Talks

If you submitted a project summary and it was accepted for presentation as a talk in a parallel session, please read the following guideline carefully.

Equipment

• All conference rooms are equipped with standard computers (PC) with beamer, amplifier, loudspeakers, and internet connection. Power sockets are central European standard. If you are using a Mac, bring the appropriate adaptor cables. We may not be able to solve compatibility problems between PCs and Macs.

Requirements

• You must present in the English language.

• Regular talks will be allotted 20 minutes plus 7 minutes for questions and 3 minutes break. You must stop talking 20 minutes after the scheduled start time, even if you started late (please therefore start exactly on time). The timetable will be strictly adhered to so that people can switch from one room to another and everyone gets the agreed amount of time.

• If you use powerpoint or similar (most will), bring a backup. To be on the safe side, expect your datastick to develop an error, your CD to be unreadable, or your computer to crash, and plan accordingly. Store your files on two or three of the following: your  laptop, a USB-datastick, a CD, an iPod with USD cable, an email to yourself that you can open from an internet page, or another standard storage device with a standard cable connector. 

• On the morning of your talk, attend the technical check from about 8:00-8:45 am. Copy your presentation onto the computer in your room and check that everything works. Powerpoint files and audio/visual files must be in the same folder (without sub-folders). Watch your videos and listen to your sound examples. Adjust the brightness, contrast, volume and sound quality. Make sure that your talk looks the same on the screen as it does on your computer monitor. Check that the text is legible from the back row (it will be if you use font sizes 20 or larger and maximize contrast between text and background).

• Meet your chair and technical assistant 10-15 minutes before the start of your session. If you have a handout, ask an assistant to distribute it for you.

• If something goes wrong with the equipment during your talk, ask the technician to fix it. Don't try to fix it yourself. Meanwhile, keep talking - even if you have to improvise without slides. Your 20-minute period will not be extended, but if there is a serious problem we may be able to find a timeslot later in the program for a repeat of your talk.

Suggestions

The following suggestions are intended to help you communicate the greatest amount of relevant information to your audience in the available time. That does not mean talking fast - your audience will understand most if you speak at a medium speed.

Language: 

• If English is your native language, please avoid idiomatic expressions that an international audience might not understand, and don't speak too fast. 
• If English is not your native language, please consider having a draft of your talk and your pronunciation of key words checked by a native speaker.

Structure and timing:

• Structure your talk clearly. Speak in grammatically complete sentences and divide your talk into sections (at the very least: introduction, main part, conclusion). Pause briefly between sentences or sections. Make sure your audience knows when you are coming to the end of a section or subsection, and beginning a new one. At the start of each section, indicate the aim of the section (i.e., answer the question "Why are we talking about this now?").

• Begin by explaining the background in research and practice (say, 5 minutes). Use the start of your project summary as a guide. After that, clearly state the main aim of your research. You should be able to do that in less than one minute. Then spend 5-10 minutes explaining your "main contribution". Return repeatedly to aspects of the relationship between practice and research. If you are primarily a researcher, place additional weight on practice; if you are primarily a practitioner, place additional weight on research. Your conclusion section should begin about 15 minutes after the start of your talk. During these last 5 minutes, you should repeat and summarize the main points and consider their implications - avoid launching into new issues, arguments or results.

• When you practice your talk, it should take about 18 minutes - not 20. That way, you will be prepared for the unfamiliar situation, interruptions, and unexpected minor problems. If there is no interruption and no problem, you can speak a little slower or extend your explanations. It is better to speak too slowly (even if it some find that boring) than too quickly and hence incomprehensibly.

Content:

• Define any terminology that may be new, unfamiliar, or used differently in different areas.

• Refer to concrete examples (especially short video and sound clips). Present examples near the start, not near the end of your talk. 

• Your audience will include not only a mnixture of practitioners and researchers but also a range of expertise levels. Offer neither a tutorial nor a highly specialized, technical address. Instead, pitch your presentation at an intermediate level. 

• Avoid discriminatory language. For example, don't refer to unspecified people as "he" unless they really are male; consider switching everything into the plural and using "they".

• Inform - don't infatuate. Discerning listeners will be more impressed by a speaker who honestly and modestly conveys helpful, interesting information than by a speaker who tries to disguise questionable material by means of long and grammatically complex sentences, overstatement, unnecessary jargon, unfounded claims, or destructive, ad hominem criticism of competing projects.

