Oral Presentation Instructions

Thank you for presenting at the State of the Arctic Conference, 16-19 March 2010 in Miami, Florida, USA.

Please read the guidelines below for important details about your oral presentation for the State of the Arctic Conference. The details below include information about preparing your presentation, audio/visual capabilities, and how to submit and preview your presentation.

Presenters MUST visit the Speaker Ready Room (Terrace Level, Next to Registration) to upload and test their talk by 5:00 pm the day prior to your presentation. On Monday, 15 March the Speaker Ready Room will be open until 9:00 pm. If you need to make alternate arrangements, please contact kristin [at] arcus [dot] org (Kristin Timm), ARCUS.

Please use the checklist below to ensure that you have not missed any important steps in preparing for your oral presentation.

Prepare your presentation
Determine your audio/visual needs
Upload your presentation
At the meeting, check into the Speaker Ready Room (Terrace Level, Next to Registration)
Give your presentation

After the meeting, all presentations submitted will be converted to PDF and available on the State of the Arctic website. If you DO NOT want your presentation slides available as a PDF online, please notify Speaker Ready Room staff or helen [at] arcus [dot] org (Helen Wiggins).

Preparing For Your Presentation

Acceptable formats for presentations:

MS Windows: Microsoft PowerPoint, Acrobat PDF
Macintosh: Microsoft PowerPoint, Acrobat PDF, Apple Keynote

State of the Arctic presenters are expected to explore the themes of the conference. As possible, speakers should draw connections between their presentation, other talks in the session, and the overall goal, which is to review our understanding of the arctic system in a time of rapid environmental change. Please review the State of the Arctic Program as you develop your talk.

State of the Arctic participants will be quite diverse in their scientific knowledge and interests. The audience includes researchers from many disciplines, policy makers, educators, federal agency staff, members of the media, students, and interested public. Although the majority of participants are from the U.S., the audience includes an international contingent. Attendance is expected to be over 350 participants. The participant list is updated daily.

All presentations may be photographed. Additionally, all plenary presentations will be video taped and presented to an Internet audience via a real-time webcast.

Additional Tips for Developing an Effective Presentation

Avoid disciplinary or scientific jargon and unexplained acronyms in your presentation. The audience is diverse and participants do not share the same professional, scientific, cultural, or educational backgrounds.
Avoid technical details and keep to the "big picture."
Slides must be well designed, simple, and legible to everyone in the audience.
Use as few slides as possible for the time allotted. As a general rule, use one graphic or slide for each 1 or 2 minutes of presentation time. Devote each slide to a single fact, idea, or finding.
Presentations are most readable on a dark background and bright lettering.
Avoid long or complicated formulas or equations.
Use the minimum number of words possible in titles, subtitles, and captions. Avoid using small or unusual fonts that will be illegible from the back of the room.
An introductory and a concluding slide and statement can greatly improve the focus of your talk.
As much as possible, address how your topic is relevant to our understanding of the Arctic as whole, and connections to the globe and our daily lives. Why should we care about this topic? How does it matter to an Iowa housewife or New York City cab driver?

Determining Your Audio/Visual Needs

All oral session rooms are equipped with the following audio/visual equipment:

1 LCD projector
1 Computer (May be Macintosh or PC)
1 Projection Screen
1 Presentation Controller (Includes laser pointer, forward and reverse buttons, and vibrating timer)
1 Podium Microphone
1 Lavaliere Microphone
Podium
In-room sound system connected to presentation computers
Wireless microphones for audience questions

If you wish to show a video during your presentation, the MPEG-4 format is preferred, however, any format that is Perian compatible should run properly on the computers provided.

Presenters will have access to high-speed Internet during their presentations.

Uploading Your Presentation

Upload Before the Conference:
Presenters can pre-upload their presentations until 12:00 noon Eastern Time on Monday, 15 March 2010.

Online pre-submission is strongly encouraged. If you submit your presentation beforehand, you will save time in Miami waiting to upload and preview your presentation.

