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Program > Speakers/Panelists

Participation Guidelines

Limits on Presentations

The Committee on Meetings, with members drawn from all of the cosponsoring societies, has put into place some guidelines to help encourage a wide and diverse set of presenters. These guidelines are as follows:

Each participant may do up to one (1) activity from each of categories A–I:

A. Deliver a main presentation (one of the following):
     · Present an invited paper;
     · Serve on an invited panel;
     · Present a regular or topic contributed paper;
     · Present a regular or topic contributed poster;
     · Serve as a discussant, panelist, or other presenter in a topic contributed session.
B. Chair a session.
C. Present an invited poster.
D. Present an Introductory Overview Lecture.
E. Teach a short course or workshop for the Continuing Education Program.
F. Lead a roundtable luncheon or speak at a speaker luncheon.
G. Present in a first-time invited memorial session (first time a memorial session has been submitted and designated for a particular deceased person).
H. Present in a Late-Breaking session.
I. Serve as a discussant in an invited session.

The participation rules do not preclude individuals from being co-authors of as many papers as they wish or from organizing multiple sessions. Only the JSM Program Chair, with ample justification, can grant any exceptions to the above rules.

IN ADVANCE

  • For every presentation (paper, panel, or poster), one copy of a complete draft manuscript and brief biographical sketch of the presenting author must be sent to the Session Chair by May 12, 2008. This requirement applies to all types of contributed papers (including poster presentations) and to invited sessions with discussants. Invited sessions with no discussant are exempt from this submission. A draft manuscript is proof of a "paper in progress." It can be a copy of your presentation slides or vu-graphs, a copy of your handouts, a detailed draft outline of your presentation, or a draft copy of your final manuscript. If you have a later draft, with major changes, send a copy to the session chair. It is also helpful to send the Session Chair prior to the JSM A brief biographical sketch and/or a copy of handouts, visuals, etc.
  • New! All session rooms will be equipped with a laptop, screen, and lectern with microphone. Speakers will be able to upload presentations in advance of JSM and will be required to check in to the Speaker Management Room onsite to ensure their presentation was received. Presentations will then be available on the session room laptops. More information on this new and exciting feature will be available in June 2008.
  • A Speaker Management Room will be available onsite for use by all presenters.Check the program for the times and location of the Speaker Management Room.

ORAL PRESENTATION TIPS (See Guidelines)

  • Remember that many points sound differently when presented orally than when the reader can go back and forth over the printed words and symbols.
  • Presentation time is limited, generally restricting you to only the main points of your paper.
  • Speak from notes - do not read verbatim the written version of your paper.
  • Be sure to use handouts or visuals, especially if you have formula, data or graphics.

HANDOUTS

  • Handouts are recommended. However, you should not merely read the handout to your audience.
  • Handouts have an advantage over visual aids in that they are not subject to equipment availability and can be kept by the audience.
  • Handouts should include your name and address for those who want to request the final version of the paper.
  • Prepare at least 100 handouts.
  • If you run out of handouts, be sure to collect business cards or names and addresses to mail copies later.

VISUAL AIDS

  • The key word is aid.
  • Your visuals are to convey information in an understandable form to the audience.
  • Avoid illegible clutter or "death by the vu-graph."
  • Blackboards will not be provided.
  • Other equipment can be arranged in advance, but will be at the author's expense.

REHEARSAL

  • All speakers find it valuable to practice their delivery before the actual presentation.
  • Practice your talk.
  • Get colleagues to listen to you, including some who are not too knowledgeable on the topic of your paper; they will be able to point out places where you may not come across clearly.
  • Make such rehearsals as realistic as possible and time them.
  • Refining your timing is one of the most important aspects of your rehearsal.

AT JSM

  • Check the Errata Sheet for any last minute changes.
  • Leave a message for your session chair on the JSM Cyber Center to acknowledge your arrival.
  • Check the location of your room, so you can arrive on time.
  • Arrive at the meeting room 10 minutes before the session begins to take care of last-minute details.
  • Be sure that the Session Chair knows you are there.
  • Make arrangements with the chair for the distribution of your handouts.
  • Stay aware of the time for your presentation. The chair is required to stop your presentation at the end of the allotted time, regardless of whether or not you are finished.
  • Use the microphone provided and speak clearly and loud enough to be heard in the back of the meeting room.
  • Stay for the entire session, for the courtesy and benefit of your audience and your co-speakers.

AFTER JSM

  • All presenters can submit their articles for publication in the Proceedings. This does not preclude also publishing in a peer-reviewed journal. Authors retain copyright on papers published in the Proceedings. The JSM 2008 Proceedings will be published in CD-ROM format with expected publication/delivery by February 2009. Interested authors will submit their papers electronically to a web collection site beginning August 1, 2008. Go to http://www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2008/index.cfm?fuseaction=proceedings for more information about the JSM Proceedings.

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS

These tips apply regardless of whether the time for the presentations is presentations is short (less than 30 minutes) or long. Complaints about poor presentations have been received for decades and continue to be received. The ASA has offered a short-course on presentation for many years, and routinely sends "tips" to speakers to promote effective presentations, but often go ignored. The tips and suggestions are here to help you. Please put them to good use. An ad hoc committee was formed at the April 1999 ENAR business meeting, to address this persistent and pervasive problem. Effective presentations make learning and technical advances more likely. They also enhance the perception of the presenter in the eyes of the professional community. Boring, ineffective presentations are not paid much attention and often are quickly forgotten, especially by planners of future invited sessions.

