Tips for a good “Journal club” presentation

1. Tips for a good “Journal club” presentation • If the room will be dark, consider a dark blue background with pale pastel text. • Pale yellow and blue work well. White does not project well • If the room will be bright, a pale background with dark text works well • Overall, be careful with color. Use no more than 2 colors/slide for text and not many more for graphics. • Red should be reserved for creating emphasis as the eye is immediately drawn to red in a slide. • Always strive for large differences in contrast between text and background, otherwise the slide will be difficult to read • The “golden rule” is 5 lines with 5 words/line for text slides • Large blocks of text are to be avoided

2. This color is not bad for the title • But • As • You • Get • Farther • Down • The page • It is not so great

3. Bad example • I saw a seminar a few weeks ago by a very famous scientist from UCSF • It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme • I saw a seminar a few weeks ago by a very famous scientist from UCSF • It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme

4. Fonts and Backgrounds are important • Simple black and white is very good for journal club presentations • Other contrasty combinations work well too • White on black is sometimes is too contrasty and does not always project well • Pale pastels on a dark background project very nicely • Yellowandblue work well, white does not • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times • Fonts make a big difference in clarity - Courier

5. Selecting fonts • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times • Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Courier • Red text is to be avoided except for emphasis as it draws the eye • Fluorescent colors are also to be avoided as they distract the audience • Bold text does not project well when blown up as in a large meeting hall • Bold white text is a complete disaster • Particularly with serif fonts like Times

6. Use animations with extreme care • Simple appears are ok • As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another • As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another • As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another • Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience • Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience • Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience • Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience • You get the idea, right?

7. Titles should be 28 to 32 point fonts • Text should be either 24 point • Or 20 point • Or rarely 18 point but • Not smaller • Do not make images too small

8. For more information • An excellent Powerpoint tutorial can be found here http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/workshops/biomed/ppt/index.html • Every person who has the need to convey information graphically, particularly quantitative information, needs to read “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward R. Tufte