December 1-4, 2008
Holiday Inn on the Bay • San Diego, California

Presenter Guidelines:

General Information for Poster Presenters

Thank you for your participation in the poster session at the Pacific Coast Fire Conference: Changing Fire Regimes, Goals and Ecosystems. This is information regarding the poster session and your poster. The poster session will have an official opening on Tuesday evening, December 2. The poster/exhibitor room will be available for you to set up your poster any time after 1:00 PM on Monday. Please have your poster set up by mid-day on Tuesday, at the latest. There will be a reception on Tuesday evening during the poster session. We would like you to leave your poster through the morning coffee break on Thursday. Remember to remove your poster at the end of the conference, as any unclaimed posters will be discarded.

POSTER PRESENTATION

A 4-foot-high by 6-foot-wide area is available for each poster. The conference will provide tape or push pins to mount your poster to the wall.

Poster abstracts will be assigned a number in the printed conference program booklet, and corresponding numbers will be attached to the walls in the poster/exhibitor room. Determine the number assigned to your abstract in the printed program and look for the corresponding number in the poster/exhibitor room.

Tips for preparing your poster:

  • The poster must cover the same material as the abstract.
  • Place the title of your poster prominently at the top of the poster board to allow viewers to identify your poster easily. Indicate 1) title, and 2) authors' names. All poster presenters will be assigned a number that corresponds to the location of their poster in the exhibit room and to their abstract in the printed program.
  • Highlight the authors' names, e-mail and address information in case the viewer is interested in contacting them for more information.
  • Prepare all diagrams or charts neatly and legibly beforehand in a size sufficient to be read at a distance of 2 meters/6 feet. Paragraph and figure caption text should be AT LEAST 24-point font and headers AT LEAST 36 point font. Use creativity by using different font sizes and styles, perhaps even color.
  • Use different colors AND textures/symbols for each line or bar contained in a graph or chart. A serif font (e.g. Times) is often easier for reading main text, and a non-serif font (e.g., Arial or Helvetica) for headers and figure labels.
  • Organize the poster so that it is clear, orderly, and self-explanatory. You have complete freedom in displaying your information in figures, tables, text, photographs, etc.
    Use squares, rectangles, circles, etc. to group like ideas. Don't clutter your poster with too much text! Label different elements as I, II, III; or 1, 2, 3; or A, B, C. This will make it easier for a viewer to easily follow your display.
  • Include the background of your research followed by results and conclusions. A successful poster presentation depends on how well you convey information to an interested audience.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AND HOTEL RESERVATIONS

Please note that all poster presenters are required to pay the full conference registration fee and must register prior to the conference.

Presenters are also responsible for making their own hotel reservations. Please if you decide that you will not be able to attend, so that we can adjust the presentation space accordingly.

The conference program, online registration and a link to the Holiday Inn on the Bay are available on this website. Thanks for your time and patience!

Instructions for Speakers

Thank you for agreeing to speak in a session at the Pacific Coast Fire Conference. It is important that you get your presentations loaded well before the start of your session, if possible prior to the day of your session. There will not be any opportunity to load it once the session has started. You cannot attach your own laptop computer to the projector in each room.

Prior to the session: Before the session you need to become familiar with the layout of the Conference, where and when your session is scheduled, and your place on the agenda for your session. Know your starting and finishing times. To get this information, download the “Detailed Conference Agenda” from the web site. The detailed agenda will also be in the printed conference program, and the daily agenda for each specific speaking room will be posted at the room entrance.

Ensure that your presentation file is compatible with MS Office 2003. Consider bringing your presentation on both a thumb drive and a CD. We have experienced some thumb drive incompatibility issues among laptops.

Loading your presentation: Laptops will be designated for each presentation room. Each day the laptops will be located near the registration table prior to the start of the meetings, during lunch and after the presentations conclude for the day. During these times you must load your presentations onto the designated laptop for your room. There will be designated folders for each day and each session on the desktops. Find the appropriate folder and copy your file into it.

Naming your presentation file: There are approximately one hundred and fifty presentations at this conference. To minimize confusion and loss of presentations, you should use the following format to name your presentation: presenters last name (underscore) date of presentation (underscore) am or pm. For example: Miller_Dec. 2_pm.

