Content description

Have you ever attended a presentation where the presenter had to explain every single detail to ensure that everyone follows or understands the diagrams? If so, you might also remember how much of your attention was required to grasp the graphics of the presentation yourself. And as the speaker, who was very familiar with the topic, not only explained the graphics but also scientific facts and the context of his/her research, it became increasingly difficult for you to follow along. From your perspective – the audience – which does not have the complete background and experience with the presented data, it is difficult to understand when graphics and visualizations are not used to enhance and simplify understanding but are cluttered with lines, points, colors, and text. While presenting all information in diagrams can be useful in certain situations, presenting research results on posters or presentations is often easier to understand when only the most important information is displayed in the simplest way possible, allowing the audience to intuitively follow and understand them.

Presenting information graphically in an easily readable and understandable manner allows the audience to focus on the content or the speaker’s speech, making it much easier to understand their presentation. This workshop will introduce concepts and techniques for improving graphics, using the best presentation practices, and explaining in detail which type of representation best enables your audience to intuitively understand your message. This not only helps the audience to better connect with you (the presenter) and your research but also saves you time and effort in having to explain every detail of your visualizations. It’s about directing the attention of your audience through the intelligent use of shapes, colors, labels, and the right graphics. Bar charts are not always the best way to represent differences. However, are pie charts the best way to represent proportions? What other charts can you use in which situation?

Course content

• What types of graphics/charts exist and which ones are particularly suitable for different situations/contexts?
• How do I effectively use shapes, colors, size, labels, and how do I „streamline“ my graphics?
• How does our brain process (graphic) information, and how can we leverage this evolutionarily developed way to design effective graphics?
• Ways to optimize graphics to tell scientific stories that make our presentations, posters, or presentations even more exciting.
• Possible workflows to apply these techniques in Microsoft Excel.

Learning objectives

Dates

25.04.2024 (9:00 am – 2:30 pm)

Please note that we can only give certificates for attending at least 80% of the course.

Overview

Registration

The course can be visited for free. To ensure that others can move up from the waiting list, we would like to ask for your timely deregistration (1 week before the start of the course). We reserve the right to charge the costs of the course proportionally for unexcused absence (without medical certificate).