Oral and Poster Presenter Guidelines

On this page:

Questions should be directed by email to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca

ORAL PRESENTERS

General Information

• All meeting space for ICAIS 2024 is on the convention level and all session rooms are in very close proximity for ease of movement.
• In addition to the plenary sessions, there are typically four concurrent sessions each day and it is very easy to move from one session to another depending upon the participants’ interests.

Room C1-C2A: Plenary Sessions and Ballast Water Workshop

Room 101: Concurrent sessions A

Room 102: Concurrent sessions B

Room 103: Concurrent sessions C

Room 109: Concurrent sessions D

• It is very important that presenters adhere to the time allocated for the presentation, which is 15 minutes for the talk and 5 minutes for Q&A.
• If using slides, it is recommended to use only 10-13 for a 15-minute talk.
• Encore Global is the in-house audio-visual company at the Halifax Convention Centre and they are providing all A/V equipment and on-site technical support during the conference.
• Each session room will have, at minimum:
  • A 5’ x 9’ (152 cm x 274 cm) screen.
  • A data projector on an A/V cart.
  • A podium from which the presenter will speak.
  • A laptop at the podium with presentations pre-loaded.
  • A podium microphone, a wireless lapel microphone, a wireless hand-held microphone for Q&A, a wireless PowerPoint remote and mouse.
  • A built-in speaker system.
  • A speaker timer in view of the speaker from the podium
  • A side table for the session chair to be seated, with a 22” LCD monitor so that they can see the slides being projected, and the speaker timer.

FORMATTING AND SUBMITTING PRESENTATIONS

Pre-recorded Presentations

All presenters in concurrent sessions (in-person and virtual) are required to provide a pre-recorded version of their 15-minute talk through Fourwaves by April 26, 2024.

Pre-recorded Presentation Formatting Guidelines

The recording should be submitted with slides in 16:9 (widescreen) format for optimal viewing and can be provided as:

• a video (MP4) of the slides and presenter voice over with captioning, or
• a video (MP4) of the presenter and their slides with captioning.
  • Google Meet recordings (caption information included under ‘Learn what’s recorded in a video meeting’)
  • Microsoft Teams recordings | More information on captions (under ‘Live captions’)Zoom meeting recording | More information on captions
  • Vimeo recordings (free)

How to Record your 15-minute Presentation with Captions/Sub-titles

• Access a screen recording site
• Open the Vimeo screen recorder: https://vimeo.com/ (or your screen recording app of choice)
• If you are using Vimeo, you will need a free account
• Start a new recording
• Allow the screen recording app access to your microphone and camera
• Share your screen and get your presentation in full-screen mode
• Make sure you have captions enabled during presentation mode
  • Learn more about doing this in PowerPoint here
  • Learn more about doing this in Google Slides here
• A small popup box will show up in the corner with your video and a ‘Start recording’ button
• Once the video is complete, it will be stored in your Vimeo library
• Download this video, name it according to the naming convention, and upload it to the Fourwaves platform
• *Note: Additional information and screenshots are available in the PDF guide at the top of the page

File Naming Protocol

• Presentations must be named according to the following protocol:
• Day_MonthDate_PresentationTime_RoomNumber_FirstnameLastname
• EXAMPLE: Mon_May13_1040_Room102_JaimieDick
• Presenters can find the date, time and room for their presentation in the ‘Schedule’ in Fourwaves.
• If there are any problems finding the details for your presentation, send an email to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca before April 22, 2024.

Submitting Pre-recorded Presentations for Streaming

Pre-recorded presentations are to be submitted through Fourwaves. To do this: 

• Activate your account using the confirmation link that was issued when you submitted your abstract, or by going to the Fourwaves login page and clicking ‘Get a new password. Be sure to use the email address you entered when you submitted your abstract.
• Once logged into the account be sure you select ‘Participant’ from the top-left drop-down menu, then click ‘Submissions’ from the Participant Dashboard menu.
• Click your submission title and select ‘Edit Submission’ on the right-hand menu.  
• Upload the files applicable to your presentation and click ‘Save form’. 
• If you have more than one presentation, repeat the process for each separately.

More information for presenters can be found on the ICAIS website.

Slides for On-site Presentation

In-person presenters in concurrent sessions must also submit the slides they plan to use through Fourwaves by April 26, 2024.

• Submissions through Fourwaves will not be possible after April 26, 2024.
• If on-site presenters revise their slides after the online submission has closed, they must:
  • Send an email message to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca to advise that they need to submit an updated version of their slides for on-site presentation.
  • Send the revised slides through a file transfer system (eg.WeTransfer, Dropbox, etc.) to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca according to the schedule below and obtain confirmation that the fie has been received.

