oral presentation guidelines conference

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Oral Session Guidelines
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Oral sessions provide an opportunity for several speakers to present their findings/papers in a formal setting. Individual abstracts are grouped with abstracts focusing on a similar topic to create an hour and a half session. Presenters can determine the amount of time allocated for their presentation by viewing their session in the Online Program. Be sure to limit the presentation to the time allotted.

General Information

Presenters must be individual members of APHA and register for the meeting.
LCD projectors, computers and microphone are included in each scientific session room. Internet access is not available in the meeting rooms.
Videos should be captioned to ensure access to people with disabilities.
You will have 15 minutes to present your PowerPoint presentation . Do not go over your allotted presentation time.
At the start of your presentation, verbally disclose whether you have any financial support or conflicts of interest to report. This is required for CE purposes.
Once all presentations are completed, there will be time for live Q&A.
If you are using materials in your presentation (pictures, charts, graphs, video, etc.) that are not original work, seek permission from the original source and cite the source.
Only one presenter per abstract is allowed to present. All co-authors who attend your session must be registered for the meeting. Your co-author(s) can join you for the Q&A portion of the session and help answer questions.

Presentation Tips

PowerPoints should be set to 16:9 screen ratio.
Keep accessibility in mind when designing your PowerPoint and planning your presentation. Checkout our guidelines for accessible presentations .
Include a description of yourself in your introduction. Watch our video on inclusive introductions to understand what they are and why they are important.
Give an opening statement to acquaint the audience with the nature and purpose of the research.
Discuss the same material as reported in the abstract.
Rehearse your presentation beforehand, timing it. Remember that PowerPoint slides add seconds to the talk.
Stay within your allotted time to ensure that all presenters have equal time on the program and allow the audience the opportunity to ask questions.
Know what to omit if you start to go over your allotted time. Session moderators will hold you to the allotted time.
APHA hires room monitors who are responsible for double-checking the room set-up and the audiovisual equipment prior to the start time of your session. If there is an issue, please find a room monitor who will escalate the issue to the appropriate person.

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Overview of the 66th ash annual meeting, guidelines for presentations, speaker ready room, abstract presentation information, tips and resources for a successful presentation, conflict of interest and disclosure policies, presenter registration and housing, institutions and corporations, professionalism and respect.

This in-person event will be broadcast virtually, and access to the meeting’s virtual platform is included with registration. All faculty and presenters are required to travel to San Diego and participate on site in their sessions.

Deadline for Submission of Pre-Recorded Presentations – November 15

Pre-Meeting Programs – December 6: Scientific Workshops, ASH-a-Palooza*, Friday Satellite Symposia (all available both virtually and in person in San Diego)

Core Meeting Dates – December 7-10: Oral and Poster Abstracts and Invited Program

Post-Meeting Activities – December 11-12: On-demand Viewing, ASH Poster Walks, Corporate Poster Walks

In October, presenters will be contacted by ASH with instructions for how to upload presentation slides in advance of the annual meeting to Orchestrate, the presentation management system of Freeman Event Technology, ASH's audio-visual vendor.

All presenters are encouraged to visit the Speaker Ready Room on site in order to become familiar with the equipment that will be used to present. Please bring your PowerPoint presentation on a CD-R, DVD-R, or USB flash drive (memory stick, jump drive, etc.) to the Speaker Ready Room.

Rehearsal Rooms

Small rehearsal rooms will be available within the Speaker Ready Room for presenters to use for a limited period of time. These rooms will be set up with the same equipment used in the session rooms. Freeman Event Technology staff will be on hand to assist presenters in the rehearsal rooms as needed. Presenters can sign up for a rehearsal time slot on site in the Speaker Ready Room.

