Presenting the paper

Any author or coauthor listed as such on a paper can be designated as the presenter for that paper. Substitute presenters are strongly discouraged, and must be pre-approved by the Conference Chairs in order to present. (See “Substitute Presenter Policy”, below.)

The technical program is organized in 90 minutes’ sessions. With 5 papers in each session, each paper is allocated about 18 minutes “total time”, which includes the presentation itself, plus the time needed to introduce the presenter, exchange of presenters, and questions from the audience. That means that each presentation may take a maximum of 15 minutes. The session chairs will be instructed to strictly enforce this limitation so that all speakers are treated equally.

All presentation rooms will be equipped with a laptop, a microphone, a lectern, and a pointing device. Presentation files can be uploaded in advance or brought on a USB memory stick and copied to the laptop during the break. Accepted file formats include MS Powerpoint and PDF. If you need audio speakers, or plan to use any other special audio or visual equipment, please contact Mr. Daniel Kraus (daniel.kraus@tugraz.at), as soon as possible, and no later than Thursday, July 9, 2015.

We discourage the use of individual laptops if it can be avoided. If you must use your own laptop, please check that it works well with the projector supplied before the session starts (preferably during the break before session – someone will be there to assist you).

As announced in the Call for Papers, accepted papers need to be presented at the conference to be published in the post-conference proceedings to be submitted to IEEE Xplore as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. No-show papers will be removed from the proceedings and cannot be cited as having been presented at the conference.

Substitute Presenter Policy

A paper can be presented by any of its author(s). In case of unforeseen/exceptional circumstances that require last-minute substitution by someone who is not an author or co-author, the original presenter must request an exception from the ConTEL General Chair, Dr. Erich Leitgeb (erich.leitgeb@tugraz.at), and receive written e-mail confirmation and approval of the request. If the paper is presented by a substitute, he or she must be sufficiently familiar with the material being presented to answer questions from the audience. In addition, the substitute presenter must contact the Session Chair prior to the session so that the fact that the paper is presented can be duly noted in the Session Chair Report.

Selecting the presenting author in EDAS

The steps below should best be done by the author who will present the paper at the conference.

First, log into EDAS.

A. To select the presenting author:

Select “My Papers” from the list of commands on the top of page.
Click on paper title. (The paper properties page opens).
The row underneath the list of authors, there is an option to select the Presenter (field “Presenter”). Click on the plus icon to add or change the presenter.
Select the author who will present the paper, and confirm (click on “Add another presenter“). The presenter’s name will now be shown in the paper properties page as “Firstname Lastname (bio)”.
Authors presenting multiple papers, please repeat steps 1-4 for each paper. (While the steps 1-5 may be completed by any of the authors, the rest must be done by the presenter, since it involves editing one’s personal profile in EDAS. The biography can be accessed by clicking on the word (“bio”) in the “Presenter” field, or, by following the steps below).

B. To add or change the brief biography:

Click on “My Profile“, and click on the word “Edit” (on the yellow bar, next to the word “PERSON”). A new page will open, entitled “Edit EDAS profile for (your name)”. Scroll down to the field “Brief biography (optional)“.
Change or edit your biography. (Please keep in mind the purpose of this text – speaker introduction at the session. A bio sketch, 200 words max., using IEEE style is recommended.) Save the changes by clicking on “Change profile”.

PLEASE NOTE:

The information above will be collected from the EDAS server on Thursday, July 9 at noon (GMT+1). Anything after that time will not be updated. In case of later updates, please bring the printout of the presenter’s biography to the registration desk at the conference.

Thank you!

Preparing your slides

Here are some useful guidelines for preparing your presentation (mainly taken from the IEEE Guidelines for Preparing Effective Presentations):

Your slide presentation should emphasize the most important points and ideas of your oral presentation. Use the slides to reinforce, clarify, illustrate or highlight individual points.
Make sure that the slides give answers to basic questions: WHAT you did, WHY you did it, and HOW.
Keep it simple. It is easier for the audience if you use three simple visuals than a single complex one.
Focus on one idea at a time. To include three or four ideas in a single slide usually detracts from your presentation and is apt to confuse your audience.
Keep statements simple and to the point, using key words and phrases. Do not repeat the text of your presentation word-for-word on the visual.
Remember that people retain information best through a picture or a chart than words.
Consider audience size. Slides must be prepared properly so that they are clear to even those at the back of a large room.
Fonts should be clear and easy to read. Use Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, or similar sans serif fonts. Decorative fonts are not recommended. Use only one typeface per visual. Add variety by using different sizes and bolding title lines.
Use contrasting colors for lettering and background (for example, blue or black letters on white background, or colored letters on dark background (yellow or white on dark blue background).
Use colorful background, colored text, animations, and other decorative elements with good measure.
Proofread very carefully. Try to have someone else proof in addition to yourself. It is hard to overlook errors when they are magnified in front of an audience.
Test your presentation ahead of time. Make sure it is easy to read from an appropriate distance, and that everything is in the proper order.
Rehearse your talk to make sure it takes no more than 15 minutes.

First time presenters

If this is your fist conference… congratulations! It’s great to have you here. You already made a research result worth reporting, wrote and properly formatted your paper, passed the reviews, revised the paper and submitted the final version… a job well done. Now comes the oral presentation. There are a few things you need to know about it. The key to a good presentation is to be well prepared and practice, practice, practice. It is perfectly normal to be nervous; even experienced speakers sometimes are. (Did we mention practice? :-)) Be confident, take a deep breath and speak clearly and distinctly. Finally, do not worry about your English – have a look at the program and you will see how international the crowd is. Just remember that you have something interesting to share with your colleagues in the audience.

Good luck!