Presentation Instructions

Platform Sessions
Presenter Guidelines

Presenters in all Annual Meeting sessions are required to use digital projection of a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint presentations should be prepared for use with PowerPoint 2000 in a PC compatible format. If you have developed your presentation with an earlier version of PowerPoint, or have developed it on a Macintosh platform, it SHOULD project properly, but we encourage you to preview it on a PC with PowerPoint 2000 BEFORE arriving at the meeting to ensure that it will project properly. To minimize setup delays, each presenter should copy their presentation to the hard drive of the computer in the room in which their session will be held, at least 1 hour prior to the start of the session. Please copy the presentation into the appropriate session folder. The file name should begin with the speaker's last name.

The presentation of a slide talk or computer presentation is quite different from the presentation of the same information in a journal article. Keep in mind that in a slide presentation, you have only 15 minutes, and should use no more than 12-15 slides, to get across the major thrust of the study. Details cannot be included, only the major ideas. Each slide will be viewed less than one minute. Therefore, the slide cannot contain more information than the viewer can comprehend in a short time. Design your slide to communicate an idea quickly! Make the print large enough to be seen on an 8' screen from a distance of 100 feet. This means that the letters should be at least an 18-point font size, with no more than 10 lines of text. Avoid color combinations, such as red on blue, that do not project well. The following should help you in your presentation preparation:

1. Prepare your slide to communicate ideas, not details. If attendees want details, let them ask you in the discussion period.

2. Put the minimum amount of information on the slide to communicate the idea you want. After the draft of the visual, see what can be left out of the visual and still communicate the idea. Reduce the draft to reduce the material on the visual to minimum.

3. Graphical presentations of data often communicate an idea more quickly than a tabular presentation of the same data. Photographs may also be effective, but avoid pictures of animals.

4. A table in a published article is much too detailed for a slide presentation. Take the time to think through what conclusion you want to present from the table and present the least amount of material you can to communicate that idea.

5. A slide presentation should include a title slide, a slide stating the question or hypothesis to be addressed, and a slide describing the overall approach you used to address the question. A "methods" slide should be included but should never include the details of the method unless the purpose of the talk is to describe the method. The next several slides should present the results obtained, and a final slide should give the conclusions of the study.

6. The electronic projection equipment available in each room will include a Pentium III PC (450MHZ) equipped with Windows 2000 and PowerPoint 2000. Please bring your Power Point presentation to the meeting on a USB Memory Device, CD or ZIP disk (in that order of preference). If you are bringing your presentation on a CD, it is also strongly recommended you completely and permanently "close" the CD with the option that it cannot be written to again, to ensure a higher degree of compatibility with CD drives other than that on which it was created. It is highly recommended if you are a Macintosh user to test your presentation on a PC to verify it converts to WINDOWS format accurately. Resolution will be set for 1024x768 with 24 bit color. A VGA 4-way switcher will also be available which will allow four lap top computers to be connected to the data projector. There will NOT be any MAC equipment available.

7. Review your presentation on a different machine from which it was originally prepared to ensure the backgrounds, graphics and linked images appear properly.

Instructions for Giving a Platform Presentation:

Presenters in all Annual Meeting sessions are required to use digital projection of a PowerPoint presentation.

1. Arrive at least 45 minutes prior to the beginning of your session and introduce yourself to the chairperson. Provide appropriate, concise biographical information to him/her for your introduction. Presentations should be up on the computer before the session starts.

2. Organize your presentation/slides in the order in which they are to be presented and load your presentation on the computer before the beginning of the session. One of the co-chairs of the meeting will assist you if necessary. Be sure to check your Program for the location of the slide/presentation preview room made available to presenters. One of the most effective contributions to a presentation is well-prepared slides.

3. The electronic projection equipment available in each room will include a Pentium III PC (450MHZ) equipped with Windows 2000 and PowerPoint 2000. Please bring your Power Point presentation to the meeting on a USB Memory Device, CD or ZIP disk (in that order of preference). If you are bringing your presentation on a CD, it is also strongly recommended you completely and permanently "close" the CD with the option that it cannot be written to again, to ensure a higher degree of compatibility with CD drives other than that on which it was created. It is highly recommended if you are a Macintosh user to test your presentation on a PC to verify it converts to WINDOWS format accurately. Resolution will be set for 1024x768 with 24 bit color. A VGA 4-way switcher will also be available which will allow four lap top computers to be connected to the data projector. There will NOT be any MAC equipment available.

4. Schedule. No scheduling change can be made. You have been allotted a total of 20 minutes, including discussion for your presentation (unless you have specifically been contacted by the program committee). The chairperson has been instructed to require all speakers to adhere to this limit: fifteen minutes for the presentation, five minutes for discussion.

5. Remember to pick up your USB Memory Device/CD/Zip from the computer at the end of the session.

6. Should circumstances prevent you from making your presentation, you must arrange for a substitute to present your paper and you must notify your session chairperson as well as SOT Headquarters.