Compliance Instructions

Please take steps to compress your videos. Uploading time for uncompressed videos will take away from your presentation and provide no better quality than a modern MPEG-4 codec. We can only accept movies created as MPGs, WMVs, or with the following codes: AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (Divx, Xvid, or WMVs), MOV (H.264), Cinepack, TechSmith, and Flash.
MOV files are NOT supported in Windows PowerPoint™.
Your movies must not fill the screen completely. In the session room, you will use a mouse to advance your slides. You can only advance your PowerPoint with a mouse by clicking on the slide, not the movie itself.
DVDs: If you plan to play a DVD as part of your presentation, please notify a technician in the designated Speaker Ready Room so that arrangements can be made for assistance in your session room.
Fonts: If you have special fonts in your PowerPoint presentation, please embed them when you save your presentation. You can specify this by clicking “Save As” in the file menu. In the “Save As” window, click “Tools” and select “Save Options” from the drop-down menu. In the “Save Options” box, click the checkbox to “Embed True Type Fonts.” Then, save your presentation as usual.

For additional tips on delivering an effective oral abstract presentation, refer to the Tips and Resources for a Successful Presentation section below.

Use of Copyrighted Information

If you are going to use copyrighted material for which you do not believe the fair use doctrine applies, you must obtain written permission from the respective copyright owners for its use or adaptation in your presentation. Cartoons, images from movies or television programs, magazine articles, etc., all require written permission to use.

Please include appropriate citations of all third-party materials. At minimum, your citation should include the name of the author(s), book or journal title, year of publication, journal number (if appropriate), and page number.

Information on our copyright and reuse policies for presentations can be found on the ASH Annual Meeting Copyright and Reuse Policy for Abstracts, Presentations, and Presentation Materials webpage .

ASH prohibits the use in educational presentations of any logo from any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients. ASH does not consider providers of clinical service directly to patients to be commercial interests, therefore logos of academic institutions are allowed.

Tips for a Successful Presentation

Clarity of PowerPoint slides is vital for a successful scientific presentation. Helpful tips are provided below.

Be consistent. Using a uniform background color, text size, text color, and font throughout your slide presentation makes it easier for the audience to follow the flow of your ideas. When using PowerPoint, it is a good idea to build your presentation using the slide master, which helps keep your presentation consistent.
Be mindful of screen size. The screens and projectors are optimized for widescreen 16:9 ratio. Please keep this in mind when preparing your slides. Presentations in the 4:3 ratio will be compatible but will not make the best use of the screen dimensions.
Use color and contrast. Use dark text on a light background; it is easier to read. If you must use a dark background, make sure your text is quite light (white, cream, yellow, light grey, or pastels) and increase the font size by two or three points.
Keep slide count to a minimum. Use a maximum of eight slides per 10 minutes or 16 slides per 20 minutes of an oral presentation. Leave a blank space that is at least the height of a capital letter between each line of print.
Use sans-serif fonts. These fonts project better and are easier to read. Examples of sans serif fonts include Arial, Helvetica, Calibri and Verdana. An 18-point font size is recommended. Words in all capital letters and custom fonts are hard to read.
Align text left or right. Centered text is harder to read. Line up all your text to a right-hand or left-hand baseline – it is the easiest to follow.
Keep words to a minimum. You should have no more than five to eight lines of type with no more than five to seven words per line. Type should be well-spaced and sized in 30- to 36-point font for headings and at least 24-point font for body copy. Keep custom animations and slides transitions simple and use them sparingly.

All speakers can bypass the registration area and proceed directly to the Speaker Ready Room to pick up your registration and meeting materials, check in with ASH staff, upload presentations, review conflict of interest disclosures, or schedule a time to rehearse.

Location: San Diego Convention Center – in ASH Central in Sails Pavilion

Hours (all times reflect the Pacific time zone):

Submitting Your Presentation

All presenters will receive an email with the URL and login instructions to access Orchestrate, the presentation management system.

