How to Create Effective STEM Presentation Materials

Last month our STEMComm Team put together an event called MindCraft which focused on the science of arts and crafts. This involved setting up several tables, each of which was dedicated to a different craft. In order to create effective and engaging tables, each cohort also created materials such as posters and interactive worksheets. My table focused on the eye and how it works to perceive different colors while also relating it to color blindness. Below I include the poster, flyer, and interactive worksheet we created for this station along with tips and things to keep in mind when creating your own!

• Poster 
  • Colorful 
    • It is important to create eye-catching materials so that people are drawn to your topic. (To read more about this, check out part 1 of this series where I give the top 5 tips to planning a STEM communications event!)
  • Not too wordy 
    • You do not want to overwhelm or bore your audience by making materials that are too wordy. Too many words will also draw the attention away from what you are saying as people will begin trying to read the content on the materials.
  • Images 
    • To aid in making your audience interested and also keeping them engaged while not taking the attention away from your presentation, include images! Choose images that reflect what you are presenting and act as an aid and supplement to your presentation. It could even be an image that you refer to in your oral speech so that you keep them engaged in what you are saying.
  • Neat 
    • It is also important to make sure that any material you are presenting is neat and organized so that your audience can take in the information effectively and efficiently. By doing this, you again are avoiding anything that takes away from your presentation. It also helps your audience be less confused about your topic so that you can answer engaging questions rather than clarification questions.
• Flyer 
  • More detailed 
    • When presenting a smaller piece of material such as a flyer, you can include more detailed information than your large poster. This allows the audience members that are interested to look further into what you are presenting without overwhelming casual viewers.
  • Still includes images 
    • Despite having more details, you can see that including images is still important. By including this, you can more effectively present your concepts in a way that can easily be taken in by your audience.
  • Clearly labeled 
    • With this, it is imperative that if you include a diagram as we did, that it is all clearly labeled. If you do not, you risk confusing your audience and not having a clear understanding of the diagram so you cannot effectively speak on it. It is also important that you know how to speak on the parts of the diagrama and explain everything effectively (read more about rehearsing and being prepared in part 1).
• Interactive Worksheet 
  • One side with supplemental information 
    • By providing supplemental information to your presentation in the format of a worksheet, you give the audience something they can take with them. This keeps them engaged with your topic past the time of your actual presentation and also allows them to continue learning.
  • One side with fun coloring activity 
    • Interactive 
      • This provides something interactive for the audience to engage in that is fun. This again keeps them engaged and interested in your topic area.
    • Way for people to connect to the content presented 
      • Additionally, it provides a way for them to apply the information they learned from your presentation which is known to be one of the most effective learning strategies.

Thank you for reading and best of luck to you on your future material creation and presentations!