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Oral Presentation Guidelines

Selected oral presentations during an APS meeting or conference provide scientists who are attending the meeting a chance to present their abstract orally to a wider audience. Being selected to present an abstract during a session is a great honor as the oral presentation slots are limited and highly competitive. If you have been selected to present your abstract orally you will need time to prepare. Planning and experience will make your oral presentation clear, effective, and rewarding.

Getting your Oral Presentation Ready:

In order to prepare for your oral presentation, follow these handy tips:

• When you are creating your presentation, use standard fonts such as New Times Roman, Helvetica, and Arial. These basic fonts are included on the computer that will be in the session room. If you use a special font for your presentation it may not translate properly on the session room computer.

• Once you have created your presentation, review each screen for order accuracy, errors, and check to make sure the font and colors will be seen by others. Test the presentation on another computer to make sure that the fonts, graphics, and movies are still included in your file.

• When you are satisfied with your presentation save it onto a Windows readable USB Flash Drive, or a CD-ROM.

• Make a backup presentation to take with you to the meeting in the event of lost luggage, theft, and incompatibility.

• Practice your presentation before you come to the meeting. Make sure you stay in your allotted time frame for the presentation.

•  Prepare for any questions that may come from the audience.

Session Room Equipment:

All of the APS session rooms will be equipped with a data projector, screen, laptop computer, lavaliere, table, and aisle microphones. There will also be an AV technician in each session room to help with any technical issues.

Presenters do not have to bring their own computer. There will be a laptop computer that will be available in the session room which will have Windows XP Professional installed. There will also be several software programs available on the computer including: Microsoft Office XP, Adobe Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player.

Using your own laptop computer for a presentation is allowed in the session room; however there will be a limited amount of connections available. Presenters using their own laptop must make sure that their computer has a VGA HD15 pin female output, so the laptop can be connected to the data projector. If your computer does not have the VGA HD15 pin female output there will be no way to connect to the data projector.

There is no Internet access in any of the session rooms.

There is no Speaker Practice room for presenters.

The Day of Your Presentation:

The day of your presentation has arrived. Follow these handy tips to have a successful presentation:

• Business casual is appropriate attire for giving a presentation. Being comfortable during your talk is very important.

• Arrive at your session at least 30 minutes before the session begins. Give your presentation to the AV technician so it can be loaded onto the computer.

• Get to know the area. Where will you stand during the presentation? Is there enough space to walk around? Is the screen to my left or right? Where is the location of the steps to the stage? Where will the AV technician sitting in case of a problem?

• Introduce yourself to the Chairs and the other speakers of the session.

• Sit close to the front of the room so you are close to the stage when it is your turn to speak.

Oral Presentation Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. How will I know when it is my time to present?

A. You will have received a confirmation email confirming the date, time, and session title that you have been asked to present in. Additionally, consult your meeting program for details.

Q. How long do I get to present my abstract?

A. Normally, oral abstract presenters will be given 10 minutes for the actual presentation, followed by a 5 minute question and answer period.

Q. I am unable to attend the meeting, what should I do?

A. Please contact the APS Meetings Department at meetings@the-aps.org as soon as possible so a replacement speaker can be found.