AV-Guidelines

The following tips on preparing and managing your visuals have been prepared by Lou Winant of Convention AV Services. You will find information on the following topics:

Standard scientific room set-up
General slide preparation guidelines
Slide presentation guidelines
Computer presentation guidelines
 
And remember, it's best to fill out and return the A/V request form at least 3 weeks before the conference to make sure that the organizers can have everything you need onsite.

Audio/Visual Guide for Presenters
by
Lou Winant
Convention AV Services
2329 Manion Street
El Cajon, CA 92020
Tel: 1-619-295-7073
Fax: 1-619-258-0440
Email: louw@worldnet.att.net

GENERAL SLIDE PREPARATION GUIDELINES
FOR ALL PRESENTERS

 

• Work with an expert in the preparation of your slide materials.
  
  
• Slides are useful if they contain only enough information to illustrate one major idea, are visible even in the last row of a large auditorium, and show something that can’t be explained as well without a slide.
  
  
• Keep the layout simple with plenty of open space. Space between lines should be at least the height of a capital letter.
  
  
• Limit messages on slides to seven lines or less. Do not use more than seven words per line.
  
  
• Two or more simple slides are better than one complicated slide.
  
  
• Keep illustrations simple. A slide is not a textbook.
  
  
• Significance of data can be grasped more quickly in a simple graph form than in tabular form. Use rounded figures. Use captions sparingly.
  
  
• Clinical slides should be slightly overexposed to give a readable picture. Make sure slides are not dark and underexposed.
  
  
• Sans serif typeface, such as Helvetica or Arial, are recommended.
  
  
• Use color for emphasis only. White or yellow lettering on a blue background is attractive and easy to read. Avoid red and green text in consideration of those individuals who are colorblind and cannot register these colors.
  
  

• Darker saturated backgrounds work best. Whenever possible, test on a projection system.
  
  
  SLIDE PRESENTATION GUIDELINES
  
  Slide Format
  
  

• Slide mounts must be all white.
  
  
• Slide mounts must be no thinner than 1.8 mm or thicker than 3.2 mm; however, European slide mounts are usually about 3mm. Thinner mounts will float and won’t drop. Thicker mounts will jam in the projector.
  
  

• Avoid using glass slides because they will fog up in humid climates.
  Pakon SUPERPRO mounts or SUPER PIN-LOCK mounts are generally preferred. Please visit Pakon’s website at www.pakon.com for more detailed information.
  Mounts should be free of any dots, tape, glue or other adhesive.
  
  
  Slide Lettering
  
  

• If the original artwork is 15 centimeters high and 23 centimeters wide (6 x 9 inches), lower-case lettering should have a minimum height of 6.35 millimeters (1/4 inch), not including ascenders and descenders. For example, the letters “a” and “e” should be 6.35 millimeters high.
  
  

If the original artwork is generated on a computer slide program, such as PowerPoint or Freelance, the printed format of the artwork is 7 inches by 10 inches. The minimum height of lower case letters should be 36 points.

COMPUTER PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

• Most societies will provide a PC computer for your use which is usually located at the projection platform and you will advance your screens from the lectern.
  
  
• Power Point for Windows format is usually required with media on a PC floppy disk or PC CD-ROM. Presentations more than 10 megs in size usually require a CD-ROM.
  
  
• If using a MAC for your program, make sure that you can put the information into the correct format. Usually that can be done in the Speaker Ready Room.
  
  
• (PC or MAC) If you wish to practice in the Speaker Ready Room, bring your laptop computer.
  
  
• You will need to turn over your media (Floppy disk or CD-ROM) to the Speaker Ready Room so that it can be loaded into the central processing unit the afternoon before your presentation.
  
  
• It is highly recommended that a set of 35 mm slides be made and available as a back up in case of computer failure.
  
  

General Computer Equipment Guidelines

• When requesting a computer projection system, please note that most presentations will be done on IBM PCs. If the presentation is prepared on a MAC, then it must be converted to an IBM PC formatted disk. Additionally, please specify the display resolution (VGA, SVGA, SGA) noting the make and model.
  
  
• Work with an expert in the preparation of computer presentations.
  
  
• Use only Western alpha-numeric characters to name the PowerPoint program.
  
  
• PowerPoint presentations with audio and video clips must be identified in a single Windows file folder along with the PowerPoint program itself.
  
  
• Smaller word files may use a floppy disk.