Great Rift Science Symposium Presenter Instructions

Technical Sessions held during the Great Rift Science Symposium will follow a schedule of 15-minute oral presentations. Except for keynote addresses, speakers will be allowed 12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes to address questions from the audience. The session chairs will adhere strictly to the schedule, so be prepared to conclude your presentation within the allotted time.

Oral presentations may be made using a PowerPoint Presentation (preferred) or a standard overhead projector with transparencies. There will be NO 35mm slide projectors provided for presentations. The following equipment will be available for each speaker:

Computer with Windows XP Operating System and MS Office XP. Macintosh PowerPoint presentations will work, but they must be saved in a PC format.
LCD Projector OR Overhead Projector
One Screen (double screen presentations will not be allowed)
Laser Pointer
Lectern/Podium with light (and microphone if necessary)

If possible, create your electronic presentation using simple graphics, photos, standard fonts, and standard formatting. All presentations MUST be saved in a PC format in order to avoid technical problems. Also, Macintosh users must name and save their presentations with a ".ppt" suffix. PowerPoint presentations with lots of attached files, fonts, graphics, sound clips, and movies MUST use the PowerPoint PAC & GO feature (under the file menu) that grabs and compiles all embedded components. You risk losing this information if you simply select “Save” or “Save As” when saving your presentation.

PowerPoint presentations may be brought to the symposium in several formats: CD-ROM, Flash Memory (hot stick), Zip Disk, or Floppy Disk. We highly recommend a CD that can be read by any computer. All presenters must bring their digital file to the Speaker Ready Room for a quick test and upload before the start of their technical session. This room will not be available for full-length practice talks or extensive revisions to presentations.

Session chairs will be in the meeting rooms approximately 15 minutes before each session. Meet with them before the start of the program to make sure that your presentation is uploaded and ready to go, and that you are familiar with the procedures to be followed during the technical session. If you plan to attend a different session prior to your talk, please be in your session a few minutes prior to your scheduled time and wait until your turn to speak.

Although use of your own laptop is not recommended, we understand that some presentations require special applications that may not be available. If you must use your own laptop computer during the session, you will need to get approval from the session chair before the start of the session. We wish to avoid time-consuming technical difficulties involved in switching from one computer to another during the program.

Here are some tips to follow (from the Geological Society of America) when constructing your PowerPoint presentation, especially if this is your first one:

Use the same backgrounds, styles, and effects throughout your presentation. Consistency makes your audience comfortable and eliminates visual confusion. Keep any background designs simple, not elaborate.
Use large fonts (20-point and higher) for best readability. As a general rule, title or headline fonts should be twice as large as the font used in a bullet point. If you can't fit all your points on one slide without moving to a smaller font, break the points up into separate slides.
Limit each slide to one main idea with no more than 3 to 6 points. Don't crowd the slides with too much information or the audience won't be able to read them and your message may be obscured.
For the best flow, you need an introduction, main points, and a conclusion, all supported with arguments, stories, and examples. Design a concluding slide with no more than 3 to 5 summary points or action steps that restate your main points.