MASSACHUSETTS STATEWIDE UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE
MAY 2, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
PRESENTATION GUIDELINES
Oral Presentations
Oral presentations will be conducted in a panel-discussion format. A panel of
three oral presenters with similar topics/disciplines will form a round-table
discussion group.
o Oral presenters will have 10 minutes for their presentation.
o At the end of the panel presentations, an additional 15 minutes will be allotted for a question-and-answer period involving the entire panel.
Please check the conference website (http://webapp.comcol.umass.edu/msc/) to confirm whether you have been allocated any special equipment.
Information on effective oral presentations is available from: http://www.ot.kumc.edu/jradel/effective.html
Poster Presentations
Poster presentations are displays on poster boards. The poster is usually a
mixture of a brief narrative paper, intermixed with tables, graphs, pictures,
and other presentation formats. Although one can present figures and tables,
papers that do not have these can also be usefully presented as posters. By
writing concisely and with a few areas of focus, the presentation can
communicate your research and help synthesize your main ideas and research
directions.
o Each presenter will be assigned a poster board at the conference. These boards are 4’ X 8’ foam core mounted on lightweight aluminum pedestals. Pushpins/thumbtacks to attach the poster components to the foam core will be provided at each board on the day of conference.
o Each poster presentation will last two hours. During the first hour, presenters stand by their poster display while others can come and view the presentation and interact with the presenter. In the second hour, presenters may move around the room to view other students’ poster presentations
o Mounting of the display must be accomplished during the first 15 minutes of your scheduled presentation and taken down during the last 10 minutes of your assigned time.
o Materials must be easily read at a distance of four feet. Each poster should include the title of the presentation (104-point size), the author(s) and affiliation(s) (72-point size). A point size of 16-18 or larger is recommended for body text.
o You may request a display table to place materials such as handouts or a sign-up sheet to record the names and address of attendees who might wish to receive more information, reprints, etc.
o If your poster session includes electrical equipment, you will need to provide your own source of power, e.g., battery. No electrical support is available in the poster session area.
The Undergraduate Conference organizers reserve
the right to cancel a presenter’s poster session if the above requirements are
not met.
Information on effective poster presentations is available from: