Instructions, Templates, and Forms for Presenters and Moderators

Computers and digital projectors will be available in all of the rooms. You will be required to use the room computer rather than hooking up your own.

Specific Instructions for Oral Presentations

1. Prepare a PowerPoint to accompany your talk.
1. Use only Windows-default fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, etc.). Otherwise, your text may not appear properly on the in-room computer. The smallest font size that is easily read on a screen is 30, but larger is better.
2. Keep the top right corner of the slide blank so that if the session is live-streamed, all of your text can be read. Please do not put more than 6 or 7 lines of text on each page.
3. Text and images should be kept away from the edge of the page.
4. As a rule, try to use black or white text on a colored background. If you want to use a color on your font, put it on a black or white background. GREEN OR PURPLE on BLUE isn’t as readable.
5. Please include a last slide that with a few references appropriate to your subject. These references are useful for credibility with your audience and for future online viewers of your presentation. References can be your own publications on your subject, or citations of other recent authors related to your subject. Personal references are not appropriate or needed.
6. To be safe, stand 7 feet away from your computer screen. If you can easily read your text, it’s probably good. If not, it will not be readable on the big screen.
7. If you plan to embed an audio or video file in your PPT, please keep in mind that this can often cause problems for presenters. It may be necessary for you to meet with tech people well ahead of time in order to make sure these things work. If possible, please avoid using embedded audio/video.
2. In addition, create a PDF version in case there is a viewing problem and for posting on the ASA website. If you have any copyrighted material in the presentation version, you must also create a cleared PDF version (copyright material deleted) for posting.
3. Name your PDF file for posting on the ASA website with the filename ASA2023YourLastName. Please provide both the PDF and PPT files to ASA.
4. Save your PowerPoint presentation, your PDF version, and, if necessary, your cleared PDF version to a thumb drive. Bring the thumb drive with you.
5. PRACTICE your presentation. The program will only work if all presentations adhere to the time allotted. Presentations will be 20 minutes with 5 minutes for Q&A and 5 minutes for transition. Most first-time speakers are surprised by how fast this time goes by.

What to Do Before Your Session

1. Transfer your files for presenting (pptx and PDF) and posting (cleared PDF) from your thumb drive to the computer well in advance of your session—but no later than ten minutes before the starting time of your session.
2. Be sure to introduce yourself and meet with the moderator of your session prior to the session.
3. Since each talk will be recorded unless you have specifically requested no recording, be sure that the supplied microphone is functioning when you begin your talk.

General Reminders

• Your abstract will be edited for length, format, and clarity
• As you prepare your presentation, remember to gear it toward a general audience, avoiding technical jargon, defining terms.
• Be cautious and acknowledge if you are speaking outside your area of expertise.
• Use appropriately tentative language, e.g., "perhaps ...," the data "suggests ...." this has "implications for our views on ..."
• Acknowledge other interpretations in addition to your own viewpoint.
• Slides to supplement your oral presentation are preferred.
• Be sure to practice your talk aloud so that it falls within the time limit of 20 minutes for your presentation leaving 5 minutes for questions.
• As always, be respectful when responding to questions.

Dear Moderators,

Thank you all for your willingness to moderate a session at ASA 2023 July 28–31 at the University of Mississauga, Ontario. The program is chock full of excellent papers and the meeting promises to be an outstanding one.

A critical part of any program is smooth logistics. Your role as a moderator is particularly critical to keeping everything on schedule and working properly. Here are a few guidelines we would appreciate you following:

