Instructions

Oral Presentations: Research Papers, Experience Reports, Industry Insights, and Panels

Presentation Logistics

We recommend that presenters giving talks use slideshare software, such as PowerPoint or Google Slides, to record visual presentation components. We anticipate allocating 12 minutes for each oral presentation; members of organized panels should expect 12 minutes per person. A recommended practice for timekeeping is to bring a timer (e.g., on a smartphone) with you to help you keep your presentation on time. 

To minimize disruptions and lost time caused by switching between laptops and connecting to WiFi, we will ask that:

• each session’s presenters coordinate before the start of their sessions and put all talks onto a single laptop;
• presenters who use cloud-based storage download their talks to avoid any unanticipated internet-related slowdown.

We anticipate having session moderators to assist with timekeeping and coordination, and will follow up with details as we get closer to the conference time. 

Oral Presentation Accessibility

We encourage the following best practices for accessibility of oral presentations (adapted from the SIGACCESS Accessible Presentation Guide). 

• Use a high-contrast color scheme.
  • Select colors that will be visible in dim or bright rooms.
  • Select colors that can be distinguished by those who have color vision deficiency. WebAim offers a useful contrast checker. 
• Use more than color to communicate information for those with low vision.
  • In addition to verbal emphasis, use bold or italic for emphasis.
• Limit the amount of text per slide (a good rule of thumb is no more than 30 words–use less if the slide is image heavy). Remember you are asking your reader to concentrate on two areas at once, your verbal presentation and the visual slides. 
  • Speak every word on each slide and read long excerpts aloud.
  • Use large sans serif typefaces, such as Arial, Geneva, Helvetica, Roboto, or Open Sans. 24 point or larger is recommended.
  • Avoid the use of all-caps text.
• Use headings. Most slide software has a “title” option in the slide themes.Using titles helps to organize the information visually but also creates a heading structure for screen reader users accessing slides digitally. 
• Make graphics simple.
  • Provide text equivalents for your meaningful (not decorative) graphics.
  • Verbally describe your images.
• Avoid using animations or videos, unless you give a detailed audio description. These should only be used when necessary to convey information in meaningful ways.
• Speak clearly in a reasonable cadence.
  • Face the audience to engage them and help people hear you. 
  • Speak into a microphone, if provided.
  • Use understandable terms; avoid slang and colloquialisms. 
  • Give the audience time to process information by pausing between topics and avoid speaking too quickly.
  • Encourage participants to use the microphone when commenting or asking questions.
• Make slides available before the presentation.
  • The previous day or even better, 1 week before your presentation.
  • Use alternative text with images. Alternative text is helpful to screen reader users access the slides digitally. Alt-text can be added in Google Slides and PowerPoint slides by right clicking on the image and selecting the “alt text”option. Alt text should include the details of the image that are relevant to the presentation.

Watch Making Presentations Accessible about creating accessible presentations.

Poster Presentations

Posters should be no larger than 36” tall x 48” wide (0.9 m x 1.3 m). We plan to place posters on easel stands with cardboard backing. Therefore, either paper or fabric posters are acceptable. 

Poster Accessibility

We encourage the following best practices for accessibility of poster presentations. We also suggest including a url or QR code linking to an accessible, downloadable version of your poster. 

 Clarity

• Use plain language, spell out acronyms and abbreviations, define terms, and avoid or define jargon. 
• Provide information in multiple formats, such as by combining text, images, graphs, and tables.
• Keep text concise.

Format

• Use large, bold, sans serif typefaces, such as Arial, Geneva, Helvetica, Roboto, or Open Sans, on plain backgrounds. 
• Use 72–152 point font for the title; 48–56 point for section headings; and 24–36 point for body text. 
• Provide adequate spacing, avoid clutter, and visually highlight sections with borders, headings with color, and spacing. 

Visuals

• Use color combinations that are high contrast can be distinguished by those who have color vision deficiency.
• Keep graphics and tables simple.
• Provide captions for tables and graphics.
• Avoid blurry images by including those with at least 300 dpi resolution.

Organization

• Readers should be logically led in the correct direction from the title through the poster by a clear narrative and logical design.
• In your verbal presentation, describe the major points in the poster concisely for your audience.

Virtual Pre-recorded Presenters 

If you will be presenting a pre-recorded presentation according to the emergency remote presentation policy, please do the following:

• Record your presentation (mp4 file). You may choose to use the recording software you are familiar with (e.g., Camtasia, Zoom, or Panopto). 
• Keep your presentation to under 12 minutes (for both talks and poster introductions).
  • Note: if you are presenting a poster and choose not to record an audio introduction, you can just submit the visuals; please see below.
• During the presentation, ensure you are practicing the following strategies:
  • Describe the relevant information (images and text) on your slides or poster.
  • Speak clearly, pausing between topics, and avoid speaking too quickly.
• We highly recommend using an auxiliary microphone to ensure a clear recording without distracting noises.
• We ask that you include accurate, well-paced captions. Video editing software such as Camtasia and Panopto has robust captioning tools including auto captioning that can be edited for accuracy. Alternatively, you may choose to upload your video to YouTube and use the editing tools, which include the option to upload a transcript or .srt file, to develop accurate captions.
• Send the following to the conference team:
  • For talks and (optionally) poster presentations, a MP4 file or the link to your YouTube video. Please title your file “lastname_presentationtitle” to help us stay organized.
  • For poster presentations, 1) a high-resolution (300 dpi or higher) pdf, plus 2) a low-resolution (72ppi) image to help us create a thumbnail, and 3) a simple .docx or .txt file with your name and title, affiliation, title of the poster, and abstract that we can post with the files.

For those requesting the pre-recorded presentation option for accessibility or health accommodation or personal safety-related reasons, send your materials by October 17, 2023. If you are requesting this option for emergency reasons prior to the conference, send your materials by October 23, 12:00pm EDT (1600 UTC). Please keep in mind that you must fill out the pre-recorded presentation request form and your registration must be paid before we can accept your pre-recorded presentation.