OR

• Bring the revised slides on a portable memory drive and deliver it at the Presentation Manager’ desk according to the schedule below.
• If a presenter does not submit a revised file according to the instructions above, the file that was submitted through Fourwaves will be considered final and loaded onto the laptop in the session room for presentation.
• Presenters are not permitted to load presentations onto the laptops in the session rooms.

File Naming Protocol

• Presentations must be named according to the following protocol:
• Day_MonthDate_PresentationTime_RoomNumber_FirstnameLastname
• EXAMPLE: Mon_May13_1040_Room102_JaimieDick
• Presenters can find the date, time and room for their presentation in the ‘Schedule’ in Fourwaves.
• If there are any problems finding the details for your presentation, send an email to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca before April 22, 2024.

Submitting Slides for On-site Presentation

• The slides that you plan to present are also to be submitted through Fourwaves, using the same instructions above. 

On-site Presentation Submission Schedule

The cooperation of in-person presenters in following this schedule is greatly appreciated.

Other Information

• Images, videos, audio clips and animations
  • Images should be inserted into PowerPoint using the “Insert image” command (i.e., do not drag and drop from other applications).
  • If your presentation includes embedded audio clips, video or animations, be aware that you must provide the files for them separately to be sure they are linked on the computer being used to run the presentation. Be sure to upload them separately in Fourwaves.
• Hyperlinks: WiFi access for hyperlinks is available in all session rooms.
• Fonts: Use standard fonts in your presentation, as found in the default Microsoft library such as Arial or Times New Roman.

On-Site Support

• The Presentation Manager’s desk will be located near the conference registration desk in the Pre-function area of the Convention Hall.
• The desk will be staffed at specific times each day, and the Presentation Manager can be reached by WhatsApp (details to be provided).

PRESENTATION PROCESS

In-Person Presentation Process

• In-person presenters are to submit both their pre-recorded presentations (as described above) and a separate file of just their slides through Fourwaves.
• The laptops being provided in session rooms have Microsoft 365, but all versions of PowerPoint will be supported, in addition to files saved to Adobe Acrobat.
• Macintosh computer users should convert their PowerPoint presentations to a PC version (or PDF) and be sure to test the presentation on a PC before arriving at the conference.
• In-person speakers will present, and take questions from the on-site audience, according to the published schedule in Fourwaves.
• Session chairs will field questions from on-site participants and will moderate the 5-minute Q&A period following each presentation.
• Additional questions may be submitted to speakers through the chat feature in Fourwaves and they will be forwarded to the email address in the presenter’s profile in Fourwaves. Presenters can respond to those questions after the session has concluded.
• In-person presenters will advance their slides from the podium, using the wireless remote.
• The pre-recorded presentations of virtual speakers will be run by the session chair.
• During the Q&A period, session chairs will field questions from on-site participants.
• Questions for virtual presenters are to be submitted to them through the Fourwaves chat feature or by email to the presenter.
• Presenters each have a profile in Fourwaves and it is up to each person to set up what they want to include e.g., a photo, the email address for networking, biosketch, etc.

Virtual Presentation Process

• The recordings of virtual presentations will be played for in-person participants, during the sessions in real-time (Atlantic time) according to the published schedule in Fourwaves.
• There will be no real-time question and answer period with virtual presenters. Instead, anyone who wishes to ask them questions can do so:
• through the chat feature in Fourwaves (more information under ‘Virtual Participants’ below), or
• by contacting the presenters by email.
• For virtual and in-person participants, the recordings of all speakers’ presentations will be available online within one hour of each session concluding (Atlantic time), according to the published schedule in Fourwaves.
• The online recordings will remain available for viewing until November 1, 2024.

QUESTIONS

If there are any questions, or clarification needed, send an email message to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca

POSTER PRESENTERS

GENERAL INFORMATION

• The poster session is on Monday, May 13, 2024 from 17:30-20:00 (Atlantic time) in Room C5 at the Halifax Convention Centre, the same room for morning and afternoon breaks.
• There will be five poster kiosks located around the room and each will be labelled with a kiosk number.
• Each kiosk will have 8-10 posters that will be pre-loaded onto each unit in advance of the conference.
• Poster presentations are scheduled at specific times during the poster session as published in Fourwaves.
• There will be two presentation times allocated for each presenter during the poster session.
• Posters will remain available for viewing by in-person participants until end of the afternoon break on Wednesday, May 15.
• All  poster presenters (in-person and virtual) are required to provide a digital version of their poster materials by April 22, 2024 to be pre-loaded onto the units.
• Posters are to be formatted in portrait layout only. Do not submit in landscape layout as the materials will not display well on the touch screens.

SMARTEK Systems iQ755 Touchscreen Kiosks

ICAIS 2024 is launching the use of digital touchscreen displays for all poster presentations.