Instructions to Pre-Submit Your Presentation:

Save your presentation using your last and first name in the following filename format: Lastname_Firstname.ppt
Go to the ARCUS FTP Upload Site: http://www.arcus.org:2100
Login at the site using the following information:

Username: public
Password: arcus
Click on the folder named, "State of the Arctic Presentations"
In the left-hand menu, select "Upload File(s)"
Browse and find your presentation, and click "Begin Upload"

If you have problems uploading, please e-mail your questions to zeb [at] arcus [dot] org

ARCUS staff will receive an automatic notification that your presentation has been uploaded. We will check to make sure it opens and send you a confirmation email.

When you get to Miami, visit the Speaker Ready Room to preview your presentation. Even if you upload you presentation beforehand, you must check in at the Speaker Ready Room. The hours for the speaker ready room are listed below.

We recommend you bring at least two backup copies of your presentation to the meeting. The following media devices will be supported:

Any USB storage device
CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW

Upload At the Conference

Starting Monday, 15 March 2010 at 1 pm, you may upload your presentation at the conference by visiting the Speaker Ready Room during the hours listed below.

Speaker Ready Room Hours:
Monday 15 March: 1:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tuesday 16 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 17 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 18 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday 19 March: 7:00 am – 9:00 am

We recommend you bring at least two backup copies of your presentation to the meeting in case there is a problem with one. The following media devices will be supported:

Any USB storage device
CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW

Presenters MUST visit the speaker ready room to upload and test their talk before 5:00 pm the day prior to your presentation.

If you need to make alternative arrangements, please email Kristin [at] arcus [dot] org.

Check in at the Speaker Ready Room

IMPORTANT: Personal laptops cannot be used for your oral presentation during the plenary or parallel sessions. You MUST load your presentation from the Speaker Ready Room.

Presenters MUST visit the speaker ready room to upload and test their talk before 5:00 pm the day prior to your presentation. If you need to make alternative arrangements, please email Kristin [at] arcus [dot] org.

Speaker Ready Room Hours:
Monday, 15 March: 1:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tuesday, 16 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday, 17 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday, 18 March: 7:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, 19 March: 7:00 am – 9:00 am

When reviewing your presentation, make sure all fonts appear as expected and all audio/video clips are working properly. When you are finished reviewing your presentation and verifying it is ready, ARCUS personnel will queue your presentation to be loaded on the computer in your session's room.

A printer will be on hand in the Speaker Ready Room to print your slides/notes.

If needed, you may make edits or changes to your presentation outside the speaker ready room using a bank of public use computers.

Giving Your Presentation

Oral presentations will be held between five rooms across the conference facility. Please visit the conference program and map of the conference facilities to determine your room location.

Session conveners will provide a short introduction to each presenter and ARCUS staff will queue up your presentation on the in-room presentation computer. Once the presentation has started, the presenter will control the program using a wireless remote with forward and backward buttons and a presentation timer.

Session chairs and ARCUS staff will be on hand to time presentations and will alert presenters at the 5, 2, 1, and 0 minute intervals. Plenary presenters will also have a large podium timer.

Additional tips for delivering your presentation:

Be considerate of other speakers and the audience by staying within your allotted time. If you have questions about how much time you have been allotted, please contact Helen [at] arcus [dot] org.
Session chairs will hold you to the allotted time. This is essential to ensure adequate time for questions and discussion as well as adherence to schedule.
Prepare your presentation in advance so that your ideas are logically organized and your points clear.
Take time to rehearse your presentation. If your presentation runs longer than the allotted time, eliminate the least essential material and rehearse again.
Speak slowly and clearly. Word choice should be simple: use active words and short sentences.
If you need to see what is on the screen, have copies at the podium.
Use the public address system, and speak into the microphone and toward the audience. Proper use of the microphone is important to ensure high video quality and good sound quality for Internet audiences.

Additional Questions?

For questions about presentation logistics, please contact kristin [at] arcus [dot] org (Kristin Timm). For questions about the sessions or the content of your talk, contact helen [at] arcus [dot] org (Helen Wiggins).

National Science Foundation	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere
Study of Environmental Arctic Change	Arctic System Science Program	US Arctic Research Commission
North Slope Science Initiative	International Arctic Science Committee	Arctic Ocean Sciences Board
Alaska Ocean Observing System	Department of Energy	National Aeronautics and Space Administration
WWF	Association of Polar Early Career Scientists	Bureau of Land Management
International Study of Arctic Change	ArcticNet	Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies