If I hold a seminar upon invitation, should my slides contain my institution's logo or the hosting institution's logo?
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10Why do you think any logo is needed?– Moishe KohanCommented yesterday
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5@MoisheKohan In my fields, it's pretty normal to have your institution's logo somewhere, at the very least in the acknowledgements. Many people use their institution's slide templates. It doesn't really surprise me this seems unneeded to a mathematician.– Azor Ahai -him-Commented yesterday
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1@AzorAhai-him-: and in pure math putting acknowledgements on slides is very uncommon. (Applied mathematicians do this.)– Moishe KohanCommented yesterday
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2I think not everyone (comments & answers) is on the same page: it is not normal to put another university's logo on your slides, and perhaps even your own. On my slides, I write my affiliation under my name, and then the venue/date where it was presented further below (text, not logos).– KimballCommented yesterday
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3@Kimball My institution even requires the logo to be there. The official guidelines states one should always use the universities template for slides. (Although nobody would notice if you didn't, any probably nobody would care.)– cheersmateCommented 17 hours ago
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5 Answers
I would think that your own institution is better as it makes it more obvious how to find you in the future, assuming people have copies. It would also make citation easier for those who need to do that. And, it might make reuse of the slides for other purposes easier.
It might be different if you were in the running for a position at the new institution, though it might be interpreted as pandering.
And, as noted in a comment, it probably isn't needed at all, unless your own institution considers the material proprietary and/or has some rules about such things. Unlikely, but possible.
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37I think Buffy's answer may be understating the point a bit ("I would think that ... is better"). Let me state the same answer more forcefully: I for one would find it completely bizarre if someone used the logo of an institution they are not affiliated with on their slides. Commented yesterday
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14I'm with @AdamPřenosil. It would be like writing a letter on the letter head of the university you are writing to. It's entirely inappropriate. Commented yesterday
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2@WolfgangBangerth Not only bizarre and inappropriate, but probably also illegal. (Exception: on the title page or the page where I am listing my coauthors, it would be acceptable to put their institutions' logos together with mine.) Commented 22 hours ago
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2And I don't think it would make a difference if you're running for a position at the new institution, as this answer claims. You're not an employee (yet), so you have no right to use their logo. Commented 22 hours ago
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2@FedericoPoloni, I hardly think anyone would consider it a fraud since the presentation is at a seminar at the institution visited. It isn't a question of affiliation, which should be obvious to seminar attendees, since the OP has been invited. This seems like extreme overthinking. They haven't suggested publishing the seminar notes.– BuffyCommented 14 hours ago
It would be very unusual to put another institution's logo on your slides.
Occasionally, I have seen people list the department/university on the title slide with the date as a way to say "presented at ...".
answered yesterday
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1Better to be explicit, to avoid confusion: another institution than the one you work for. Commented 22 hours ago
Customs vary between fields and institutions.
Very often, academic institutions want their people to use their template whenever they are represented outside of the institution itself, for example, when you give a seminar talk or short course somewhere else. The degree with which one is expected to use this varies a lot. For example, school colors can make content difficult to read, etc, annoying the audience. Often, research groups also have their own templates. In practice, less is often better than more, depending on reading the audience.
If you give a talk at another institution, the customs in the US and in Computer Science is to not put the host institution into the slides other than:
- A title slide could contain the date and host of the talk
- Slides could contain in small script at the top or preferably at the bottom the same information in addition to short name and short title, which is useful only if the slides are likely to be published and copied individually.
Depending on your status and the occasion, you might be expected to tailor your talk to the occasion or to give a generic talk. In the latter case, there is no need to pretend.
For future reference perhaps it's useful for me to mention the situation in theoretical particle physics. There's no set standard, and I have not heard of anyone being required to use a template for slides. Nonetheless, I think customs are such:
- The title slide should contain your affiliation. Often people do include the logo, but certainly not always. I usually don't bother, but if I were affiliated with a place that had a really cool logo I would be more inclined to use it.
- Usually people write on the title slide the occasion for the talk, even when the talk has not been specifically tailored for that occasion. 'University of XYZ High Energy Seminar, 12/15/2024' or 'XYZ Conference at McMurdo Station, Antarctica'. Sometimes people do include the logo of the place you're giving the talk. I've only done this for conference talks, but I wouldn't be so surprised to see this at a seminar.
- When one is talking about a project that has been done in collaboration with colleagues at other institutions, I have seen people include the logo of those other institutions as well. Sometimes this is on the title slide; sometimes it is on a separate dedicated slide where one shows photos and affiliations of collaborators.
Overall, in relation to some of the other answers, I'd say that in my field there's much more of a hodgepodge of customs and I wouldn't really bat an eye at whatever you decided to do.
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SethK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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One should follow the style guide / corporate design of one’s affiliation for that talk. Usually, that is whatever institution primarily paid you to do what you are talking about.
In most cases this is the university employing the presenter.
If there are several affiliations - from multiple authors or indeed multiple funds for one person - I am used to the presenter's primary affiliation winning but other affiliations being represented in kind but smaller. For example, one might use the slide style including the logo of the primary affiliation plus just the logos of secondary affiliations. These styles are usually a bit ad-hoc, as style guides rarely have consistent rules for mixing them.
If multiple affiliations are due to some higher level organisation/funding, then this often takes precedence over individual affiliation. For example, work from collaboration of universities as part of a German research associations usually uses the associations style. Likewise, larger collaborations or virtual organisations may have their own style.
On the other extreme, if there isn’t a strong affiliation and research topics are chosen on a more personal level then a generic or personal style isn’t uncommon.
At any rate, a presentation should usually not follow the hosting organisation’s style guide unless it incidentally overlaps with the actual affiliation. Exception are special occasions such as a ceremonial event.
