Oral presentation instructions

Create your presentation slides and practice to be fully ready to present at the conference
Presenter prepares his video recording for SPIE Laser Damage

Prepare your oral presentation

Instructions on preparing your slides for presentation and publication are below. Oral speakers will attend the conference and present live to an audience. After your live presentation is finished, SPIE will publish the in-person recording of your talk (slide capture with audio, no camera footage of speaker). Your presentation recording will be published and archived in the conference proceedings on the SPIE Digital Library.

Important dates


Abstracts due 24 April 2024
National Ignition Facility Tour – sign-up deadline 24 April 2024
Laser Damage Competition – samples due 1 June 2024
Registration opens June 2024
Authors notified and program posts online 1 July 2024
Submission system opens for manuscripts and poster PDFs* 5 August 2024
Poster PDFs due for spie.org preview and publication 11 September 2024
Advance upload deadline for oral presentation slides** 4 October 2024
Manuscripts due 30 October 2024

*Contact author or speaker must register prior to uploading.

**After this date slides must be uploaded onsite at Speaker Check-In

Step-by-step guide to a successful oral presentation


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
All file types are accepted 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.


Upload your slide presentation

It is recommended that presenters upload their slide presentations 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.

There are two options to upload your slide presentation:

1. Upload in advance

Advance upload options for your presentation will be available at a later date. 

2. Upload onsite

Bring your USB device at least two hours before your session begins, or the day before if presenting in the first morning session, and load it directly on the presentation computer.


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 click on your name
  • If the person before you left their talk on the screen, press the “Refresh” button on the lectern, and that will clear out the screen and bring up the list of speakers for your session

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

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.

Questions?


Contact your Program Coordinator (listed in your SPIE.org account)