Speaker Resources for CENIC `07: Making Waves

To increase the chance that your talk will be well received, we recommend that you:

• Highlight elements that are tangible to the audience, e.g., present a case study.
• Identify anomalies or counter-intuitive (interesting) aspects of your work.
• Educate in your area of expertise (so the audience can learn something).
• Motivate action (so the audience goes out and does something as a result of the talk).
• Entertain (so the audience stays in the room).
• Present points to embellish with your discussion; don't read your slides (the audience can do that).

Slide Format Guidelines:

• Company logos should only appear on the first and last slides of your talk. Full-page logos on cover slides are discouraged.
• Presenters/authors may retain copyright of their material, granting CENIC a perpetual license at no cost to archive and redistribute the material. Unobtrusive copyright notices may be on any or all slides of the presentation.
• A plain white background is recommended or you can use the following CENIC-provided templates:
  • CENIC `07 PPT Template 1
  • CENIC `07 PPT Template 2
  • CENIC `07 PPT Template 3
  
  
• For submission to the Program Committee, a PDF is recommended rather than the source file (e.g., PowerPoint).
• Conference attendees frequently point out that some slides are hard to read from the back of the hotel ballroom, where the General Session is held. To be legible, slides should use as least 28-point fonts (larger for titles). One easy-to-remember approach: print your slides, spread them on the floor, then stand on a desk to look at them. If you can read them, the font sizes are large enough. Don't fall off your desk while doing this!

Using Highly Technical Examples

We recognize that detailed technical examples can be a useful, and sometimes necessary, means of conveying information. In order to provide the maximum benefit to the largest number of conference attendees, we encourage speakers to tailor such examples so in depth knowledge of syntax or methods is either not required, or can be briefly imparted in an earlier part of the presentation. CENIC includes a broad base of attendees from academic, research, and governmental organizations.

More Presentation Tips

You might find these sites useful as you prepare your talk:

• "Pointers on Giving a Talk" by D. Messerschmitt (adapted.) -- http://www.nanog.org/talkpointers.html
• "The Short Talk," Charles Van Loan -- http://www.cs.cornell.edu/cv/ShortTalk.htm
• "Tips for Preparing Scientific Presentations," Office of Naval Research -- http://www.onr.navy.mil/about/speaking_tips/default.asp

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CENIC `07: Making Waves is the annual conference of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). CENIC is responsible for the California Research & Education Network, which serves the vast majority of K-20 educational institutions in the state. To learn more, visit www.cenic.org.