Speakers’ Corner

AGA extends a big thank you for your generous donation of time. We are committed to assisting all speakers in making sure their presentations are a success. This section provides you with general information about the meeting as well as specific ?speaker only? related items such as, travel guidelines, handout deadlines, audio/visual requirements and much more.

There are many logistical details that are best organized in advance, so your cooperation in responding by the various deadlines as communicated to you is sincerely appreciated. If you should have questions or concerns regarding your presentation, please e-mail us at speakers@agacgfm.org, or call us at 800.242.7211, ext. 204 (Ada) or ext. 207 (Julie).

Thank you! 

Important Deadlines
Make your hotel reservations at the Orlando World Center Marriott as soon as possible. The room rate is $98 (plus tax) per night. The rate of $98 is only guaranteed until June 17, 2005, or until the room block sells out. Reservations received after June 17, or after the room block has been filled, will be made on a space-available basis, and may be subject to higher rates. We urge you to make your reservations as soon as possible, as rooms sell out quickly.

To make reservations, contact the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center, 8701 World Center Drive, Orlando, FL 32821. Phone: 407.239.4200?

Hotel Reservation Deadline: June 17, 2005 ? Hotel rooms are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis until the hotel is sold out. Make your reservations early!

Travel Guidelines
Please refer to the Hotel & Travel section of the website. We urge you to make your hotel reservations early, to ensure a room at the conference hotel. Please be sure to make your airline and travel arrangements early to take advantage of reduced fares.

Upon arrival at the hotel, please be sure to stop by the AGA Registration Desk to pick up your registration packet, name badge and speaker ribbon.

Speaker Registration
All speakers are required to register for the conference. This ensures that we have a name badge for you upon arrival and that we have all the correct contact information for you. Speakers that do not choose to participate in the conference beyond their presentation will not be required to pay a registration fee. However, speakers that wish to register and earn CPE are invited to register attend the conference at the AGA member rate.

Speakers will receive a special Speaker Registration Form from AGA?s meetings department.

Speaker Ready Room

To ensure the success of your presentation, drop by the Speaker Ready Room at least one hour before your session begins. This will allow you time to rehearse and finalize your presentation and to make last minute changes. The Speaker Ready Room will house all the equipment you need to rehearse your presentation including a laptop computer, LCD Projector, and screen.

The location and hours of the speaker ready room will be posted on this page approximately one month before the conference.

Audio/Visual Equipment

All conference sessions will have the following AV equipment:

• 1 Standing Lectern with Microphone

• 1 Laptop Computer with a 3? disk drive and CD Rom drive

• 1 LCD Projector and Screen (For Use with PowerPoint)

• 1 Wireless Mouse (For Use with PowerPoint)

In May, speakers will receive an Audio/Visual Request Form to confirm their AV needs and request additional equipment if necessary.

The Following Tips Will Help To Ensure a Successful Presentation:

     As You Prepare Your Presentation? 

• If you are speaking on a panel presentation, please arrange a meeting of presenters prior to the session. Determine the order in which the presenters will speak, discuss session content and flow, and any special instructions for introducing the presenters, the distribution of handouts, or any audio/visual needs.
   
• As you design your presentation, please be sure that your content reflects the description in the printed brochure so that attendees? expectations are met.
   
• Create an outline. Although you may think you know exactly what you plan to say and do, it can be easy to lose sight of your purpose once you're conducting your session. That's what your outline is for. Don?t read from a written document; use the outline to guide your presentation.
   
• Introduction/Opening. State your goal or ideas in general terms. Share a relevant story, anecdote, or quote. Startle them with a statistic. Use a metaphor or comparison to your topic. Use humor very carefully; it can be powerful and engaging, but jokes, as a particular form of humor, are risky and difficult to use successfully. Any one or a combination of these introductory methods may be used in your opening to draw your audience into the presentation.
   

• Body. State the program objectives. Discuss your main idea(s) in detail. Use supporting examples and use visual aids to reinforce.

• Closing. Summarize your main points. Anticipate questions and prepare responses. Restate your goal, in a memorable way and explain the value of your discussion. Return to the opening theme or story.

