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Guidelines for Presenting at BWB 2015

Brian Klatt of the Michigan Natural Features Inventory gives a presentation at Biodiversity Without Boundaries 2014. MNFI is co-hosting BWB 2015 in Traverse City. ​Biodiversity Without Boundaries brings together members of the NatureServe Network, partners, and other conservationists and biodiversity scientists for a week of sharing and collaboration.

We invite our presenters to be creative in their approach, especially in the use of engaging and informative visual aids. To get started, here's some useful guidance:

Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 do’s and don'ts
Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Structure

If you have other ideas for your session, please contact Don Kent to ensure that we can accommodate your needs. 

Types of Sessions

Sessions at BWB typically fall into five types: 

  1. Symposia – Several speakers discuss a topic before and with an audience. Typically beginning with short presentations by the speakers. Symposium proposals should be submitted by the organizing individual, and include a list of confirmed and invited speakers.
  2. Workshops – Workshops emphasize interaction and the exchange of information among the participants. The participants are actively engaged in problem-solving, interacting with tools, and/or creating action steps related to a topic. Workshop leaders might open the session with a brief oral presentation, but primarily serve as facilitators to the interaction among participants and the progress of the session. The key to a successful workshop is to have a clearly stated goal of what you would like the workshop to generate—for example, new ideas about how to solve a particular problem, or feedback on the functionality of a particular tool—and enough background information available for your participants to readily understand the issue. Workshop proposals should be submitted by the host/moderator.
  3. Panels – A relatively small group of people brought together to discuss, investigate, or decide a particular manner. Differs from a symposium in that the panel has a desired outcome. Panel organizers are responsible for identifying, recruiting, and organizing the panels. Please submit just one proposal for the entire panel that provides the overall topic and a list of panelists (both invited and confirmed).
  4. Presentations – Typically an individual showing, describing, or explaining their work or an idea to an audience. Biodiversity Without Boundaries presentations will be held to 20 to 30 minutes, including questions from, and discussion with, the audience. We recommended that the presentation be limited to 10 to 15 minutes to ensure interaction with the audience. A moderator will keep presenters on schedule.
  5. Posters - Posters provide a summation of a topic that can be scanned, read, and/or re-read by participants anytime during the conference. Posters are highly effective for presenting results—such as of field studies, research projects, development plans, etc.—and high-level views of emerging issues, but can address any stage of a project or idea. Here are some tips for designing your poster: The Basics of Poster Design and Design of Scientific Posters.

File Logistics

The computers in the session rooms will be Windows XP-based PCs with Microsoft Office 2010, including PowerPoint and Windows Media Player. All presentations will be uploaded by conference staff onto conference laptops in each session room; personal laptops cannot be used for presentations. Please note that we will email you instructions for naming your file and providing it to conference staff prior to BWB.

Macintosh Users: To convert an Apple Keynote presentation to a PowerPoint presentation, follow the instructions at eHow. Refer to your software's help documentation for converting other Mac presentations to a Windows-capable format. Please make sure that all inserted pictures are either JPEG or PNG file-types. Quicktime (.mov) files are an acceptable video format.

Poster Format and Display

Posters should be no larger than 30 inches x 40 inches (76 cm x 101 cm), with either portrait or landscape orientation. Should you require more space, please contact Saide Saravia.

We will provide easels—no mounting is necessary—and the necessary fasteners.

Posters must be presented when you register. Posters should be displayed by Monday morning, moved into the reception room Monday evening, and back to the poster presentation hall by Tuesday morning.

You must register to attend at least one day of the conference for your poster to be displayed. Poster authors should plan to be near your posters to talk with viewers during the afternoon breaks and at the Monday evening reception.

Posters will be recycled at the end of the conference. Should you wish to retain yours, notify us when you register to make arrangements for you to retrieve it or have it sent to you at your expense.