Guidelines for Posters and Presentations

Guidelines for Posters and Presentations:

Posters:

A poster session will be held on the evening of Thursday, January 29, 2015. At this time, authors will be available to answer questions about their posters. Hors d’ouevres will be served and a no-host bar will be available. Posters should be setup on Wednesday between 12Noon and 2pm.  Poster viewing will begin at 2pm on Wednesday, January 28 in the Russian River Room and will be last through the Thursday evening poster reception. Posters should be no more than 3 feet high by 4 feet wide. Presenters must bring their own supplies (T-pins, push pins, etc.) to attach posters to the display boards. Display boards will be provided.  Posters exceeding the size standards may have to be relocated or not exhibited in the session.  All poster presenters must be registered conference attendees.  Register by 12/19/12014 to receive the lowest registration rate.

Concurrent Session Presenters:

Most of you will be planning a PowerPoint presentation. We will have a laptop computer and LCD projector with remote control. Presentations must be brought to the meeting on a USB Memory Stick (thumb drive). No other form of file transfer will be accepted. Plan to bring your presentation to the AV volunteer of the session’s assigned room in the morning, or 30 minutes prior to the start of the session but no later than the start of the break (including lunch) immediately before your session. Presentations will not be accepted as you are walking to the podium.

 

General Information:

  1. We will be using ONE computer for all presentations in each r You will not have the option of using your laptop for your presentation; there simply is no time between speakers to unplug one laptop and plug in another.
  2. PowerPoint files can be in EITHER .ppt (version 2000-2003) OR .pptx (version 2007 or later) format. The laptops will have PowerPoint 2007 or 2010 loaded.
  3. Other presentation or multi-media software systems will not be accommodated unless an absolute minimum of two weeks advance notice is provided to the Program Chair.
  4. We will NOT have Internet access for the speakers at the Any websites you wish to show must be static images in your PowerPoint presentation.
  5. You should NOT rely on the various “transition” functions (such as clicking for every bullet to fly in); these often add unnecessary complications and potential delay
  6. Large graphics, audio and video files are generally discourage If you have audio or video that is critical for the entire audience to hear and see, advise your Session Chair immediately.

 

Things to keep in mind as you prepare your presentation:

  1. In order to keep file sizes small in PowerPoint, add pictures by clicking Insert>Picture>From File as opposed to copying and pasting images into your presenta You may also compress your images.
  2. Do not put important things in the bottom 1/3 of the slide. It will be difficult to see from the back of the r
  3. The projection screen is large and so is the r We recommend using only 2 font sizes on slides. 36-48 or larger for titles, and 24-30 or larger for text. For emphasis, select bold or italics, color or shadows. In graphics with one or two words, use of “art fonts” for emphasis will work if separated from quantities of body of text. Complex font body style may cause loss of the “punch” you intended. You cannot go wrong with the selection of Arial or Times for body of text. Font size should be large enough to be visible for approximately 40 feet (to the last row of seats in the room).
  4. As you have probably seen at previous meetings, complex charts, tables and graphs are rarely effective for a large audienc
  5. Be sure you have permission to use data and present information and that you properly reference sources as appropriate.

 

Other recommendations:

  1. A good guide is no more than 8 lines of text per slide…10 max
  2. Line spacing on slides should be at least 0.85
  3. Use upper and lower case mix for body text, large amounts of all upper case text is difficult to rea
  4. There should be a good contrast between background and text or graphic Using a picture as the entire background can be problematic. If using a picture as a slide background, watch for split areas of light and dark (ex. bright sky and dark ground areas in the same photo). This presents a problem for arranging text. If using a solid color background, most of these problems will not exist for you. The background color gray is one of the most difficult colors to contrast with. We will still have a fair amount of light in the room during the presentation for note taking. With this in mind, like-on-like colors will be difficult to see, such as white lettering on light blue background or yellow on green. Light colors such as soft yellows and pinks used as text, points, or lines on graphs do no project well when enlarged and projected (In fact, they usually do not show up unless on top of a dark background). Line weights and direction arrows need to be heavy enough to be seen without overpowering the image.
  5. Red text: Do not use it. Bright red is difficult for the eye to read for any period of time. If you must, use bright red for emphasis only. 10% of your audience will have some degree of color perception impairme The following combinations should be avoided:
    1. Red text on blue and vice versa
    2. Red text on brown and vice versa
    3. Red text on green and vice versa
  6. Practice your presentation in advance. Most people speak faster when they are nervous, so it’s likely ok if your presentation takes 16-19 minutes in practice, but not more than tha However, practice it with a coworker or friend, too – some people tend to add extra information when they’re nervous, making a well- rehearsed 16 minute presentation take 20 or more minutes.
  7. Don’t use too many slides (one every 15 seconds) or too few (3-5 in a 20 minute presentation). A good rule of thumb is to use about one slide for every minute of your presenta It’s also good to vary the length that you project each slide.
  8. Again, “transition” slides (with each bullet point flying in or similar) can be problematic, depending upon the computer on which the presentation was created and the one used at the meeting. If you must use them, stick to the standard ones to ensure compatibility on the laptops in the room.
  9. Think twice about using video or sound effects in your presenta Incompatibility between your computer and the session computer is unfortunately rather common.

 

Sessions will be kept on a tight schedule. Presentations are scheduled to switch at 20 minutes. You should plan on giving the session chair about 20-30 seconds for a speaker biography (which you will be asked to provide), and then ideally allow for 2-3 minutes at the end of your presentation for Questions and Answers (there will be scheduled Q&A for the session at the conclusion of some sessions). Thus your presentation in rehearsal should take between 14 and 17 minutes. If your presentation takes more than 20 minutes, change it now. And if your presentation will take substantially less than 20 minutes (ex. you will only speak for 12 minutes), please inform the session chair well in advance.

 

Session Chairs or timers will provide silent time cues, typically at 5, 3 and 1 minutes before your time has expired. Most chairs will use an audible, often loud cue when time is expired. If you’ve reached the 19th minute and still haven’t said “and in conclusion” (or words to that effect), you might be in trouble…Our session chairs can be ruthless – and we like it that way.