There are a few rules that you should bear in mind when you start writing your abstract.
First of all, the abstract should provide the reader with useful information regarding your work. After reading it, one should be able to tell what you studied, why you studied it and how you studied it. The title should not only be appealing, but also informative. As far as the content is concerned, you should try to make it concise and clear, so that even a reader that has little to no knowledge about that particular subject should be able to understand it. As Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”.
In the following section, we provide you useful advice regarding the structure of your abstract, based on the three types of presentations included in the congress: case report, original study & meta-analysis and review.
- The Case Report abstract should contain the following parts: introduction, case presentation, discussions. In the introduction you should briefly present the disease and its importance for the population. The case description should provide information regarding the chief complaint, physical examination, para-clinical investigations, differential and final diagnosis. The discussions should emphasize the importance and hallmarks of this clinical case.
- The Original Study abstract should contain the following parts: introduction, methods and materials, results, conclusions. In the introduction you should explain the reason for performing this study. The materials and methods section should briefly describe the population included in the study (human or animal test subjects), the performed actions, the data analysis. In the results section, you should include the outcome of the data analysis. The conclusions should emphasize the importance of this original study.
- The Review / Meta-Analysis abstract should include the following parts: background, objectives, methods and materials, results, conclusion.
It is important to remember that your work could be selected for the Oral or Poster Presentation sessions, based on the review of your abstract. Therefore, it is advisable that you spare no effort in writing an outstanding abstract.
Remember that the abstract body must not exceed 300 words. Last but not least, be careful to select relevant keywords – this will make it easier for people that may be interested in your work to find it in the abstract book.
As daunting as delivering a presentation may sound, there are some simple steps that could guide you through the whole process. First of all, take your audience into consideration. There might be listeners that have little to no knowledge regarding your subject, as well as experts. Therefore, be prepared to offer background information if necessary.
Secondly, think of the presentation as a story. Accordingly, there should be a logical flow, including a beginning, a main body and an ending. Loudly and clearly explain all these stages, and do not forget to include a take home message.
Last but not least, we all know that practice makes perfect. It is advisable to repeat your speech in advance, to deliver it to your friends and ask them for feedback, or even to record yourself in order to correct your so-called bad habits. In addition, all these will boost your self-confidence and prepare you for the big day.
The presentations for MEDICS should be made using one of the following computer programs: Microsoft Power Point (.ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx) or Prezi.
The font size should be as follows: at least 28pt for titles and at least 22pt for the rest of the slide content. It is advisable to use the same font face and size on all slides. In addition, there should be a contrast between the color of the text and that of the slide background.
As far as the slide content is concerned, it is recommended to use keywords rather than whole sentences. You should bear in mind that the slides are intended to support your speech, not to replace it! Arrows and other symbols, graphs, pictures and videos can visually augment your explanations and make the presentation more appealing. Therefore, it is important that they are of high quality.
Please bear in mind the fact that during the Oral Presentation competition, you will be requested to present your work to the commission in maximum 7 minutes. A stopwatch will be constantly displayed on the screen. The audience will be allowed to ask questions for 3 minutes following your presentation.
Before starting to work on your poster, please picture the Poster Presentation session as an open market in which you are the seller and the other participants of the congress are the customers. As peculiar as this comparison may sound, it highlights the fact that your poster is the perfect opportunity to advertise your work, irrespective of it being a case report, an original study or a review. It is considered that a well-crafted poster attracts attention, stimulates discussions, generates feedback and enables the author to make useful contacts.
Please bear in mind the fact that you will present your poster to any participant that attends the Poster Presentation session during the 90-minute period. The public will be the sole judge of the poster competition: it is up to you to keep the audience interested!
The poster size at MEDICS should be either A0 portrait, or A1 landscape. You are allowed to use any computer program to design your poster, as long as you work meets the requirements below.
The title must be the same as the one in the submitted abstract. It is advisable that you emphasize the title using some capital letters (but not all), bold, italic or underlined writing.
The name of the authors should be written in the same order as in the submitted abstract. Please include the affiliations for each and every author.
The headers should respect the structure of the submitted abstract (i.e. introduction, case presentation, and discussions for the case report and so on; please refer to the section “Submit your abstract”) .
As far as the content is concerned, it is not necessary to include the story down to the last detail. You will be standing by the poster during the session and should be able to provide the participants with the necessary explanations. It is advisable to use pictures and graphs to visually support your explanations and make the poster more appealing. Please remember to include titles for the pictures and graphs and highlight the important parts of them using arrows. Finally, it is important that the pictures and graphs are of high quality.
We recommend you to use black as the color of the text. The font size should be as follows: 85pt for the title, 36–44pt for the headers, and 24–34pt for the body text. These dimensions are not mandatory.