Poster Presenters: All poster presenters are required to video-record their presentation and submit that recording to the Orchestrate presentation management website by November 12. All poster presenters are asked to upload a static image of their poster as well as a five-minute video narration of a PowerPoint summary of the poster to Freeman Event Technology’s Orchestrate presentation management system no later than November 12. Instructions for completing this upload process will be sent out in October.

Oral Presenters, including Invited Program Speakers: All other speakers may upload their PowerPoint presentation to Orchestrate remotely or on site in the Speaker Ready Room. Please bring a copy of your PowerPoint presentation on a CD-R, DVD-R, or USB flash drive (memory stick, jump drive, etc.). A professional audio-visual (AV) technician will be available in the Speaker Ready Room to consult with in-person presenters on any of the guidelines and to make certain your slides are properly identified for your specific session.

Please turn in your presentation to the Speaker Ready Room according to the following guidelines:

At least 24 hours before your presentation if you would like the AV technician to assist you in formatting your presentation to ensure clear and readable images.
At least six hours before your presentation, if your PowerPoint presentation was prepared on an Apple computer.
At least six hours before your presentation if your presentation contains movies or other videos.
At least four hours before your presentation if your presentation is final and requires no modifications.

After you are satisfied with your presentation, you will save it to the Presentation Management server on the secure ASH Show Network. The AV technician in the session room where you are presenting will make sure the presentation is ready when you get to the podium.

Should you have questions about your oral or poster abstract presentation, please contact ASH Abstracts at [email protected] .

Should you have questions about a role in the invited program, please contact ASH Speakers at [email protected] .

If you have questions, please contact [email protected] or call 1-866-828-1231 or 202-776-0544.

Abstract presentations at the annual meeting must reflect the content of the submitted abstract. In particular, the abstract title, authorship, and scientific content of the presentation at the annual meeting must match the submitted abstract, although updates on results may be included.

Oral Abstract Presentation Guidelines

All oral presenters are required to deliver their presentation in person in San Diego, California; prerecording of presentations is NOT required for Invited Program and Oral Abstract Session Presenters. Please follow the guidance detailed in the Guidelines for Presentations section above for oral presentations . Presentation information is also provided in the acceptance email sent to all oral abstract presenters. For additional tips on delivering an effective oral abstract presentation, refer to the Tips and Resources for a Successful Presentation section below.

Poster Presentation Guidelines

All poster presenters are asked to upload a static image of their poster as well as a five-minute video narration of a PowerPoint summary of the poster to Freeman Event Technology’s Orchestrate presentation management system no later than November 12 . Instructions for completing this upload process will be sent out in October.

Additionally, one poster board (approximately 4 feet high and 6 feet wide) will be provided for you as well as a printed number identifying your poster board for presentation at the in-person meeting. All posters uploaded by the November 12 deadline will be printed and hung on behalf of the poster presenter. If you miss the deadline, you are responsible for creating and printing your own poster. If you print your own poster, please be mindful of the following:

Ideally, the lettering for the title should be no less than 1.5 inches high. (Please note that the title board is not a separate piece of paper from the poster itself.)
Charts, drawings, and illustrations should be similar to those you would use for slide presentations, but more heavily drawn. Remember to keep illustrated and written material simple.
All illustrations should be made up beforehand. Remember that your illustrations must be legible from a distance of at least 3 to 5 feet.
Do not mount illustrations on a heavy board because they may be difficult to keep in position on the poster boards.
Do not use normal "typewriter-size" type (10- to 12-point font size).
Display of commercial/product sales posters is prohibited. Any poster that is deemed to be a commercial advertisement will be removed from the poster hall.
One or two authors should be present at each poster for the entire presentation time. During this time, do not allow yourself to be monopolized for an inordinate period of time by a single individual.
The only handouts allowed in the poster hall include exact copies of your poster or business cards; all other types of handouts are prohibited.
Please remove your materials from the poster board immediately after the session. Materials left on the boards after the session will be discarded.