Presentation:

• We strongly recommend that you use powerpoint or similar software, even if only for showing photos, graphs or videos. Your audience will learn more about your project if they can use both their eyes and their ears. Allow at least 1 minute per slide, i.e. up to 20 slides for a 20-minute presentation. Make sure that the audience has time to take in everything on each slide. Don't expect your audience to read text at the same time as you are telling them something else. Slides should be as concise as possible, but still self-explanatory. Limit text to 20-30 words per slide, and use font sizes between 20 and 30 (remember the people in the back row). Colours should contrast sharply, e.g. black letters on a white background, or white letters on a dark blue background; avoid pale or pastel colours. Write in point form (not in sentences, unless you are quoting) and expand on each point in your spoken presentation. Prefer graphics to text where possible. Figures should be uncluttered. If you present a graph, ensure that the two axes are clearly labeled. Also explain the axes to the audience.

• We do not recommend that you read from a script, because it reduces eye contact with the audience and hence the spontaneity and efficiency of communication. But a script can be useful if you consider the following tips. Write short, clear sentences that your audience can immediately understand without repetition. At regular intervals, throw in improvised comments that respond to the needs of the moment and maintain personal contact with the audience. Be prepared to leave out prepared material if you suddenly realize that it is not central or that you don't have time to explain it properly. (Don't say that you are doing that - just do it.) Even if you do not use a script, you may find it easier to improvise your presentation if you have written a text in advance. When planning the timing of a scripted talk, allow time for improvisations, interruptions and other delays. Expect to say no more than 100 words per minute and talk for no more than 18 minutes, remember that your chair will introduce you and there will be inevitable small delays. If you use a script, it should be about 1500 words in length.

• A handout will usually not be necessary, as all participants will have your revised project summary (in the conference handbook) and perhaps also your proceedings paper (in the internet). A handout may nevertheless help you to present certain kinds of content. If you choose to distribute a handout, we suggest a single piece of DIN A4 that has been prepared from 4 original pages by reducing to about 70% and double-sided copying. We regret that we cannot make copies for you and recommend that you make about 30 copies of your handout before arriving at the conference.

Further tips and ideas for those new to conference presentations:

• Maintain the loudness and clarity of your voice throughout the talk. If possible, stand. If you must sit, remember to look up. Establish and maintain eye contact with members of audience in different parts of the room. Their expressions will tell you if you are interesting, comprehensible, too loud or quiet, or too fast or slow. Respond to these signals. Don't stare constantly at your script, the computer monitor, or the screen. Avoid the temptation to point toward the computer monitor. To point at the screen, use a pointer. Don't block the view of the audience by standing in front of the screen. 

• Rehearse your talk before the conference with a friend or colleague or better, in front of a group. If you find that it is too long, don't try to cram the same material into less time by speaking more quickly and allowing less time per slide. Instead, relentlessly delete unessential material. In principle, any topic can be presented in any amount of time.

• During the question period, remember that as speaker you are in a more powerful and authoritative position than audience members. Don't interrupt questioners (leave that to the chair), but let them finish what they are saying before you reply. To ensure the audience understands both the question and your answer, brfiefly repeat the main point of each question before answering it. Keep your answers brief, to allow time for further questions. If you don't know the answer to a question, confess your ignorance (maybe someone else in the audience does). Don't argue with a questioner; you can always continue discussion in private.

We wish to emphasize that these are no more than suggestions. You are free to present your work in any way you consider appropriate. We nevertheless hope that these guidelines will help you to maximize the amount of relevant information that you communicate to your diverse audience during the short time available for your presentation.

Posters

All posters will be standard DIN-A0 size in portrait orientation and will be presented during sessions that are dedicated to posters (i.e. not in parallel with another event). Posters will remain prominently on display throughout the conference in the same area as registration and refreshments. Local organisations and researchers will present their posters on Wednesday 7 April from 14:00 to 15:30. The authors of international project submissions will present their posters on Thursday 8 April from 13:30 to 14:30 (see program).

To help you create your poster, we have prepared guideline-templates. Please click on the link that applies to you:

International project submissions	ppt	pdf
Graz NGOs, media, initiatives...	ppt	pdf
Graz research groups	ppt	pdf

Local participants: We will print posters for Graz NGOs and research groups and pay for the printing, provided we receive an electronic draft by 15 March and a final version by 22 March. Please write to Martina Koegeler (cAIR at uni-graz.at).  To be sure that all posters are printed, we will inform authors of posters by email that their poster is in press. If you do not receive this confirmation, please send us your poster again without delay.

International participants: You must have your poster printed and pay for the printing yourself before travelling to the conference. We suggest that you decide well in advance how and where your poster will be printed. Ask your printer for advice (for example about  computer formats) and submit your poster for printing well in advance of the printer's deadline. Don't forget the packaging (e.g. a cardboard tube).