Time: The Conference runs in synchronized time blocks that allow attendees to move between sessions. All talks are 20 minutes in length. It is very important that we keep to this time block. Even small overruns can throw the schedule off. If only one speaker goes five minutes long, the session will not match the other sessions and it will impact another speaker’s time. If a few speakers run over, it may eliminate someone’s speaking time. Moderators have been notified that they cannot let this happen and the speakers’ time must be strictly enforced.

Moderators will hold up a sign when there are 3 minutes, 1 minute, and 0 minutes remaining in your total speaking time. You must be finished on time. If you finish earlier, there can be questions. Please make sure to look for these signs! You will be cut off quickly when you are out of time.

Introductions: The 20 minute speaking intervals include the time to change and introduce speakers, make the presentation, answer any questions and address any set-up that needs to be done. Therefore, to maximize the amount of time that the speakers have, we will keep the introductions very brief.

Where to sit: Speakers need to sit close to the podium prior to their speaking time. It is helpful if the moderator knows who and where you are. We suggest that you sit near the front if possible.

Microphones: We plan to use lapel microphones so that speakers can be heard even if they turn from the podium.

Breaks: There are half hour breaks in the morning and afternoon. Lunch is approximately an hour and a half. If necessary, we will run the sessions into the breaks to get them back on schedule. These breaks are our only buffer for the sessions that get off schedule.

 

Remember that all speakers need to register for the conference! Thanks for your time and patience!

 


Audio-Visual Presentation Guidelines

Please register for the conference by November 10.

We will provide the computer you will use, an LCD projector, screen and microphone.

PowerPoint presentations should be loaded and tested the day before your presentation. Presentations must be copied onto one of four computers (one per session room) that will be set up near the registration table.

Please save your presentation in an Office 2003 format, rather than 2007. Any older version of PPT on the projecting computer may not be able to read an Office 2007 file.

Layout and Design Recommendations

  • Do not use any font smaller than 24 pt.
  • Avoid using high resolution images when preparing your presentation – oversize files can present problems, and individual slides can take much longer to appear.
    Save your images as lower resolution .jpg, 100 to 150 dpi
  • Resize your image before you insert into PPT. If you crop the image in PPT, the entire image is still saved. Appropriate dimension are 10 inches wide by 7.5 inches tall. Depending on the version of PPT, you may have to adjust the resolution to 150 dpi in order to fill the screen.
  • If you are using unusual fonts, embed them in your presentation, as the computer used for projection may not have the desired font. Go to the PPT Help menu bar, and type in ‘embed font’ for more information.

General instructions

  • On the toolbar, click Tools, then Options, Save, and select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select ‘Embed characters in use only (best for reducing file size),’ which embeds only the characters used in the presentation.
  • If you plan to have others review and edit your presentation, it's best to embed the full font set, although this results in a larger file.
  • Avoid using italics or too many words per slide.
  • Equations: Do not type; use an Equation Editor because the equations are then embedded in the presentation as a graphics object. (PowerPoint has an equation editor, which can be inserted as an object).
  • Cutting and pasting from other source documents equals potential disaster with unrecognizable character generation when using another computer. For example, we could see something like διν☺γβατ φοντσ, instead of what was intended.
  • Pie charts or graphs with bars and lines show trends and statistics effectively.
  • Show titles across the top of slides. Simplify the graphs. Less is more. Rule: no more than three or four curves per slide; no more than 4 bars per graph. Use contrasting colors to delineate between categories.
  • Provide conversions for unit measurements, either metric or US, in parentheses.
  • Do not put information within 1 inch of the bottom of the page, as it may be difficult to see on the projected image from the back of the room.

Color Guidelines

  • If using color, ensure your work can also be presented in black and white (PowerPoint enables previewing in B&W).
  • Do not exceed four colors per slide.
  • Avoid hyperactive and confusing backgrounds. Backgrounds that change from dark to light and back again are difficult to read.
  • For dark backgrounds (blue, teal, or dark green): use white, yellow, or light orange lettering.
  • For light backgrounds (white, faded photo): use blue, teal, dark brown, or black lettering.
  • Do not use red and green together, as these colors appear gray to some people.

General Reminders

Bring two copies of your presentation with you to the conference, on both a thumb drive and a CD, as there can be thumb drive incompatibility issues among computers.

Do not prepare more slides than you can present in 20 minutes, allowing for discussion.

Rehearse your presentation to ensure it fits within the allotted time block – moderators will have the sessions run on time.

Carry your presentation with you on the plane, not in your luggage.


 

with any questions.