II CONFERENCE OF THE PROGRAMME ON ECOSYSTEM CHANGE AND SOCIETY
PRESENTER INSTRUCTIONS
The following guidelines for giving an oral presentation, speed talk or poster presentation
are provided to ensure a smooth running conference. Please read through the relevant
information for your specific type of presentation.
Symposia - oral presentations:
Each presenter has 10 minutes for their presentation. Clarifying questions may be asked
directly after each presentation, but these will be kept to a maximum of 1-2 minutes. Once
all presentations have been held there will be a joint discussion for the reminder of the
Symposium time. Your chair will be getting in touch with you with further information prior
to the conference. All presentations need to be preloaded (preferably via USB/flash drives)
in the room hosting your session at least 20 minutes before your symposium begins. Use the
pre-plenary morning slots, coffee breaks or lunch breaks to do this.
Speed Talks:
Each presenter has 4 minutes for their presentation. Each speed talk session will consist of 8-
10 speed talks. The total length of a speed talk session will be 90 minutes. There will be no
Q&A between talks. Each session will be divided in two groups (of 4-5 presenters), followed
by a brief clarifying plenary discussion. At the end of the session, there will be a break-out
discussion in groups, during which the audience members will be able to approach selected
presenters for an interactive discussion. Your chair will be getting in touch with you with
further information prior to the conference. All presentations need to be preloaded
(preferably via USB/flash drives) in the room hosting your session at least 20 minutes before
your speed talk session begins. Use the pre-plenary morning slots, coffee breaks or lunch
breaks to do this.
Here are some tips on holding a speed talk. Firstly, you will be surprised how much can be
squeezed into 4 minutes, if you practice. Second, read up on some good advice here -
http://bytesizebio.net/2013/05/17/on-lightning-talks/. This includes:
• Introduce yourself clearly at the beginning (name, affiliation, position, what you do)
• Clearly introduce whatever you are presenting.
• Speak at your normal pace.
• Make the last slide the impressive one: clear, strong message that will linger and
impress itself upon the audience before it is time to move to the next talk.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Even if you are an accomplished speaker who can do a
long talk without rehearsals, the lightning talk is a different beast. Waffling costs
precious seconds.
• Don’t cram too many slides or be tempted to speak too fast.
Poster presentations:
Each poster session will be chaired. Each poster presenter will have 2 minutes to briefly
summarize their poster. All poster submissions have been clustered into 8 sessions (each
containing 6-10 poster sessions), that are spread the afternoons of the 8th and 9th
November, between 17.00-18.30. The actual chairing of the Poster Sessions will run from
17:20-18:00 during these afternoons. During this time, each presenter has two minutes to
present her/his work. After the presentations, there will be a 20-minute joint discussion.
Your chair will be getting in touch with you with further information prior to the conference.
Please make sure to get your poster up before the plenary session of the day of your poster
session. Here are some tips on how to create a good poster:
• Poster should highlight the most important/interesting/astounding finding from your
research
• You should spend some time thinking about how to visually share your research with
conference attendees – either through charts, graphs, photos or images
• Think about what kind of information you can convey during your 2-minute talk that
will complement your poster.
• Important information should be readable from about 10 feet away
• Title is short and draws interest
• Word count of about 300 to 800 words
• Text is clear and to the point
• Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read
• Effective use of graphics, color and fonts
• Consistent and clean layout
• Includes acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation
Flash Workshop/Innovative & Immersive Sessions:
Flash Workshop/Innovative & Immersive Session have a high level of flexibility in how they
will be run. Your chair will be getting in touch with you with further information prior to the
conference. All presentations need to be preloaded (preferably via USB/flash drives) in the
room hosting your session at least 20 minutes before the session begins.