For additional tips on delivering an effective poster presentation, refer to the Tips and Resources for a Successful Presentation section below.

ASH is committed to offering the best continuing medical education in hematology. As a presenter, you play a key role in this effort. Disclosure of all relationships helps maintain the integrity of the information presented at ASH meetings.

A conflict-of-interest statement will be provided and posted on the poster board by ASH staff.

For more information about conflict of interest disclosures or to update your disclosures, visit our Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policies section below.

Poster Presentation Schedule

All times reflect the Pacific time zone.

Invited Program Speakers and Abstract Presenters

ASH has produced these helpful videos as guidance to help you enhance your presentation:

Guidelines for Presenting at ASH Meetings
Best Practices for Presenting at International Meetings

The following (optional) presentation templates are available to download:

PowerPoint Template for Presenters
Abstract Poster Template

The following toolkit provides social media guidance for presenters to promote their presentation.

Presenter Social Media Toolkit

Audience Engagement:

Freeman Audio Visual’s Conferences i/o platform is an audience response system; if you prepare audience polling slides, the platform allows the audience to respond via their mobile devices and the results can be viewed in real time on the big screen in your session room. This is a great opportunity to engage your audience and give them a chance to assess their knowledge of the subject matter while you are presenting. ASH encourages the use of audience response questions, or other strategies, in clinical presentations to engage the attendees and enhance learning and retention.

If you would like to incorporate these interaction opportunities into your presentation, the instructions and slide templates are available below. ASH’s audio-visual vendor, Freeman, will also be available to assist you onsite or through the training sessions on November 25 or 26. Refer to the Chair and Moderator Training section for more info.

Polling Slide Creation and Upload Instructions
Polling Slides Template
Use sans-serif fonts. These fonts project better and are easier to read. Examples of sans serif fonts include Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, and Verdana. An 18-point font size is recommended. Words in all capital letters and custom fonts are hard to read.
Align text left or right. Centered text is harder to read. Line up all your text to a right-hand or left-hand baseline – it is the easiest to follow.

Chair and Moderator Training

ASH's audio-visual vendor, Freeman, will conduct virtual training sessions on the following dates and times. The training will provide an overview of the AV technologies that will be used in the session rooms and to moderate Q&A, as well as a suggested script that moderators and chairs may use to introduce their respective sessions. Sign up here to attend a training session. A recording will be made available on this webpage to those who cannot participate during the listed times.

November 25, 2024, at 3 p.m. Eastern time
November 26, 2024, at 10 a.m. Eastern time
November 26, 2024, at 3 p.m. Eastern time (Poster walk and virtual briefing training; link will be shared directly with poster walk and virtual briefing presenters)

ASH has developed scripts to assist oral abstract and invited program session moderators.

Download the Session Introduction Scripts here

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is committed to ensuring the integrity of its scientific, educational, and research programs. The ASH Conflict of Interest Policy requires disclosure of any financial or other interest in the biomedical industry that might be construed as resulting in an actual, potential, or apparent conflict. We ask that you disclose all relationships that you may have, regardless of their relevance to a particular role or presentation.

For this purpose, "financial relationships" are those in which the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, sponsored travel, consulting fee, honoraria, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options, or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or other financial benefit. Financial benefits are usually associated with roles such as employment, management position, independent contractor (including contracted research), consulting, speaking and teaching, membership on advisory committee or review panels, board memberships, and other activities from which remuneration is received, or expected. Research funding from ineligible companies should be disclosed by the principal or named investigator even if that individual’s institution receives the research grant and manages the funds.

DISCLOSURE SLIDES

ASH’s COI Policy require that presenters disclose financial relationships and that a disclosure slide listing those relationships be displayed to the audience at the beginning of their presentations. Additionally, presenters must also disclose whether their presentation will include discussion of off-label, unlabeled, experimental, and/or investigational product use.

