Talk/Speaker Info

The Conference site will have the below audiovisual equipment available. Please follow the guidelines given below, in order for your presentation to run successfully. There will be a room available throughout the conference so that you may run through your presentation. Keys and practice times (for that room) are made available at the Annex Room (2nd floor).

Laptops (PC and MAC) - All PowerPoint presentation files should be saved on a CD-R, CD-RW or an USB Flash Memory Drive. You may use your own computer although there might be compatibility issues with conference a/v equipment. Presentations will be copied to computers provided by conference staff 45 minutes prior to your session. The version of PowerPoint used to save the file is important. The highest quality projection will occur with files saved in PowerPoint 2002 format for PC's and use Mac OS9 or Mac OSX operating systems for Macs. Do not use a resolution higher than 1024x768 pixels. Programs may also be in Apple Keynote3 in the Union Theater. A Macintosh G5 computer will be used. It has MicroSoft Office and can handle files created with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it has a 160 Gb hard drive, dual 1.8GHz processors and 1 Gb of RAM.

Overhead presentations - Items for overhead projection should be copied onto plain white paper for best results. The orientation of the graphic should be portrait.

Video Projectors
Projection of traditional 35mm slides will not be available.

Hints for making good slides

• Use contrasting colors for your text and background. Black/dark blue with white or yellow (or other lightly colored) text is recommended. If you decide go with a more entertaining background make sure you preview your slides in the same way that the audience will see them.  Immunofluorescent or snapshots of live movies look best on black backgrounds.  The colors stand out much better in a dark or half lit room
• Limit the slide to one (1) main idea.
• Standardize the slides throughout -- font sizes, font face, colors (eg., mutant data in yellow bars, wild type in white bars consistently throughout different graphs).
• Use bold face characters, sans serif (ex Arial, Helvetica, Gill Sans).
• Testing materials for legibility:  To be sure your material will be legible, look at the slide at arms length. If you can still read the slide, so can the people at the back of the room.
• Limit the slide to as few words as possible:  Maximum of 15 to 25 words, 6 to 7 lines of copy and leave space between each line equal to two lines of copy.
• Always use duplicates in your presentation if you need to refer to the same slide more than once.
• Use the whole slide, but leave some blank space.

BAD  BAD    BEST

Giving a Scientific Talk
Courtesy of Dr. Gilbert Chu, Stanford University School of Medicine

1. Don't talk without rehearsing. (Even Seinfeld rehearses, and he has nothing to say.)
2. Don't say too much. (The human brain sleeps when overwhelmed.)
3. Don't wiggle the laser pointer. (Inducing nausea is not good.)
4. Don't mumble with your back to the audience.
5. Don't show slides with a font smaller than 24 pt.
6. Don't show more than 1 slide per minute.
7. Don't use abbreviations without defining them. (This is not the government.)
8. Don't show data without the punchline on top. (It took centuries to decipher the Rosetta stone.  Your audience has 1 minute.)
9. Don't use invisible color combinations.

The 12 Minute Talk PDF

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We thank the generous support of our 2008 Conference Sponsors

CONFERENCE DEADLINES:    
Abstract Submission:  Monday, April 7, 2008 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. Platform and poster notification assignments will be posted at the Meeting website on or around, Monday, May 12, 2008

Lodging Reservations (via registration site): Monday, May 5, 2008

Payments: All charges must be paid in full after Monday, May 5, 2008

Wisconsin Union - Conference Services
C.elegans - 2008 Conference
800 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-265-8012
Fax: 608-265-8299
E-mail: celegans@union.wisc.edu

The University of Wisconsin Tax Identification Number is: 39-1805963