A laser pointer will be available in each room for use by the presenters.

Click here for a site map.

Plenary speakers

Plenary speakers are welcome to use the laptop in the Breakwater Ballroom or their own laptops for presentation. VGA and HDMI connectivity as well as Mac adapters (including mini display and USB-C) will be available. The AV team will work with speakers to set up individual talks and make sure that specific needs are met.

If using audio or video files in your presentation, please make sure to set up your talk early with our AV team. Allow at least one hour before your talk to make sure everything works properly.

Symposium speakers

Symposium speakers can use their own laptops to present. Speakers in the same session are highly encouraged to consolidate their talks on one laptop to save time in transitioning between talks and to avoid connectivity issues. Symposium Chairs should determine ahead of time which speaker’s laptop will be used and make sure talks are formatted properly.

Open Paper Speakers

Open paper speakers are required to set up their talks on the laptop at least one hour before their assigned session. All sessions begin at 9AM. The optimal time to set up the talks is between 7-8AM the same day (during breakfast).

Open paper speakers may use PowerPoint for their presentation and are asked to keep their talks to a maximum of 10 slides (excluding title and acknowledgments).

Lightning Talk Speakers

Lightning Talk speakers are required to set up their talks on the laptop at least one hour before their assigned session. All sessions begin at 9AM. The optimal time to set up the talks is between 7-8AM the same day (during breakfast).

Lightning talk speakers will only have a SINGLE slide to present, and it must be in PDF format with no animations. Slide should represent only ONE major finding and not have lengthy blocks of text.

Poster Presentations

Poster Session Location: All poster sessions will take place in the poster hall (Breakwater AB)
Poster Size: 48"W x 36"H
Poster Printing: Print your poster online and pick it up at the conference! We have secured 50% off poster printing through FedEx Kinkos. Please click here for more info.

Timing is everything!

Plenary talks (45 minutes)
Each talk includes a 5 minute introduction, and a 10 minute Q&A period after the talk.

Symposium talks (15 minutes)
Each symposium includes 4 talks, 15 minutes each, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A and a 40 minute general discussion (50/50 rule; see below).

Open papers (10 minutes)
Each open paper is followed by 2 minutes of Q&A. If the speaker desires additional time for Q&A, the talk can be shortened to 8 minutes.

Lightning talks (5 minutes)
Each lightning talk is 5 minutes and is limited to 1 slide in PDF format (think digital poster). It is followed by 1 minute of Q&A.

All conference talks must stay on time. With such a busy schedule, even a few extra minutes for one speaker can compromise the entire session. Session chairs are asked, encouraged and incentivized to be very strict with timing. If a speaker exceeds his/her allotted time, the session chair will be forced to use the squawking chicken, pictured on the right, which is far more effective than the Oscar speech-ending musical crescendo.

Each room will be equipped with two timers, one for the podium, visible to the speaker, and one to the session chair. Talk times are as follows:

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