The 2020 SANS symposium will include three presentation formats: live oral presentations, pre-recorded presentations, and online posters.
The program will contain links in the presentation titles to author biographies, abstracts and presentation material. Please update your SANS profile and photograph, as that biographical will be used to introduce you.
Pre-recorded presentations
Pre-recorded presentations will be allocated a 10-minute time slot.
- Please stick to the time allowance. It is important that the symposium sticks to the planned schedule. Submitted pre-recorded presentations that exceed the 10-minute allowance will unfortunately not be accepted.
- Use PowerPoint to make your presentation. PowerPoint offers voice-over recording for presentations. Guidelines on how to record a slide show with narration are available. If possible, we suggest that you generate a self-running presentation i.e. a continuous video that does not rely on someone manually advancing the slides. Please check the guidelines for self-running presentations. Please ensure that you use 16:9 (widescreen) format.
- Make sure that your content is clear and aligned. It’s important to ensure that the content of your presentation aligns with the audio that you record. Please remember to speak to the content of your slides, and draw attention to specific areas where you want the audience to focus e.g. looking at the figure on the left… Focus on content that will help viewers understand the key messages of your research. Please remember that SANS draws individuals from a broad range of disciplines and that some background information may be appropriate. The article Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations provides some useful guidelines.
- Make sure your audio recording is clear. Please try to reduce background noise as much as possible when recording your narration, and remember to speak slowly and clearly.
- Figures, text and tables must be suitable for online viewing. Please keep in mind that participants will probably be viewing your presentation on a computer or tablet screen and that magnifying content will not be possible. Use easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman.
- Remember to include disclosures and acknowledgements. Please include a section to disclose any conflicts of interest and acknowledge funding supporting your research.
Live oral presentations
Live oral presentations will be allocated a 20-minute time slot, which includes 15 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for questions.
- Please stick to the time allowance. It is important that the symposium sticks to the planned schedule. We encourage you to check the length of your presentation during a practice run.
- PowerPoint presentations must be correctly formatted. Please prepare your slides in 16:9 (widescreen format). If you are designing your presentation on a Mac, remember to check that the formatting is consistent using a Windows system.
- Figures, text and tables must be suitable for online viewing. Please keep in mind that participants will probably be viewing your presentation on a computer or tablet screen and that magnifying content will not be possible. Use easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman.
- Tell us the story of your science. Live oral presentations are a fantastic way to share the meaning and impact of your research. Please remember that SANS draws individuals from a broad range of disciplines and that some background information may be appropriate. The article Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations provides some useful guidelines.
- Remember to include disclosures and acknowledgements. Please include a section to disclose any conflicts of interest and acknowledge funding supporting your research.
- Be prepared to answer questions. Delivering an online presentation without audience feedback can be nerve wracking. However, the five minute question time will hopefully allow for some active interaction and engagement.
- You will be required to submit your presentation slides ahead of the conference. In order to ensure that the conference rungs smoothly, even with potential connectivity problems, we ask that you forward us a copy of your presentation at least 2 days ahead of the meeting.
- Your presentation will be recorded. Please note that we will make a recording of your live presentation that will then be available to members on the SANS website.
Poster presentations
The most successful posters are those that effectively present your science. We have included some guidelines to help you craft a poster that communicates your research and its impact in a clear and easily accessible manner. Additional guidelines can be found at http://www.betterposters.blogspot.com.
- Your poster has to tell the full story. Unfortunately, the virtual format of this year’s symposium will not allow you to present your poster to participants. Thus, it is important that your poster provides a stand-alone overview of your research i.e. an explanation is not required to understand the work you present.
- Convey your research quickly. The time available to view all the posters is limited. Please ensure that your poster is concise and only includes essential information. You may want to include simple diagrams or figures in place of large chunks of text. It is not necessary to duplicate your abstract on the poster.
- Use a font that is easy to read. Please use a standard font e.g. Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman that is easy to read. We do not recommend using fonts that are cursive.
- Format your figures and tables for easy viewing. Remember that people will likely need to zoom into your poster, in order to see the detail in different sections. Ensure that your figures and tables are of high enough resolution that they are clear at higher magnification. Remember that colour blindness is a relatively common condition and use an appropriate colour palette. For more information check this link.
- Title section information. Each poster must include the title, authors and their affiliations at the top.
- Funding and disclosures must be reported. Please include a section to disclose any conflicts of interest and acknowledge funding supporting your research.
- Include an ethics statement if required. If your research required ethical clearance, i.e. you performed a study using animal or human subject, please include a statement with this information on your poster. For studies that included human subjects, please ensure your poster adheres to all necessary confidentiality guidelines.
- Include your contact details. If you would like people to be able to engage with you about your poster and research, you can consider including an email address so that they can communicate with you.
- Permission to submit your poster. All co-authors listed on your poster must have approved the final, submitted version.
- Please submit your final poster as a PDF.
Conference material archive
Submitted material (abstracts, posters and oral presentations) will be housed on the SANS website and will be available for members to view after the symposium is complete. Please ensure that all co-authors agree that this material can be included on our website.
Judges will review live oral, pre-recorded and poster presentations on the day and prizes will be awarded for the best presentations! To be eligible for a poster prize, the presenter must be available to discuss their work at a specific time during the conference as stipulated in the program.