Presenter Guidelines

Your presentation for the Updates in Correctional Health Care conference is one of the most important means of exchanging information among correctional health care professionals. We hope these presenter guidelines (also available as a download) make your presentation as effective as possible.

Preparing Your Talk

The time allotment for each talk is usually 1 hour. Please do not go over your allotted time since doing so would disrupt the program schedule. You should plan your talk to allow 10 minutes  for questions. If you have special needs for your presentation that have not already been accounted for, contact Deborah Ross, Director of Education & Meetings, in advance.

Plan to speak slowly and clearly so that everyone can understand you, especially if you discuss a topic not covered in your visual presentation materials. As a rough guideline, you should allow for approximately 2-3 minutes per slide that you use for your talk. Therefore, we recommend that you plan for approximately 12-20 slides, maximum, for a 50-minute talk. An introductory slide should show the title of your presentation, your name with credentials, and your affiliation.

Because the session rooms can be much larger than typical conference rooms, use large, well-spaced type on your slides and allow space for the border around the image. The maximum number of lines on your slide should be 8-10 lines of type that is preferably 24 pt size or larger for most text and never smaller than 18 pt for any text. Also, keep in mind that the best colors for visibility are yellow text on royal blue, white text on royal blue, and black text on white.

Conference attendees are entitled to receive presentation materials for every session, so you must provide an electronic copy of your slides for publication in the Proceedings Manual. This must be sent to NCCHC 45 days before the conference. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to provide presentation handouts, typically 100 copies per session. A copy of the handout also should be provided to NCCHC.

On-Site at the Meeting

Arrive at your session room 10 minutes before the talk begins to discuss any special arrangements or problems with the session moderator. Please check the audiovisual equipment you will be using. If you plan to use an LCD projector you must bring your own laptop.

Before your talk, the moderator will introduce you, giving, at minimum, your name, professional affiliation and presentation title. If you would like additional information to be shared with the audience, please communicate that to your moderator.

Sessions are generally recorded, so please keep that in mind when delivering your presentation or engaging in dialogue with audience members. Always speak into your microphone, and when someone asks a question, please repeat it succinctly.

Remember, you typically will have a maximum of 50 minutes for your entire presentation plus 10 minutes for questions and answers. Your moderator will signal you when you have approximately 10 minutes remaining. Your moderator may interrupt you, if necessary, to allow adequate time for questions from the audience.

Suggestions for a Great Talk

If you are not a practiced public presenter you may appreciate a few tips. Many professionals have noted that no matter what you are discussing, listeners tend to have a short attention span. You have to be really enthusiastic for your presentation to hold an audience's attention for the entire time period. Appropriate humor from time to time can help them stay tuned-in and focused.

The most effective presentations begin with a formal agenda listing the points to be covered. Studies show that people remember the first and last points better than those in the middle, so jump right in with the most important message first! Then maybe you can save the second-most important message for your big finish.

Watch for nonverbal clues to read the audience's reaction. It's a good sign when they are smiling and nodding appropriately at your good points. However, if they start looking around the room or at their watches, pull them back into the talk by asking if they understand what you are saying and what they think of your points so far. Or ask a poll question, like "How many of you...?" Another idea is to encourage the audience to picture the benefits of your idea by saying "Imagine what this can do for...," and giving them a moment to consider the ramifications.