Important Note about Social Media- Members of the SOC or other organizing committes may be taking pictures and making posts about certain presentations and oral sessions throughout the event. If any individual speaker or presenter does not wish their work or talk to be talked about or reported on via social media, it is within the responsibility of the speaker or presenter to make such a request prior to or at the beginning of their presentation/oral session.

Speaker Guidelines —

Invited oral presentations are scheduled for 15 minutes per talk, with 12 minutes for speaking and 3 minutes for questions, open discussion, and speaker transition. We will give you a 2-minute warning 10 minutes into your talk. Invited speakers will use their own laptops to share their presentations.

Lightning talks are scheduled for 2 minutes total, including transition to the next speaker. Slide will auto-advance after 2 minutes. Lightning talks are limited by a single slide and speakers are required to upload their slide by 08/16/23 5:00 pm CT. 

Technical Suggestions for Electronic Presentations—

• These suggestions are not meant to deter creativity or use of the best data available, but to provide suggestions for optimum results.

• Readability — Keep in mind that those sitting at the back of the room will have difficulty reading information that is not well presented. For the benefit of your entire audience, please keep the following tips in mind:

  • Graphics should be simple, well-designed, and legible to everyone in the audience.

  • Presentations are most readable on a dark background with bright lettering. To make certain your slides are legible, view your slides at a distance of 8-10 feet from your computer screen.

  • Avoid using small fonts, which will be illegible from the back of the room. Break up a complex slide into a series of slides. Avoid including critical information at the bottom of the slide, which is not always easily seen from the back of the room.

  • Devote each graphic to a single fact or idea. Illustrate major points, not detailed data.

  • Avoid long or complicated formulas or equations.

  • Use the minimum number of words possible in titles, subtitles, and captions.

  • Use bold characters instead of fancy type.

  • When preparing graphs, avoid more than two curves on one diagram whenever possible. If three or four curves must be used, make certain they are well separated. Label each curve; avoid symbols and legends. Avoid data points unless scatter is important.

  • Colored graphs are very effective as color adds interest, attractiveness, and clarity to illustrations. Contrasting color schemes are easier to see.

  • An introductory and a concluding graphic can improve the focus of your talk.

Poster Presenting Information

Poster presentations sessions will be from:

• August 17th

  • 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

• August 18th

  • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Presenter poster location assignment guides will be provided at the conference registration desk. Presenters should check their assigned poster location number carefully, due to the fact that poster locations are subject to change until the day of the meeting.

Poster Information

Posters must be a maximum size of 3.5 feet in height (42" or 107 cm) and 6 feet in width (72" or 183 cm).  The TAPs meeting will provide the following materials for hang posters: binder clips.

Creating Your Poster

Posters should be professional standing presentations of one's work. For examples on how to best prepare a poster presentation, the following materials are helpful:

Fixing Academic Posters: the #BetterPoster Approach 

How to Create a Research Poster: Poster Basics

How to Design an Effective Science Poster