GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATIONS
BRITISH COLUMBIA CHAPTER OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY
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Oral Presentations

Oral Presentations – General

• Only PowerPoint presentations will be accepted (e.g. no slides, video, or overheads).
• Prepare your presentation as a single PowerPoint file (.pptx) not (.pps) file.
• We advise you to check if your presentation will run on Windows operating system (PC). Test it before submitting it.
• Label your pptx file with this format: Date(MMDD)-TimeSlot-Firstname-Lastname, e.g., MAR30-0930-Jane-Smith
• Bring your presentation on a USB (standard)-connected external drive to the conference. Upload your talk at the registration table in the morning or at lunch.
• Conference organizers will load all presentations on conference computers prior to the session. Presenters will NOT be allowed to use their own laptop computers. Mac computers will NOT be available.
• Rapid talks are 4.5 minutes to allow for AV switchover. We strongly recommend practicing to keep your talk to 4.5 minutes. Full talks are limited to 12 minutes plus 3 minutes for questions. You will not be able to extend your time if you have technical problems during your talk. If any technical issue were to arise during your talk, we suggest that you do not worry about the visuals and continue on with giving your presentation.
• As you are presenting, you will be alerted at 2 min, 1 min, 30 sec, 15 sec and STOP to keep us on time.

At the Conference

• Each session room will be equipped with a LCD (data) projector and a PowerPoint compatible laptop computer. An audio-visual volunteer will open and close your presentation. You will advance your own slides.
• The moderator, not the speaker, asks for questions from the audience.

Advice on Production of PowerPoint Graphics

• Keep visual aids simple. Convey only one idea per table, figure, or title slide.
• Too much detail detracts from the primary message of the slide.
• Slides should be readable to the unaided eye. You will be speaking in a large room.
• Text on title slides should be restricted to 4 lines. BIG IS BEAUTIFUL and easy to read.
• Use colourblind-friendly palettes. (This does not just mean red and green). Tips are here: https://www.brightcarbon.com/blog/optimising-presentations-for-people-with-colour-blindness/ 
• Simple typefaces are preferable to fancy fonts; use sans serifs fonts.

Advice on Production of PowerPoint Presentations

• Do all cropping of images in an image processing package, NOT PowerPoint. Save the cropped image as an external file and then insert the image into your presentation. We suggest saving image files in Portable Network Graphics (.png) format as it is the most space efficient and easiest to use image format in PowerPoint presentations. If possible, reduce the resolution of pictures. Resolutions greater than 120 dpi do not improve the projected image, but bloat file size and slow presentation loading time.
• Use sans serif fonts for all slides. This is to prevent problems with incorrect font/character substitution that occurs when presentations are prepared in fonts not available on the conference computers. If you must use other fonts, EMBED them in your presentation when saving it as follows: (a) in the ‘File’ menu, click ‘Save As’; (b) in the ‘Save As’ window, click ‘Tools’; (c) in the ‘Tools’ menu click ‘Embed TrueType Fonts’. You can embed any TrueType font that comes with Windows. Other TrueTyp fonts can be embedded only if they have no license restrictions. If a font can’t be embedded (for example, it’s not marked as being editable or installable), a message appears to tell you why. Saving a presentation with embedded fonts increases the file size of your presentation.
• Keep your presentation as simple as possible to avoid hardware and software conflicts. Audio and video files, animated text, animated figures, superscripts, and subscripts cause most of the problems.
• Check to be sure you are using the correct version of PowerPoint and Windows.

Poster Presentations

Poster Set-up

• Check the schedule to confirm poster set up time. Let the registration table know that you have a poster and they will provide further guidance on where to set up at the venue. Members of the conference committee and the venue will be on hand to assist.
• Posters will be displayed on poster boards or on the wall. Binder clips and tape will be provided to attach posters to poster boards or the wall, respectively. At least one author should be present at the poster during the entire poster session.

Poster Specifications

• Maximum poster size is 36 x 48 inches (91 x 122 cm). Posters can be created in either landscape (48” wide x 36” high) or portrait (36” wide x 48” high) orientation.
• Business cards or small leaflet literature for distribution may be inserted in an envelope and affixed to the board.
• Posters may be prepared as a single poster or as several smaller sections mounted together.

Advice on Production of Posters

• Keep text brief. Report only key aspects of each section (e.g., introduction, study area, methods, results, discussion, and management implications). It is not advisable to display the entire text from a manuscript. Too much detail detracts from the primary message of the text.
• Keep figures simple. Convey only one idea per figure, table, or photograph. Figures from publications, theses, or dissertations normally do not make good visuals. Too much detail detracts from the primary message of the figure.
• Text and figures should be readable to someone standing at a distance of six feet. Adjust font and image sizes accordingly. BIG IS BEAUTIFUL and easy to read.
• Photographs should clearly show what you want the audience to see. Give photo-credit as necessary.
• Use ample blank space between words, sections, and figures.
• Use appropriate and compatible colors for fonts, backgrounds, graphics, and matting. White backgrounds generally are best for text.
• Simple typefaces are preferable to fancy fonts. Bold type and colour may be effective on headings.

Any questions? Reach out to the executive at [email protected]

Photo credit: Black Turnstone and Surfbird, Kiirsti Owen