A disclosure slide listing your conflicts of interest and off-label drug uses that you intend to discuss will be displayed at the beginning of your presentation. If you informed ASH that you have nothing to disclose, your disclosure slide will read “Nothing to disclose.” A disclosure slide for non-speaking chairs will also be displayed at the start of the session.

The disclosure slide is not a part of the presentation you need to submit to ASH. A slide will be prepared by ASH with this information and automatically displayed by the AV technicians as the first slide of your presentation for five seconds, at which time you should pause to allow the audience time to read the slide.

To update your relationship and/or off-label disclosures for your role(s) at the 2024 Annual Meeting, please sign in to your Confex Speaker Center , ASH’s abstract and speaker management system, or visit the Speaker Ready Room onsite in San Diego during the designated hours.

MONITORING AND ADDRESSING BIAS

In accordance with ASH’s COI identification and management process, all session chairs are responsible for monitoring and addressing any occurrence of bias in presentations delivered by speakers during live sessions.

If bias, actual or perceived, occurs during a presentation, session attendees are encouraged to address such bias during the question-and-answer period following the presentation.

The disclosure information submitted by the session speakers will be listed in the program book. Session chairs must familiarize themselves with this disclosure information and have it available during the session for reference while monitoring for bias.

Please note that bias may also occur in a presentation due to a speaker’s undisclosed relationship(s). Bias resulting from known undisclosed relationship(s) must be addressed.

The program co-chairs will also review all disclosed relationships. If a co-chair determines that a speaker needs to orally elaborate on a relationship, further instructions will be sent to that speaker and to the relevant session chair(s) in advance of the meeting. An oral disclosure is one way to mitigate an actual or perceived conflict by providing the audience with information about a relationship so that they may evaluate a presentation in light of the disclosed information.

USE OF GENERIC DRUG NAMES

Any discussions of drug therapies should feature the use of generic names. Should trade names be used, please make sure that several different brand names are used, if possible. We realize that for certain therapies there may be only one drug or brand name; in this case, the generic name should be used.

All presenters must register for the meeting – ASH does NOT register presenters. Visit the ASH annual meeting registration page to register and secure your housing for San Diego. All presenters must present in person at the annual meeting in San Diego.

Hotel reservations must be made directly with the official ASH Housing Center, and you must be registered for the meeting to secure a hotel room. The minimum notice for a no-penalty hotel cancellation is five days.

ASH has established media guidelines for institutions and companies issuing press releases about studies accepted for presentation at the ASH annual meeting. NOTE: Unauthorized use of the ASH logo is prohibited.

Access the Guidelines

ASH is committed to the principles of diversity, inclusion, respect, and professionalism in all of our activities, and to providing a welcoming meeting environment for all attendees. In addition to ASH’s annual meeting code of conduct policies, we view all moderators, chairs, and speakers as partners in ensuring that we all use consistent professional address when making introductions and referencing colleagues during formal sessions of the ASH annual meeting. Therefore, ASH has established the following guidance:

If you are making an introduction, please include the individual’s name, institution, location, and credentials.
Please use professional titles (“doctor” for those with MD and PhD degrees) when introducing or referencing colleagues during formal portions of the ASH annual meeting.
It is important to pronounce names correctly, so be sure to confirm with speakers beforehand, particularly when in doubt.
Please advocate the same principles to the audience during question-and-answer periods.
Demographic information about clinical trial enrollments is requested. Given the importance of clinical trial enrollment reflecting the spectrum of the general population at risk for the disease under investigation, ASH requests that demographic information regarding, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or other relevant factors of enrolled subjects be included in an oral or poster presentations, when available. If some or all information is not available, ASH asks that presenters disclose in their oral or poster presentation the limitations that led to such data not being collected.

Should you have questions about your oral or poster abstract presentation, please contact ASH Abstracts at [email protected] .

Should you have questions about a role in the invited program, please contact ASH Speakers at [email protected] or call Customer Service at 1-866-828-1231 or 202-776-0544.