Session Format and Presentation Instructions

Presenter must review with co-authors whether their presentation aligns with the assigned session and complete a confirmation form by Thursday, Feb 8, 2024.

Click here for the Final program. 

Oral Presenter Confirmation Form | Pitch-and-Poster Presenter Confirmation Form

Oral Presenters

• You are allotted 14 minutes for your talk (10 minutes presentation plus 4 minutes for Q&A).  Timing will be strictly enforced 
• Presenters will be required to use the conference AV system to minimize setup time. Your slides must be submitted by 5pm ET, Sunday, March 17th HERE.   Please prefix your filename with the day of your presentation, your oral session number and last name.  For example, March19_03_Smith.pptx. 
• Please arrive at the presentation room at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the session. There are two parallel sessions – please check program to make sure you're in the correct room.
• The preferred formats are Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe PDF. Please prepare your slides in 16:9 aspect ratio. We suggest bringing a copy of all the files including movies on a USB key as backup. If you are including videos in your presentation, it is highly recommended you use a standard codec to avoid playback issues. Exporting the presentation using the Package for CD option from PowerPoint will ensure that all media files are copied into one location and file paths are adjusted inside the presentation. Windows Video Player is installed in the presentation computer.
• General guidelines for preparing your presentation:
  1. Ensure that all text, figures, tables, etc. are visible in a large conference room (keep font size > 24 pt).
  2. Images should be high contrast so the audience can clearly see your findings; make images and data tables as large as possible.
  3. Avoid low-contrast color combinations – e.g. red text on a dark blue background, blue on black, pale grey on white.
  4. Ensure that you have an appropriate number of slides in your presentation.  As a rule of thumb, you should have one slide per minute of talk time; fewer if you have slides with complex figures or tables, or if you will show a long animation/movie.
  5. Practice your talk prior to the meeting.
  6. Projectors are 16:9 aspect ratio. Native panel resolution is 1920 x 1080
• Best presentation awards will be handed out at the closing ceremony.

Pitch-and-Poster Presenters

• Pitch-and-poster presenters will first give a 3-minute pitch. Immediately after your pitch session, there will be a 55-minute poster session in the Poster Room (Graydon Hall D) for you to discuss your work with symposium participants and answer questions. 
• For your pitch, please prepare a one-page static slide (3MT style, no animation – see below for links to examples) in landscape PDF format. 
• Presenters will be required to use the conference AV system to minimize setup time. Your pitch slide must be submitted by uploading your file HERE no later than 5pm ET Wednesday, March 13.  If your slide is not received by the deadline, a slide with your name and a title of your abstract will be displayed when you give your pitch.  Please prefix your filename with your pitch session number and talk number for easy identification. For example, P3-4 John Doe.pdf if you are in pitch session 3, talk number 4. 
• Guidelines for preparing your pitch presentation:
  1. Resources on how to prepare your 3MT slides are available on the internet.  For example, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/internal/doctoralschool/researcherdev/threeminth... and https://www.mcgill.ca/skillsets/files/skillsets/mcgill_3mt_presenter_gui...
  2. Ensure that all text, figures, tables, etc. are visible in a large conference room (keep font size > 24 pt).
  3. Projectors are 16:9 aspect ratio. Native panel resolution is 1920 x 1080
  4. Timing will be strictly enforced to ensure a smooth handover between speakers. Please ensure that you have rehearsed the timing of your pitch beforehand. The session chair will introduce each speaker and the title of the pitch.
• For your physical poster, it should be on display for the full duration of the symposium.  Set up time is 8:30-9:30 on Tuesday, March 19.  There will be pushpins available in the Poster Room (Graydon Hall D).  Posters should be self-contained; there will be no access to electrical outlets.  Remove posters between 16:30 -17:00 on Wednesday, March 20.  Posters remaining after this time will be destroyed.
• Guidelines for poster presentation
  1. The dimensions of the poster should not exceed 3' 5" (w) by 4' (h).
  2. Ensure that all components (text, figures, tables, etc.) are clearly legible at a distance of approximately 2 m; a font size > 30 pt is required to achieve this.
  3. Images should be high contrast and appropriate brightness.
  4. Write just enough to tell your story.
• Pitch awards will be handed out at the  closing ceremony.