Guidelines for presenters

Firstly, please read the presenter instructions below, which also contain a list of software and equipment available to you.

Presenter Instructions

You should also read the following guidelines concerning your presentation. The theme of this conference is "bridging the gap between theory and practice", and this is what your presentation should aim to reflect in some way.

If you have written a scientific paper which will be published in "Contemporary Ergonomics & Human Factors 2010", then delegates can read the detail of your study there. Your presentation does not need to go into depth about the methodology, the number of subjects, and all the variations of your results. You should aim to give your audience the 'headlines' and the contribution of your study to the body of knowledge that is ergonomics and human factors. Try to project more meaning into the outcome of your study - "bridge the gap" between your theory and its practical applications.

You should aim to answer the two questions audience's often have but too often go unanswered: "So what? and "Why does this matter to me?"

Death by Powerpoint

Eye contact plays a vital part in holding your audience's attention. The more slides you have and the more there is on each slide, the more distracting it will it be for the audience - whereas the fewer and simpler the slides are, the easier it will be to keep them listening. If you just display text on a slide, people will try to read that and listen to you at the same time - and they won't be able to do either very well.

Think about the value of each slide to the audience. Never show a slide that you have to apologise for. If you need to say "you probably won't be able to read this" or "I'm sorry for the poor quality of this side", then there's no point in having the slide. If you need a pointer to indicate an important concept or location on a slide, it's probably too crowded or difficult to understand.

Use your slides to clarify or illustrate your point, not to provide you with notes for what you are going to say. This needs careful planning and rehearsal but it's much more likely to keep your audience's attention and interest. Think of the collective time the audience is giving you. Fifty people times 20 minutes is 16 hours. Don't you owe them some effort in rehearsal time in return?

Bullet points don't necessarily make information easier to grasp. It's much better and more memorable for the audience if you use images or simple 'headlines' to illustrate your talk. Remember that you have a very short time to get across your message so there's no point in cramming information into your slides and your talk. The audience won't remember it all, so why not just aim to get across the main messages? You'll be able to slow down and let the audience digest the information you're giving them. This will make it easier for you, and much more enjoyable for them.

Don't run over time. If you're having trouble with this in your rehearsals, get to the point earlier. And try to be enthusiastic about your subject; if you're not, how can you expect your audience to be?

Instructions for poster presenters

The panel on which your poster will be displayed is 1.8m high by 0.94m wide.

You will need to display your poster at the conference from Tuesday 13th April until Thursday 15th April. You need to be available during the poster session time, Tuesday evening from 17.00 to 18.30, to talk to delegates who wish to discuss your work with you.