need no effort to attract.

Workers in your general area need context and

accessibility.

Workers outside your general area also need the

problem explained.

Organize it easy Lay out in column format

Indicate the

sequence

Use numbers, letters, and a logical sequence.

Order the panels visually, in units and columns.

Avoid asymmetries, which distract the eye.

Use a visual

hierarchy

It something is important, make it BIG.

Title is biggest, headings next, then explanations.

Vital information

big type

Put the take-home messages in big headings.

Use headings to identify results explicitly and to state

the message.

Make graphics

dominate

Use figures and graphs to make evidence obvious.

One carefully produced chart or graph often says more

than hundreds of words

Emphasize material visually.

Use graphics, figures, and cartoons; avoid

unornamented tables.

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Use colour to emphasize and to link words with images.

Write explanations on the figures.

Organize

visually

Maximize order and emphasize with colour.

Keep panels similar in shape, confirmation and

orientation.

Group elements together to form conceptual units.

Use

readable text

Think of text as just another visual aid.

Keep text brief, compact and single-spaced.

Title/major headings readable at 6 feet, the rest at 3.

Avoid using all capitals or right-adjusted text.

Discard

details

Edit ruthlessly.

Omit all you can; simplify verbiage; dump details.

Details detract.

Simple messages are the most memorable.

Make strong

conclusions

Step beyond merely stating results

Differentiate among data, summaries and conclusions.

Commit yourself: state interpretations and conclusions.

Make the strongest statement your data will support.

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TITLE (the biggest)

Figure 7: Example of poster design.

4.2. How to present a poster?

Then the considerable effort of making a poster is done, do not blow it on

presentation day by failing to have the poster achieve maximum impact. This

requires the right presenter–audience interaction.

Work to get a crowd by being engaging; one engaged viewer will attract

others.

Do not badger people, let them read.

Work all the audience at once, do not leave visitors waiting for your

attention.

Make eye contact with every visitor.

Make it easy for a conference attendee to contact you afterward.

Have copies of relevant papers on hand as well as copies of the poster on

standard-sized paper.

Title makes a strong statement

Work place, institution’s logo and web site Authors

email@address.com

Context (big) Explanations (medium)

Something important (big)

Fig X: Small Explanations (medium)

1.Take-home

2. Result

3. Result

4.Result

5.Result

6.Summary

Conclusions

We Acknowledge

Summary states results

Identify the result explicitly

Conclusions interpret results

Take-home messages in big headings

Headings state the message

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As the host of the work presented on the poster, be attentive, open, and

curious, and self-confident but never arrogant and aggressive.

Leave the visitors space and time, they can “travel” through your poster at

their own discretion and pace.

If a visitor asks a question, talk simply and openly about the work. Start

with context: the problem, its importance, your solution.

This is likely your opportunity to get feedback on the work before it goes to

publication.

Focus on the evidence: the graphics.

Do not read the poster: use it as visual aid, pointing to figures.

Good posters and their presentations can improve your reputation, both within

and outside your working group and institution, and may also contribute to a

certain scientific freedom.

Below some scenarios for poster presentations have been compiled:

Table 5: Poster presentation based on the scenario

have an informative title: The title should make them

want to come and visit. The title might pose a decisive

question, define the scope of the study, or hint at a new

finding.

For the 7 second

Scientist walking

by

have one central picture or sketch illustrative of your

work

put the conclusions at the top For the 30

use few words seconds

do not produce dense posters Scientist walking

use simple graphics by

use large fonts

organize the information in a logical way

use narrow columns (for speed reading)

prepare a 30 seconds talk with guidance and

highlights

For the 2

minutes

include some technical details on methods Scientist fully

include most important results stopping

include references

let the person go

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print small versions of your poster For the “I will

put prints of associated papers read it later”

Scientist

5. AKNOWLEDGMENTS

This case study has been prepared using the notes from the lecture by

Veronique Garçon and Baris Salihoglu from LEGOS-CNRS, France, during 2006

Euro-Oceans summer school, modified from the original version by Corinne Le

Quéré and Eric Saltzman, during 2005 SOLAS summer school.

I wish to thank all those who have posted valuable information on the web and

who make science accessible by teachers, students, and anybody.

6. REFERENCES

Bourne P.E., (2007). “Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations”.

PLoS comput Biol 3(4):e77.doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077

ENCORA Coastal and Marine WIKI. Available:

http://www.encora.eu/coastalwiki/Stakeholder_analysis

Hill M.D. (1992). “Oral Presentation Advice”. Computer Sciences Department.

University of Wisconsin-Madison. Revised January 1997. Available:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html

International Finance Corporation (2007). “Stakeholder Engagement: A

Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in Emerging Markets”.

(World Bank Group). Available:

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/p_StakeholderEngagem

ent_Full/$FILE/IFC_StakeholderEngagement.pdf

Jones D. “Principles of presentation for PowerPoint” modified from the original

by Victor Chen. Meteorological Service of Canada. Available:

http://www.cmos.ca/effectivepresentations_DJones.pdf

Martin T., Anderson L. and Overfelt T. (2007) “Communication Strategies

for Stakeholder Engagement”, Environmental Resources Management (ERM),

15810 Park Ten Place, Suite 300, Houston, TX 77084 . Available:

http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/s07/preliminaryprogram/abstract_80801.htm

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