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Oral Presentations Guidelines

Oral Presentations


  •  Plan 15 minutes (12 minutes to speak and 3 minutes for questions). The schedule will be strictly enforced so be sure to practice your timing. [Honors will have 20-min sessions]
  • A moderator will be in your room to track your time and give you a 5 min. warning.
  • Expect a small room setting with presenter at the front of the room.
  • A computer and projector will be available. You will not use your own computer!
  • Up to the day before (business hours only) you will be asked to upload your digital presentation, if you have one, to a shared webpage managed by the AV people in the conference center.
  • You should still expect to show up before the start of the first oral session to verify that your presentation is loaded. bring a thumb drive copy just in case and keep a copy of your presentation in your email as a backup.
  • Tips on preparing oral presentations:
    • Practice your timing repeatedly.
    • Have visuals
    • Don’t talk too fast
    • If using PowerPoint:
      • plan roughly a slide a minute.
      • Don’t use a lot of text that you will read from.
      • Use large font that can be read from 6 feet away
    • Know your material
    • Practice, practice, practice!

We reserve the right to cancel a presenter’s session if the above requirements are not met. 

NOTE: a conference is more about what you take away from it than what you bring to it. You should be prepared to sit through other presentations as you hope people will sit through yours.