Oral presentation guidelines

• Create your slide presentation

  The most successful presentation slides are graphically rich presentations of your research that both highlight the main points and fill in the most interesting details.

  Your presentation slides should include:

  • All slides formatted for easy understanding of the information on each slide
  • Explanations for each graph, picture, and table
  • Media file(s) embedded in your primary presentation as a slide
  • No automatic slide advance timings

  Fonts
  The session computer will have the standard font sets included in Mac OSX, Windows 10, as well as PowerPoint and Keynote. Please refrain from using custom or purchased fonts, as these will not be available and may impact how your presentation looks.

  Aspect ratio
  The meeting will be utilizing 16:9 aspect ratio projectors (widescreen) in all rooms. To utilize the full screen, you should create your presentation in widescreen format. The standard 4:3 format will work but it will not fill the entire screen when in presentation mode.

  Media files
  As a precaution, bring all media files with to the meeting, even though you’ve embedded them in your slide presentation. While we can help with many aspects of your talk on-site, we can’t “fix” a missing media file.

  Presentation file types
  We accept all file types except LibreOffice, and there are no file size restrictions. The session computer will run both Mac and Windows files natively. The computer has the following software installed.

  • PowerPoint for Windows
  • PowerPoint for Mac
  • Keynote (latest version)
  • Adobe Reader for Mac
  • Google Chrome for Mac

  In PowerPoint, save your file as a .pptx. Do not use .ppt, .pps, or other formats, as this will affect your file’s ability to open correctly.

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  Upload your slide presentation

  All in-person presentations are handled by our onsite presentation management system. All presenters must upload their slide presentation before going to their conference room. There will not be an option to use your own device. Should you require assistance with uploading or presenting, technicians will be available. Always bring a back-up copy of your slide presentation and media files with you to your session onsite.

  Upload onsite at the Speaker Ready Room

  • Open during registration hours

  Preview and test presentation onsite at Speaker Ready Room

  • Visit Speaker Ready Room and test your presentation at least two hours prior to the start of your session
  • If you find a mistake, you may submit a revision
  • Speaker Ready Room is open during registration hours

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  Present in person

  • Bring a back-up copy of your presentation file and any media files to your session
  • Arrive in the conference room at least 10 minutes prior to the start of your session
  • Locate the session chair for your session and check in with them so they know you have arrived
  • When it’s time to present, simply walk to the lectern and open your presentation

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  Audiovisual equipment in meeting rooms

  • Apple MacBook - supports files created on either Mac or Windows
  • LCD projection - 16:9 aspect ratio; 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • Lapel microphone
  • Audio connection from the laptop
  • Laser pointer and slide advancer

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  Publication of your presentation

  • After your live presentation is finished, SPIE will publish the in-person recording of your talk (slide capture with audio, no camera footage of presenter). Your presentation recording will be published and archived in the conference proceedings on the SPIE Digital Library.
  • SPIE retains rights to distribute and market the official published SPIE recording of the presentation; the presenter retains copyright of all presented content.

Create your video

The most successful presentation videos are well narrated, graphically rich presentations of your research that both highlight the main points and fill in the most interesting details. The least effective presentation video is a simple reading of your slides or manuscript. 

Suggested presentation video duration is:

• 15–20 minutes for contributed
• 20–25 minutes for invited
• 25–30 minutes for keynote

Click here to see an example of a presentation video. 

Your slides will need to have audio narration embedded, and then you will need to export the presentation as an MPEG-4 (.mp4) file. SPIE can only accept the .mp4 format - other formats will not be supported. Presentation video files should be no larger than 2GB.

Your presentation video should include:

• All slides of your presentation, formatted for easy understanding of the information on each slide
• Clear narration with a pause for transitions between slides. PowerPoint, for example, does not record audio during slide transitions.
• Explanations for each graph, picture, and table
• Widescreen format, using the 16:9 aspect ratio, to utilize the full screen - the standard 4:3 format will work but it will not fill the entire screen when in presentation mode

To record your audio:

• Use any kind of microphone, including those built into laptops or tablets, so long as the resulting audio is clear and easily understood
• Follow these step-by-step instructions on recording your audio in PowerPoint and exporting a PowerPoint file to .mp4
• If you're using a web-based presentation program, such as Prezi, Slideshare, or Google Slides, you will need to use screen capture software to record your screen and presentation narration
• Be sure to export your video, including all audio, as an .mp4 movie file for submission

Review your video

• Is your file saved as an .mp4 movie file?
• Is your file size less than 2 GB?
• Is the audio consistent and clear, free from static, hums, hisses, or interference?
• Is the audio at the right level, without having to adjust your volume very high or very low?
• Does your talk start promptly? (your narration should begin within the first 3 seconds)
• Does your recording end promptly after your closing remarks, without being cut off early or continuing for too long?
• Is there audio on every slide? Having audio on every slide ensures that each slide gets the correct timing before advancing. If a slide is self-explanatory, you can simply say, "This slide is self-explanatory"
• Do all your slides, movies, and animations appear correctly?

Submit your video

• Once the SPIE submission system is open, using any web browser, visit https://spie.org/myaccount and sign into your account
• From the account dashboard, look under "Submission and review system" and click on the symposium link
• Scroll down until you find your paper
• Click on the upload video link to submit your presentation video and follow the steps to upload your presentation video .mp4 file
• Only the contact author can submit the presentation video. The contact author can assign a coauthor as the contact author via the submission system or by sending a request to authorhelp@spie.org with the following information:
  • Written request to change who the contact author is
  • Paper number
  • Paper title
  • Name of new contact author (must be a coauthor with an existing SPIE.org account)

What happens next?

• The contact author will receive an email confirming we have received your video
• SPIE will check your file for technical issues and notify the contact author if any revision is necessary
• All videos received by the deadline will be published

Further resources

You may find the following resources helpful as you develop your video:

• FreeConvert.com - a third-party site for compressing a video file into an MP4 file
• Online-Recorder.com - a third-party site for testing your microphone or recording a voice-over file
• If you still need assistance, please contact SPIE at authorhelp@spie.org