GUIDELINES FOR ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTERS
Specific Guidelines for AERO’13
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Oral presentations are 20 minute long, followed by a brief question period. Time
limits will be strictly enforced.
Bring your presentation on a CD or a flash drive. Provide it to conference staff at
registration so it can be loaded onto the conference equipment and tested.
On the day of your presentation, please arrive 15 minutes before the start of the
session to familiarize yourself with the venue and find out about any last-minute
changes. Bring a short bio (one paragraph) to hand in to the Chair so he/she can
introduce you.
INTERACTIVE PRESENTATIONS (POSTERS)
Each poster is allocated an area of approximately 4 feet square. Posters can be
mounted from noon until 6 pm on Monday April 29, and between 7:00 am - 8:00 am
on Tuesday April 30. They should be left on display for the entire duration of the
conference.
Authors are required to accompany their posters to discuss their work during the
Poster Session on Wednesday May 5 between 16:30-18:00. Coffee and snacks will be
served during the Poster Session.
Posters are to be removed on Thursday May 6 following the conclusion of the
Turnbull Lecture luncheon.
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATIONS
A ORAL PRESENTATIONS
An effective oral presentation
PowerPoint is the software tool typically used to prepare a presentation.
1. To prepare a presentation that communicates your ideas effectively, in general:
 Make sure each slide has only one message, and the text is written in large enough
font to be easily visible.
 Make slides interesting. Don’t just read out a list of bullet points from each slide –
your audience can read faster than you can speak. Paraphrase slide content.
 Judicious use of photos/graphics can be very helpful. However too many different
colours, fonts and graphics will distract your audience.
 Keep graphs and tables simple. Make sure they are legible and suitably labeled.
2. Don’t try to pack too much into the presentation. Try to get a few simple points across
and avoid excessive detail.
3. Repeat your main messages more than once.
 Your audience will sit through many presentations during the conference, so make
sure they remember what yours was about!
4. Structure your presentation with simplicity and clarity, one step at a time. Make sure
your audience will have the answers to these questions:
 What is your topic?
 How have you explored/investigated/developed the topic?
 What are your findings?
 What conclusions can you draw?
5. Try not to read from a text.
 But if you must, make sure the text is written in informal, conversational English.
6. Pace your presentation so that it does not overrun the allotted time.
 Timing is vitally important! The time you overrun may be taken away from the next
presenter. Or worse: the entire session may run long with a resulting ‘domino effect’
that can have an impact on a large number of Conference attendees.
 Practice your talk beforehand to make sure you’ve got the timing right.
7. Allow at least 5 minutes at the end of your presentation for questions.
 This is a valuable opportunity for you and your audience to exchange ideas.
Tips on presenting an oral paper
1. Arrive well in advance of the scheduled time for your presentation to familiarize yourself
with the venue and find out about any last-minute changes.
2. Inform your session Chair at least 15 minutes before your session begins that you have
arrived.
3. Bring your presentation on a CD or a flash drive. Provide it in advance to conference
staff so it can be loaded on the conference equipment and tested.
4. Avoid insisting on the use of your own equipment unless there is absolutely no
alternative.
 Remember: equipment problems are very common and are always extremely
annoying. Don’t let your presentation be one that is remembered more for the time
it wasted than for the information it conveyed.
5. Respect your time limit. Invite your Session Chair to keep you informed about the
amount of time you have left, and manage your presentation accordingly.
B INTERACTIVE PRESENTATIONS (POSTERS)
An effective poster presentation
1. Posters must be sized to fit within an area that is four feet square.
2. Present your objectives, methods, results and conclusions as concisely as possible.
3. It is impossible to read and take in large chunks of text on a poster presentation, so the
most important thing is to keep your poster simple.
 Use as few words as possible to get your point across.
 Make use of tables, graphs, diagrams and pictures.
 Keep the illustrations and graphics simple and bold.
4. Judicious use of colour can enhance your message, but don’t go overboard with too many
colours or fancy fonts.
 If you do use colour, make sure that your text contrasts sufficiently with the
background colours to be easily legible.
Tips on presenting a poster paper
1. Make sure you know when the poster session is scheduled.
 Plan to be there a few minutes early, and to stay for as long as the session is
scheduled last.
2. It’s a good idea to take along some handouts.
 A copy of the poster itself reduced to a standard page format may be used. This is
simplified if you have produced the poster using PowerPoint.
 An alternative is a single-page summary of your poster.
3. Try to accommodate every conference participant who wishes to talk with you.
 Keep your comments as informative and as concise as you can.
 Don’t rush, but do try to make the best possible use of your time and that of
interested delegates.
 Don’t compromise effective communication with the person in front of you by trying
to make eye contact with the next questioner.