Presenter Guidelines

Important tips for ISRII 2019 presenters

Please read and follow these guidelines carefully to ensure we have a successful, fun and smooth conference.

Technology

  • Use 16:9 aspect ratio for your presentations
  • Use PowerPoint instead of keynote or any other format
  • Have your presentation on a USB and arrive at the room in which you are presenting well in advance of your talk to upload it onto the lecture theatre computer. Upload it on the day you are presenting, no earlier.
  • Use the PC in the room, don’t plug in your own device
  • If you’re a Mac user check that your presentation looks okay in a PC format
  • Double check on the day that your video (if relevant) works

Presentation Types

ISRII 2019 will feature a range of presentation types:

  • Papers (stand-alone oral presentations)
  • Symposia
  • Ignite-Style
  • Poster +3
  • Poster on display
  • Panel discussion

PAPERS AND SYMPOSIA

  • Carefully budget your time. To work out the length of your talk, please check the length of the session you’ve been allocated to and the number of speakers scheduled. Most presentations will be between 8 and 10 minutes.
  • The Chair will stop your talk if you go over your allocated time.
  • To ensure you can fit into your allocated spot you should practice your talk and time yourself. You’ll be surprised how fast the time goes!
  • Include contact details (email, Twitter handle etc.) so those interested can follow up with you.

Tips on making an impactful presentation:

  • Short presentations can be very effective! Follow these guidelines and you will impress your audience:
    1) Keep your talk to three take-away messages. Don’t flood the audience with more than they can absorb.
    2) Tell a story – it makes it easier for you to share your world with the audience.
    3) Limit your slides to 10.
  • When making your slides, keep it simple. Too much clutter can make the important material hard to read. Less is more. Use at least a 20-point font so everyone in the room can read your material.
  • Consider replacing lots of text with strong (relevant) visuals.
  • Try to limit the material to eight lines per slide, and keep the number of words to a minimum. Summarise the main points – don’t include every detail of what you plan to say.
  • Include images (or video) from your intervention – audiences really want to see what you have designed/delivered before you discuss the findings.
  • Keep the background to an absolute minimum. Avoid providing a rationale for why digital interventions are important (after all, you’re preaching to the converted).
  • If you’re part of a symposium, make sure the Chair or the first speaker does a quick outline of the session, and introduce what the individual speakers will contribute. Each speaker can then quickly move on to their research topic.
  • Preview your presentation (check for errors, if you have a video check that it plays, etc.)
    PRACTISE! Ask a colleague to judge your presentation, delivery, clarity of language, and use of time.
    If you feel rushed when you practise, then you have too much material. Budget your time to take a minute or two less than your maximum allotment. Again, less is more.
  • Enjoy sharing your research with your colleagues! We are all looking forward to a fabulous conference!
    If you’re looking for some scientific and peer-reviewed tips on making effective oral presentations check out this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1857815/

 

IGNITE-STYLE TALKS

  • Ignite-style talks consist of 20 PowerPoint slides which are shown for 15 seconds each – whether the speaker is ready or not. This means that each Ignite-style Talk takes exactly 5 minutes.
  • There will be approximately 1 minute of transition between speakers. Your presentation must be loaded on the desktop and you need to be able to find it quickly on a desktop.
  • The Chair will briefly introduce each speaker by name, affiliation and title of their talk. Now you’re ready to take the stage!

Tips on making an impactful Ignite-style talk:

  • Choose your words carefully, create slides with a lot of visual impact and allow yourself to be creative or entertaining. Think of it as a mini TED talk!
  • It may help to write your script so that you know exactly what you’re going to say to each slide. Tell a good story.
  • Ignite-style presentations tend to contain pictures, simple charts, and minimal text without any bullet points. Sometimes, one strong visual per slide is powerful.
  • Don’t use animations that are activated by mouse clicks. All animation should be set to run automatically.
  • Set your slide time (this may vary depending on your version of PowerPoint): Click on the Transitions tab on the Ribbon. Select Fade. In the Timing group, deselect “On Mouse Click” and select “After.” Type 15 in the box. Then click “Apply to All”.
  • Practise. And then practise again!

POSTER+3 TALKS

  • If you are speaking at the Poster+3 session, you have 3 minutes to present the key findings from your poster. There will be a loud buzzer to indicate your time is up.
  • After 3 minutes, the Chair will stop you promptly.
  • You’re essentially making a pitch to the audience to come and check out your poster and talk to you about your research.

Tips on preparing your Poster+3 presentation:

  • Have a maximum of three slides (but one is OK too!)
  • Include your poster number so that people can find it in the foyer area.
  • Posters should be A0 portrait size, which is 841mm (w) by 1189mm (h) or 33.1”(w) by 46.8”(h). Poster participants will be allocated a specific numbered 1.2m wide space in which to present their work. Velcro tabs will be provided as an adhesive material. All authors are expected to print their own materials.
  • Include your details so that interested people can follow up with you
  • Stick to one take-home message
  • Visual tools (pictures, graphics) are better than text. Too much detail distorts your audience’s understanding of the key message
  • Rehearsal is everything.
  • There will be approximately 1 minute of transition between speakers. Your presentation must be loaded on the desktop and you need to be able to find it quickly on a desktop.
  • Be yourself. Enjoy sharing your project with a like-minded community of researchers.

POSTERS ON DISPLAY

  • Posters should be A0 portrait size, which is 841mm (w) by 1189mm (h) or 33.1”(w) by 46.8”(h). Poster participants will be allocated a specific numbered 1.2m wide space in which to present their work. Velcro tabs will be provided as an adhesive material. All authors are expected to print their own materials.
  • Posters are designed to present information concisely and attractively to help publicise your project and encourage discussion with the passing audience.
  • The poster is usually a mixture of a brief text and tables, graphs and pictures. When designing your poster consider:
    – What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research?
    – How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?
  • As a poster presenter, you have been allocated a lunch time session when we ask you accompany your poster to allow other delegates to discuss your work with you.

Tips on designing an impactful poster:

  • Text and charts should be readable from about 2-3 metres (recommended font 24-34)
  • Title should be short and draw interest
  • Limit text to max of 400–500 words. Your poster is just like a short story!
  • Text should be clear and to the point
  • Consider presenting conclusions or key findings FIRST or make them really stand out
  • Use bullets, numbering, and headlines to make it easy to read
  • Relevant graphics, colour and fonts can enhance your poster
  • Include clear images from your digital intervention (if relevant)
  • Use consistent and clean layout
  • Your poster can reflect your personality!
  • Include acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation

Read more about making effective conference posters here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876493/

 

PANEL DISCUSSION

  • The panels have been allocated 90 min to allow for a vigorous discussion and a more in-depth Q&A session with the audience members.
  • The aim of the discussion is to present a number of different viewpoints and robustly discuss them among the members of the Panel and with the audience.
  • We encourage the Chair to start the Panel by introducing each member and outlining the premise of the discussion/theme.
  • Then, we suggest each speaker provides a brief outline of their view (slides are OK but not necessary).
  • The Chair’s role is to generate a robust discussion between the speakers before taking questions from the audience.

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