• Practice, Practice, Practice! Presentations should be well rehearsed and prepared. Practice your presentation so that you feel comfortable talking to your audience and looking at your audience, not at a piece of paper. Notes are very important to help you remember points and to keep yourself organized. However, you should not be reading 100% of the time. If you have practiced your presentation and are comfortable with your material and visual aids, then you will be more relaxed and an effective speaker.

During the Session?

• Make sure audio/visual equipment is working. All presenters must be ready to speak before the session is scheduled to begin.

• Use cheat sheets. An outline, flash cards, or graphics can help you keep your place without spoiling the spontaneity of your presentation.

• Step out from the podium to get closer to the audience. Movement throughout the session will keep the attendees alert and involved.

• Make eye contact. As you speak, look people in the eyes, but be sensitive to the duration of the eye contact. Try to maintain visual contact with both sides of the room.

• Don't read your speech. Talk to your listeners as if you were speaking to each person individually. They are much more likely to pay attention.

• Be interested in what you're presenting. If you sound bored, your audience will be bored, no matter how thrilling the subject of the talk may be.

• Allow time for reading your PowerPoint presentation. An audience that is reading a slide is not listening to you. Wait for everyone to absorb the information displayed before you begin speaking.

• Effective Q & A. Prepare yourself by thinking of possible questions and rehearsing answers ahead of time.

• When taking questions from the audience, be sure to repeat the question so everyone can hear it, and to confirm that you?ve understood what the person is asking. Keep everyone involved by speaking to the entire audience instead of just the person who asked the question.

• Stay within the allotted time limit when presenting your speech. Stop on time. Remember there are there are several other speakers presenting during the day, so be considerate of their time.

PowerPoint Presentations?

• To help your audience concentrate on your presentation and understand what you are saying, it is advisable to use visual aids. PowerPoint and other graphics programs have empowered you to add interest and variety to your presentation. It is critical to create good, clear visuals that enhance your presentation and hold the audience's attention. Following are hints to make your presentation more effective.
   

• How long are you speaking? Plan your talk and the number of slides to allow for a relaxed pace. One slide per one to three minutes, and four to five points per slide is a good rule.

• Show only the chart or slide that you are discussing. Otherwise, your audience will become confused.
   

• Use effective titles and avoid wordiness. Someone should be able to look at the slide and understand its meaning without any explanation from you.

• Use simple color combinations. Be sure that these combinations are not too dark or too light. Color can add emphasis effectively. Keep visual material simple and clear. Borders give your poster a polished look. Good-sized margins around the text and white space within the text are helpful to the reader. Frame each white sheet with a colored background.

• Be consistent. Using the same background color, text size, text color and uniform fonts throughout all the slides 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 works with you to keep your presentation consistent.

• Design PowerPoint slides for the back row. Make sure all elements can be seen clearly in every part of the room. Presentation rooms are typically large, and your slides must be legible from the back row. If you can easily read your slide while holding it at arm's length, your text is large enough.

• For legibility, try to keep words to a minimum no more than five to eight lines of type with, at most, five to six words per line and only six lines per page.
   

• Type should be well spaced, and sized in 30 to 36 point for headings and titles and at least 24 point for body copy.

• Use sans serif fonts (those without extenders on the ends of letters). They project better and are easier to read. Examples of sans serif fonts are Arial, Helvetica and Universal. Examples of Serif Fonts (harder to read) are Times New Roman, Book Antiqua, and Palatino ? they should be avoided.

• Use italics, color and/or bold, not capitals, for emphasis. Avoid the use of CAPITAL LETTERS. Words written in caps are harder to read and take up more space on the slide. Avoid underlined text.

• Use spell check!

• Follow copyright regulations.

• Begin working on your PowerPoint presentation early. You will be required to submit your presentation several weeks before the conference.

• Participate in the AGA Speakers? Corner, Allow conference attendees to view your bio and presentation both before and after the conference by submitting your presentation and other materials on the web. Presentations should be sent to speakers@agacgfm.org.

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