1. Meet each speaker in your session prior to the start of the session so you know everyone who is speaking. We will ask all the speakers to contact you as well.
2. The speakers have been asked to bring all presentations on a memory stick. It is best to transfer the presentation to the room computer prior to the start of the session and do the presentation from that copy. Please be sure each presentation is transferred to the folder for your session on each computer.
3. START ON TIME! END ON TIME! We have many parallel sessions with a tight schedule. The program will work only if each presenter sticks to their time slot. It is your responsibility to make that happen. We have 30-minute time slots which are to be used as 20 minutes for presentation, 5 minutes for Q&A, and 5 minutes for transition.
4. Introduce each speaker clearly and briefly: name, identification (position and/or organization) and the title of the talk.
5. Be sure the speaker’s microphone is correctly positioned. An audio recorder will be set up in each room to record the session, but you need to ensure the speaker's microphone is properly used. A person from the ASA tech team and/or university tech team will stop by the room up to 20 minutes before the session to confirm that the technology is working correctly.
6. Have a timer with you and give the speaker a warning 3 minutes before the time is up.
7. Allow a few questions following the talk but limit the time and interrupt if someone asks an inappropriate question, uses it for a soapbox, or makes far too long a comment. Please repeat the question that is being asked to ensure that others in the room, including the presenter, adequately hear the question. Each room will have a roaming mic (two mics in CCT 1080) for questions, so you (or a helper) will need to bring the mic to the questioner. There is no need to repeat every question.

Also, please keep in mind when interacting with attendees at your session, and throughout the conference, that not all ASA members or conference attendees think the same about issues of the day. ASA prides itself on being a place where controversial issues can be discussed respectfully, and disagreements with an individual, group, or organization must be expressed with humility. The apostle Peter said it best: “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” (1 Peter 3:8)

Thank you so much for your participation in this year's annual ASA meeting.

General Comments

Plan your poster presentation carefully. Keep in mind the advantages of a poster over an oral presentation. Posters are available for viewing over an extended period of time. Attendees find that the poster session is an excellent way to sample many papers, devoting their time in proportion to their interest in the poster topic. Authors and interested viewers have time for much more significant discussion, not the five minutes allotted at the end of an oral presentation. Finally, there is no first or last poster presentation on the program!

Specific Instructions for Poster Presenters

1. You must mount (mounting materials available) your poster before 8:30 AM Saturday and remove it before 6 PM Sunday.
2. Arrive at the poster session ten minutes before the start and remain by your poster until the session has ended.
3. Have a short statement prepared for those who are interested but have no questions.
4. Stand close by, but not directly in front of your poster.
5. Give concise answers to questions; communicate with everyone.
6. Be prepared with extra copies of materials that you would like to share, including business cards.

Specific Guidelines for Creating Posters

Posters should be readable by viewers five feet away. The message should be clear and understandable without need for oral explanation; it is not an exhaustive list of your research activities or pages of a scholarly research article. Use of the following guidelines may help the effectiveness of your presentation. With posters, pay careful attention to style, format, color, readability, attractiveness, and showmanship—use pictures, graphs, perhaps a cartoon, etc. effectively.

1. Rough layout: Your poster should be up to 32” tall and 40” wide. Font should not be smaller than 24 point. Place your title (at least 60-point font) at the top of the panel with your affiliation beneath or alongside the title in smaller font. Space may require a shorter title; the full title will be on the published abstract.
   
2. Content: Your poster should cover the key points of your work, not all the details. Leave the details for discussion with the persons expressing interest in your work.
1. A poster featuring laboratory research should include brief sections functioning as introduction, methods and materials, results, discussion, conclusion(s), and several main references, many as bullet points.
2. A poster featuring a nonlaboratory scholarly work should include an introduction, an approach to the problem or question being posed, discussion, conclusion, and several main references.
3. Written papers are not to be posted as posters.
   
3. Final layout: The artwork is complete. The text, tables, and graphs are typed but not necessarily enlarged to full size.
1. Now answer these questions:
1. Is the message clear?
2. Do the important points stand out?
3. Is there a balance between words and illustrations?
4. Is there spatial balance?
5. Is the pathway through the poster clear?
2. Resist the temptation to overload the poster as more material may mean less communication.
3. Ask a friend whether what you say and how you say it makes sense.
4. Then put things in final form.
5. Have your poster printed.