• This approach reduces environmental impacts by:
• eliminating the need for printed materials (paper, ink, lamination).
• reducing waste, as posters are often disposed of post-conference.
• the digital approach allows more flexibility for how the content is presented.
• The kiosks are single-sided, and the panel display is 55” (diagonal) with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080.
• They run on Android and Windows OS.
• Poster presenters can submit their materials in a format they choose:
  • a static image as a PDF file.
  • slides only with transition timing pre-set.
  • a video (MP4) of slides with the presenter’s voice over, plus captioning/sub-titles.
  • a video of the person presenting their slides, plus captioning/sub-titles using Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom meeting, Vimeo.
  • a multi-media presentation, plus captioning/sub-titles.
• Poster materials are to be submitted through Fourwaves by activating your account using the confirmation link that was issued when you submitted the abstract. If you cannot locate the link please notify us by email to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca
• The deadline for materials to be uploaded into Fourwaves is April 22, 2024.

This is a photo of the touchscreen monitor taken during the poster session for a different conference.

FORMATTING PRESENTATIONS FOR SMARTEK DISPLAY

Following are instructions on how to format the presentation to optimize display on the touchscreens and there are links to video tutorials for each, if needed. Just click the title (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint) below.

PDF

PDF files should be portrait orientation and North American letter size (8.5” x 11”).

Microsoft PowerPoint

1. Open up PowerPoint and create a blank presentation.
2. Click Design tab.
3. On the right side click Slide Size, then click Custom.
4. Microsoft PowerPoint units are set in your Windows Regional Settings. If you are working in centimetres, the dimensions to use are 28.575 cm x 50.8cm. If you are working in inches, the dimensions are 11.25” x 20”.
5. Click Okay and start creating your presentation.

Google slides

1. Open up blank presentation.
2. Click File.
3. Go to Page Setup.
4. Put in the dimensions 1080 px x 1920 px.
5. Click Okay and start creating your presentation.

Canva

1. On Canva’s homepage click Custom Size
2. Enter the dimensions 1080 px x 1920 px.
3. Click Okay and start creating your presentation.

HOW TO RECORD YOUR PRESENTATION WITH CAPTIONS/SUBTITLES

• Access a screen recording site
• Open the Vimeo screen recorder: https://vimeo.com/ (or your screen recording app of choice)
• If you are using Vimeo, you will need a free account
• Start a new recording
• Allow the screen recording app access to your microphone and camera
• Share your screen and get your presentation in full-screen mode
• Make sure you have captions enabled during presentation mode
  • Learn more about doing this in PowerPoint here
  • Learn more about doing this in Google Slides here
• A small popup box will show up in the corner with your video and a ‘Start recording’ button
• Once the video is complete, it will be stored in your Vimeo library
• Download this video, name it according to the naming convention, and upload it to the Fourwaves platform
• *Note: Additional information and screenshots are available in the PDF guide at the top of the page

HOW THE POSTER SESSION WILL BE RUN

Virtual Poster Presentations

• For virtual poster presenters, the pre-recorded presentation will be played in real-time during the poster session (Atlantic time), according to the published schedule in Fourwaves.
• Each virtual poster presentation is scheduled for 7 minutes.
  • five minutes for the pre-recorded presentation, and
  • two minutes for on-site participants to discuss.
• There will be no real-time question and answer period with virtual presenters but . Instead, anyone who wishes to ask questions can do so:
• through the chat function in Fourwaves. See instructions below “How to submit questions to presenters”, or
• by contacting the virtual presenter by email.

In-person Poster Presentations

• Each in-person poster presentation is scheduled for 7 minutes:
• five minutes for the presentation (including pre-recorded version), and
• two minutes for questions and answers.
• In-person poster presenters may arrange additional times to be at their assigned kiosk to discuss their poster with attendees who reach out to them through the chat function in Fourwaves.
• All poster presentations will remain on the kiosks until end of the afternoon break on Wednesday, May 15, so that people can browse through them during networking breaks, lunches or other times when they aren’t attending sessions. 

STUDENT POSTER JUDGING

• Student posters will be judged and prizes awarded for the top poster for undergraduate, masters and graduate students.
• Judging criteria will be as follows:
  • It draws in the observer (catchy title and poster not too busy).
  • It has sufficient detail on methods/experimental/modelling plan.
  • Technical, experimental, field, modelling, and/or statistical approaches are appropriate.
  • The main outcomes were presented in a clear and objective manner.
  • The wider implications (stakeholder, policy/decision maker, commercial) were discussed.
  • Any constraints on the study were acknowledged/discussed
  • Future work plans (next steps) were mentioned.
  • The content was accessible, i.e. pitched at a level for all to understand.
  • The amount and size of text and images was appropriate for a poster (font size readable from ~1 m distance)
• The awards will be presented at the end of the plenary session on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

QUESTIONS

If there are any questions, or clarification needed, send an email message to icais@invasivespeciescentre.ca