PREPARATION

Content organization

  • Make sure the audience walks away understanding the five things any listener to a presentation really cares about:
    a. What is the problem and why?
    b. What has been done about it?
    c. What is the presenter doing (or has done) about it?
    d. What additional value does the presenter's approach provide?
    e. Where do we go from here?
  • Carefully budget your time, especially for short (e.g., 15 minute) presentations.
  • Allow time to describe the problem clearly enough for the audience to appreciate the value of your contribution. This usually will take more than 30 seconds.
  • Leave enough time to present your own contribution clearly. This almost never will require all of the allotted time.
  • Put your material in a context that the audience can relate to. It's a good idea to aim your presentation to an audience of colleagues who are not familiar with your research area. Your objective is to communicate an appreciation of the importance of your work, not just to lay the results out.
  • Give references and a way to contact you so those interested in the theoretical details can follow up.

Preparing effective displays

Here are some suggestions that will make your displays more effective.

  • Keep it simple. The fact that you can include all kinds of cute decorations, artistic effects, and logos does not mean that you should. Fancy designs or color shifts can make the important material hard to read. Less is more.
  • Use at least a 24-point font so everyone in the room can read your material. Unreadable material is worse than useless - it inspires a negative attitude by the audience to your work and, ultimately, to you. NEVER use a photocopy of a standard printed page as a display - it is difficult to overstate how annoying this is to an audience.
  • Try to limit the material to eight lines per slide, and keep the number of words to a minimum. Summarize the main points - don't include every detail of what you plan to say. Keep it simple.
  • Limit the tables to four rows/columns for readability. Sacrifice content for legibility - unreadable content is worse than useless. Many large tables can be displayed more effectively as a graph than as a table.
  • Don't put a lot of curves on a graphical display - busy graphical displays are hard to read. Also, label your graphs clearly with BIG, READABLE TYPE.
  • Use easily read fonts. Simple fonts like Sans Serif and Arial are easier to read than fancier ones like Times Roman or Monotype Corsiva. Don't use italic fonts.
  • Dark letters on light (or transparent) backgrounds work well for overheads. Light letters (yellow or white) on a dark background (e.g., dark blue) often will be easier to read when the material is displayed using slides or LCD (data) projectors.
  • Use equations sparingly if at all - audience members not working in the research area can find them difficult to follow as part of a rapidly delivered presentation. Avoid derivations and concentrate on presenting what your results mean. The audience will concede the proof and those who really are interested can follow up with you, which they're more likely to do if they understand your results.
  • D Don't fill up the transparency or slide - the peripheral material may not make it onto the display screen - especially the material on the bottom of a portrait-oriented transparency.
  • Identify the journal when you give references: Smith, Bcs96 clues the reader that the article is in a 1996 issue of Biometrics, and is much more useful than just Smith 1996.
  • Finally, and this is critical, always, always, always preview your slides. You will look foolish if symbols and Greek letters that looked OK in a WORD document didn't translate into anything readable in POWERPOINT - and it happens!

Timing your talk

Don't deliver a 30-minute talk in 15 minutes. Nothing irritates an audience more than a rushed presentation. Your objective is to engage the audience and have them understand your message. Don't flood them with more than they can absorb. Think in terms of what it would take if you were giving (or, better, listening to) the last paper in the last contributed paper session of the last day. This means:

  • Present only as much material as can reasonably fit into the time period allotted. Generally that means 1 slide or overhead per minute, or less.
  • Talk at a pace that everybody in the audience can understand. Speak slowly, clearly, and loudly, especially if your English is heavily accented.
  • PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Ask a colleague to judge your presentation, delivery, clarity of language, and use of time.
  • Balance the amount of material you present with a reasonable pace of presentation. If you feel rushed when you practice, then you have too much material. Budget your time to take a minute or two less than your maximum allotment. Again, less is more.

Loose ends

  • Prepare a handout. If you use a computer to prepare your visual displays, you can get a handout with several slides or pages on a single physical page for essentially no extra effort using available software (e.g., FinePrint (http://www.singletrack.com/).
  • PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE the presentation, with care to content, delivery and use of time. (In case you missed this recommendation above)

THE PRESENTATION

  • Put on the microphone and be sure that it works before you begin.
  • Be sure everyone in the room can see your material. With transparencies, this often means that you have to pay attention to the position of the transparency on the projector because only the top half of the screen usually can be seen from the back of the room. Make sure you do not block the screen. Move around if you must so that everyone has a chance to see everything. Handouts are a big help.
  • Never apologize for your displays. More to the point, make apologies unnecessary by doing the material properly in the first place (see the recommendations above). Do not say, "I know you can't see this, but..." The reaction of many people in the audience will be "why bother showing it, then?" (Or, even worse, "Why didn't you take the trouble to make them legible?")
  • Don't apologize for incomplete results. Researchers understand that all research continues. Just present the results and let the audience judge. It is okay to say, "work is on-going". Do not say, "I'm sorry that work is not done." This invites the audience to tune out or wonder why you are talking at all.

WHEN FINISHED

  • Thank the audience for their attention
  • Gather you materials and move off quickly to allow the next presenter to prepare
  • Stay for the entire session and, afterward, be available for people to ask you questions.

Key Dates

  • August 2 – 7, 2008
    Onsite registration (increased fees apply)
  • August 15, 2008 - Online submission of JSM Proceedings will open.

  • October, 27, 2008 - JSM Proceedings online submissions and editing will close.