A copy of the conference program for your session has been sent to you by e-mail. Please refer to this for the presentation order of the papers being presented in your session. An updated program, with the precise starting time of each paper, will be circulated at the meeting. The printed schedule of presentation times will be strictly adhered to. You will be allotted approximately twenty-five minutes total for your presentation plus a few moments for questions at the discretion of the Session Chair. A speech timer will be operating during your presentation as follows:
1.) The GREEN light will go on at the beginning of the scheduled presentation time and will remain on for 20 minutes.
2.) The YELLOW light will then come on signifying that you have 5 minutes left and will remain on for 5 minutes.
3.) The RED light will then signify that your 25 minutes are up and that you are to immediately return the floor to the Session Chair.
Please do not embarrass yourself by running over your allotted time. You can check the timing of your presentation as well as the quality of your visuals simply by presenting your talk to your colleagues. You should not expect to present your entire paper during your presentation. Instead, your goal is to motivate the audience to read your paper.
Audio-Visual Aids
The major criticisms prior authors have received relate to the quality of visual aids. Improperly prepared audio-visual materials can spoil an otherwise excellent presentation. Conference participants regard the quality of your visuals as an indication of your level of preparation and professionalism. Remember that the quality of your visual aids is a reflection on you and the company/agency you represent.
Please Consider the Following Guidelines When Preparing Your Presentation:
§ Don’t assume the audience is an expert in the subject of your presentation. There will be a few experts, but the majority will be there to learn.
§ Your presentation should include the problem you are solving and any necessary background. When describing your work, the most important things are your key innovative steps and how they performed compared to the conventional approach. Be sure to present the basic technical concepts that underpin your solution.
§ Before the conference, consider rehearsing your presentation in front of a group of co-workers, including some who are not already familiar with your work.
§ Don’t overload your visuals. Due to the large size of some session rooms we strongly encourage your visuals remain both simple and neat. It is better to use additional visuals to develop a point rather than cluttering up one image or presentation. Text should be in 24 and 36-point type, large enough to be seen fifty feet away by persons with twenty-twenty vision. Your visuals should illustrate your main points, use simple graphics to communicate ideas, and act as a general summary of your written paper. (DO NOT PROJECT PAGES OF TYPE!) Most speakers find that one visual per minute of presentation time (excluding title slides) works well. Your visuals should motivate people to read your complete paper in the proceedings.
The Institute will provide the following audio-visual equipment in each session for your use:
LCD Projector
PC/Windows computer
Wireless Lapel Microphone
Laser Pointer and Presentation Remote
Hand-Held Microphone (for audience questions)
A Windows OS computer (connected to an LCD projector) will be available in your session room. The computer will accept CD-ROM or USB memory sticks. Use of other media formats may not be supported by the computer and is at your risk (i.e., PCMCIA cards, etc.). Presentations must be created in PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2010 or Acrobat 6.0 or Acrobat X Pro compatible software (all files must be PC/Windows compatible). We recommend that you copy your presentation to the computer’s desktop before your session begins. ION computers have a fixed resolution of 1024x768 pixels.
A note about CD-ROMs: If you bring a presentation on a CD-ROM, make sure to properly “close” the disk to be read in any computer. Failure to do so will prevent your presentation from loading at the meeting.
If your presentation incorporates unique fonts or unusual symbols, be sure to embed the fonts in your PowerPoint or Acrobat file. Failure to do so may cause the fonts to display incorrectly at the meeting. In PowerPoint XP, this may be done by selecting FILE > SAVE AS ... > TOOLS > SAVE OPTIONS > Embed TrueType Fonts > SAVE. Check your software documentation for more information.
If your presentation incorporates equations, you may wish to import the equations to PowerPoint as captured image files. This allows the equations to display correctly on most computers without any special fonts or equation editing software installed.
You may connect your own laptop directly to the ION provided LCD projector. You should plan on providing YOUR OWN COMPUTER if any of the following apply to your presentation:
- Presentation is not in PowerPoint XP (MS-Windows) or Adobe Acrobat compatible format.
- Your presentation includes multimedia content (video clips, MPEGs, DVD, etc.).
- You will be demonstrating proprietary software or an application.
If you opt to use your own laptop instead of the PC being provided, you may connect to the ION projector. In rare instances, certain computers have not been compatible with ION projectors. As a backup, bring your presentation (without multimedia content) on an external disk (CD, USB Stick, etc.).
Authors using a non-PC computer (i.e. Mac, etc.) should familiarize themselves with the steps necessary to (A) connect to an external monitor and (B) command the operating system to send video to the external monitor. Authors should also be certain to bring any necessary video adapters or cables unique to their personal laptops.
An LCD projector and PC computer will be available in the registration area beginning Sunday afternoon at 3pm, and will be available throughout the conference during registration hours. We encourage you to check your electronic media (or laptop, if you plan to use your own computer) one day prior to your presentation.
It is strongly recommended that you bring two electronic copies of your presentation (on multiple media types, different file types, etc.). While ION staff will attempt to assist you if you experience any technical difficulties, please note that equipment does fail, and it is often not possible to instantaneously correct the problem. Due to the time constraint of the technical program, if equipment fails for any reason your presentation time will not be rescheduled or extended. To avoid the loss of any presentation time you need to be prepared with a back-up.
If you have any additional equipment needs please contact Megan Andrews (e-mail: mandrews@ion.org) no later than March 30. It will not be possible to accommodate special equipment requests made the day of your presentation. There will be an audiovisual representative on site who can assist you in correcting any audiovisual problems you may encounter.