Guidelines for Oral Presentations

The conference provides an opportunity for researchers to give an illustrated talk on their latest research. Oral presentations will occur on Saturday April 20 and Sunday April 21. All such talks are organized into sessions. Presenters have 20 minutes for their talk, including time for any questions (thus it is suggested that presenters aim to complete their talks in no more than 18 minutes).

All who are giving oral presentations need to submit their abstracts and register for the conference no later than February 18, 2024. The Conference registration form contains a section for submission of presentation information. In addition you will need to submit your abstracts separately (see below). Both the registration and submission of abstracts for all presenters (even students) need to be done using the name and contact information of the person actually giving the presentation (i.e., not their advisers or professors). If you were personally contacted and asked to submit a presentation for a specific topical session, be sure to indicate the intended session along with your submission (the registration form contains a specific field for that). If you were not solicited by a session organizer, that is fine (we receive many unsolicited presentations each year) and we will place your presentation in the most appropriate session though you may also indicate a preferred session. Note: if you have any scheduling constraints regarding when you are able to present, it is important that you note those on your registration form (again, there is a field specifically for including that information). If you only wish to attend 1 day, but are flexible as to which day depending on when your presentation is scheduled, then just register for a single day and add a note in the comments field letting us know that is the case. We will then update your registration after the schedule is confirmed. Note that it would be helpful in that situation to select your lunch meal preferences for both days so that we know just what you want regardless of which day we end up registering you for.

In addition to submitting your presentation information as part of the online registration form, please also send the abstract, formatted as described below, as a Word file to keithg@eaglehill.us. Use "[your last name and first initial]-NENHC 2024-Oral Presentation" as both the title of the file and as the email subject line. This will help ensure we get all of your information correct while minimizing the need for follow-up contact.

If you have not received a submission confirmation, then you must assume we did not receive your abstract.

Please review the following guidelines regarding your presentation.

IMPORTANT FORMATTING GUIDELINES [READ FIRST—BEFORE SUBMISSION!]:
•Avoid the use of all caps. Please use upper and lower case when providing the requested information about your presentation.
•Italicize scientific names of all genus and species mentioned.
•Capitalize the common names of all species.
•The first time a species is mentioned in the text of an abstract, give both its scientific name (listed first) and, if it has one, its common name (following in parentheses).
•Affiliation name and location (city, state) for the presentor as well as for each co-author needs to be placed in parentheses immediately following the person's name.
•Avoid as much as possible the use of specialized mathematical symbols.
•For the sake of clarity, please use first person and active tense except in instances where it would make a sentence unnecessarily wordy, complex, or awkward.
•Click here for a pdf of the following annotated sample that illustrates the key formatting guidelines

Titles must be limited to 100 characters to facilitate inclusion in the Conference presentation schedule.

Abstracts should be a single paragraph, and be concisely written to summarize the important elements of your presentation.

Talks will be strictly limited to 20 minutes. This will include time for any questions, so plan on keeping your presentation to a couple of minutes shy of that to allow time for questions.

Each session will be facilitated by a moderator who is responsible for keeping speakers on time. Plan to arrive at your session at least 5 minutes prior to its published start time—i.e., well before the session introduction is to begin—and introduce yourself to the moderator. They will review the speaker timing method with you. Be sure they know how to pronounce your name. It is best to sit in the front row for convenient access to the podium.

Equipment Available
Digital projectors and laptops for PowerPoint presentations will be available in all meeting rooms. Laser pointers will be available. A volunteer will be assigned to each room to assist with equipment operation during each presentation.

PowerPoint Presentation Guidelines
• Embed graphs or other figures into the Powerpoint document as independent objects; do not dynamically link from other programs.
• Limit file size to avoid sluggish response time when advancing and loading slides. Photos for slides can be compressed and saved in a lower resolution.
• Disable any automatic advance timer on your file.
• When saving your file, name it with the day-time-room-presentation #-your last name— e.g., Su-AM1-B-4-Doe.ppt for John Doe's presentation if it is the occuring in the Sunday early morning session in Room B and is the 4th of the talks in that session.
• We will accept files on USB flash drives.
• Label your USB flash drive with your contact information.
• IMPORTANT: Bring your PowerPoint file to the session room in which you will be presenting, during the PowerPoint preview and technology check prior to your presentation (see schedule overview for times of the preview & technology checks). Staff will ensure that your presentation loads and give you the opportunity to quickly run through it to make sure it all projects correctly and orient you to the use of the clicker/laser pointer.
• Your presentation will be set-up in advance to facilitate a smooth transition from one speaker to the next.
• We require use of the laptops offered by the conference for all session presentations, rather than your own laptop as there is not sufficient time in the schedule to swap out equipment.
• If for some reason you will not be able to arrive at the conference until after the end of the morning PowerPoint preview session the day you are going to present, then it is critical that you send your ppt file via email to keithg@eaglehill.us at least 1 week prior to the conference so that he can bring it and have it pre-loaded on the laptop in your session room in time for your presentation. The schedule is very full and tightly orchestrated ... there generally will not be time to load it just prior to the start of your session.

Note:
• Due to different resolutions of laptops and projectors, color shifting can and will occur. Please be aware when creating the presentation that the colors may change somewhat when projected.
• Internet access will be available for in the session rooms for oral presentations.

Tips for Ensuring an Effective Visual Presentation*
• To ensure your presentation is easily visible from any seat in the room, please use the following minimum font sizes:
      Title: Bold typeface minimum 40 pt size
      Subtitles: Bold typeface minimum 32 or 36 pt size
      Text and figures: Bold typeface minimum 24 or 28 pt size
• Sans serif fonts, e.g., Arial or Verdana are easier to read in a large room
• The 6x6 readability rule: ideally no more than six words per line and six lines per “page” (i.e., Arial font size 40).
• Use upper and lower case letters rather than block: ALL CAPS CAN BE DIFFICULT TO READ.
• Lines that are used for emphasis should be bolder than background lines or borders.
• Use contrasting text and background colors (white or yellow text on blue or black background).
• Avoid using the color red as it tends to bleed into the background and is generally difficult to read.
• Paragraphs should be clearly separated using a blank line. Lists should be organized using figures, dashes or bullet points. Please keep in mind that graphics and charts must be read from a considerable distance.
• To ensure a safety zone for over-projection, leave a ¼-inch border, with no text or graphics, around your slide. Otherwise, logos close to the border of your slide may be cut off.
• For a quick readability check: Stand back ten feet from your 14” monitor. If you cannot read the text clearly, your point size is too small for projection.

For additional help in maximizing the impact of your presentation, see a publication titled “The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid” by Michael Alley of Penn State. Even the most seasoned scientist will appreciate this online publication and find helpful tips on improving the effectiveness of poster and slide presentation design. Just click on the large arrow at the bottom of the page once you’re connected to their site.

*Courtesy of the GEER (Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration) 2010 website.