Information for Presenters:

Presentation Guidelines

ORAL PRESENTATIONS:

Each presenter has a maximum of 8–10 minutes for an oral and slide presentation to a plenary gathering of all Forum attendees depending on the session theme. The sessions that address the Forum Questions will have three 10-minute presentations followed by a 15-minute question/answer period with all three presenters.

The Emergent Theme oral presentations on Monday or Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm are not followed by a formal question/answer period so the presentation should be less than 8 minutes to allow for one or 2 questions afterwards.

The spirit of the conference is to promote discussion of presentations; therefore, we request that each presentation not exceed the 8–10 minute limit depending on the session theme. Please review your presentation to make sure that it does not exceed these guidelines.

Times:
The times for all oral presentation sessions are posted on the Program page of the Forum website.

Presentation format and loading onto computer instructions:

• A LCD projector, computer, screen, microphone, and podium will be available. Experienced audio-visual technicians will be available to assist you in the G1 Auditorium in the basement of the Kresge Building, the location for all oral presentations.
• Presentation files must be copied onto the room’s computer before the beginning of the session. You will not be permitted to use your own computer! Computer files of all presentations will be copied onto a single computer before your session.
• All presentations should be prepared using PowerPoint 2003 for PC on Windows XP platform (not MAC formatted). Any presentations prepared on Windows VISTA platform will not be operable unless saved in PowerPoint 2003 format.
• Windows Media Player and Quicktime are available for playing movie clips.
• Naming of presentation files: Files must be named as “Session Abbreviation” underscore “presenting author surname” (e.g., Q1.OR2_Miller). Oral presenters will be sent their session abbreviations via e-mail.
• Please bring your presentations to the conference on a USB Memory Stick or CD that has been formatted for PC readability.
• You have two options for loading your presentations onto the computer in G1:
  
  • Any day of the conference between 7:30–8:30 am.
    
  • During scheduled lunches (between 12:15–12:45 pm) and coffee breaks.
• Please arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of your session (30 minutes, if you haven’t already uploaded your presentation) to the G1 Auditorium, in the basement of the Kresge Building, to introduce yourself to the Session Chair and confirm the title of your presentation.

Guidelines for PowerPoint Presentations:

• Slides are useful if they contain only enough information to illustrate one major idea, are visible even from the last row of a large auditorium, and show something that can not be explained as well without a slide.
• Keep the layout simple, with plenty of open space.
• Use a sans serif typeface such as Arial or Helvetica.
• Keep graphics simple.
• Use color for emphasis only; use colors consistently and sparingly.

POSTER SESSIONS:

Guided Poster Sessions:
The poster should be printed so that it can be laid out within a space of no more than 4 feet high by 8 feet wide (120 cm x 240 cm). Guided poster sessions are for a one-hour period. During that time each poster presenter will be asked to provide a 3-minute oral presentation of his/her poster to twelve touring groups of approximately 14 conference participants each, who will be moving from poster to poster. This will provide you an opportunity to present your research and interact briefly with all Forum attendees. Each touring group will be led by a guide, who will ensure that the designated time schedules are met. Based on past experience, we urge presenters to practice and refine a 3 minute summary speech about their poster, and to bring printed copies of the poster for those who are interested in more in-depth review of the presentation.

The six guided poster sessions will be held in four classrooms (201, 202, 203, 213) on the second floor of the Kresge Building:

Free-format Poster Sessions:
The poster should be printed so that it can be laid out within a space of no more than 4 feet high by 4 feet wide (120 cm x 120 cm) (Note: you will be sharing a 120 cm x 240 cm poster board with another presenter). Free-format poster sessions are for a one-hour period. During that time each poster presenter will be asked to be present at their poster to respond informally to questions from Forum attendees. This will provide you an opportunity to present your research and interact with Forum attendees. The two Free-format Poster Sessions will be held in the Kresge Building Atrium next to the cafeteria:

Times, Locations, and Presentation Order:
The times and locations for all poster presentations and the presentation order within each session for the Guided Poster Sessions will be posted on the Program page.

Purpose of a Poster Presentation:

• Acquaint conference participants with the fundamentals of your program, project, or study quickly and easily.
• Use text, graphs, tables, charts, and pictures to present only highlights.
• Catch your viewer’s attention.
• Make the viewer want to learn more about your program, project, or study.

Designing an Effective Poster:

• Include the abstract title and all authors at the top.
• Your poster should fit on a board that is 4 ft high x 8 ft wide (for guided poster sessions) or 4 ft wide x 4 ft high (for free-format poster sessions).
• Keep any text brief.
• Do not use all capital letters.
• Use graphics (charts, tables, pictures) that can be understood in one minute or less.
• Ideas should flow from panel to panel logically.
• Assume the viewer will be reading your poster from approximately 3 feet away.
• Describe all parts of the project/study, including why the outcome did or did not work as expected.
  • Background
  • Objectives
  • Research Design/Program Description
  • Results/Evaluation
  • Conclusion(s)
  • Future Plans
• The viewer should gain new knowledge or insight by visiting your poster.
• Consider providing a handout summarizing your research and include your contact information.
• If you do not provide a handout to viewers, be sure to have your business cards available for those who request your contact information.

(top of page)