ACA Annual Convention Presenter Guide

Jul 16, 2006

This guide has been developed to help you prepare for a successful presentation at the 2007 ACA Convention & Exposition.

Holly Clubb
Manager, Learning Resources
American Counseling Association
5999 Stevenson Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304
E-mail: hclubb@counseling.org
Fax: 703-823-0252

The Primary Presenter must be a current member of ACA. In addition the Primary Presenteris also the contact person and is responsible for notifying all other participants of acceptance, scheduling and any other information provided by ACA.

All presenters including co-presenters must register for the 2007 ACA Convention. For information regarding registration please visit www.counseling.org/convention.You will not be able to present and your name will not appear in the Program Guide unless you register by January 5, 2007. We encourage you to register early to take advantage of lower registration fees.

A Speaker Ready Room has been designated at the Convention Center for the use all Convention Presenters. The Speaker Ready Room will have the following equipment made available for the speakers use and practice: (2) overhead projectors, (1) Pentium IV computer with WIN XP and office, (1) VHS/monitor, (2) slide projectors and extra slide trays, (2) screens. We would request that each speaker check-in at the speaker ready room at least 45 minutes prior to their presentation. In order for each speaker to feel comfortable, we would like to personally review their specific meeting room set-up, review the AV equipment we have placed in their room and answer any questions they may have regarding the AV equipment they will be using. In addition, if they have a specific need for AV equipment that has not been previously ordered, they can work directly with the appointed AV company to immediately place an order. This on-site order will be at the speakers own expense. Please note: Each Education Session room will be equipped with an LCD projector and screen only.?

The Speaker Ready Room is centrally located between all meeting rooms at the top of the escalators from the ACA Registration Area, in room #42 of the COBO Center. The Speaker Ready Room will be open during the following days and times:

March 21 & March 22 ? 8:00 am ? 6:00 pm
March 23 & March 24 ? 10:00 am ? 6:00 pm
March 25 ? 7:00 am ? 1:00 pm

Guidelines for Preparing a Convention Presentation

Preparation is the key to giving an effective and successful convention presentation. ACA encourages each to use these guidelines when developing your presentation.?

Tips for Planning the Presentation:

Know your topic ? become the expert.
Think through your purpose or goal. This will guide your decisions on what to include in the presentation.
Be sure your presentation is in sync with your description in the Conventions Program Description and that you address all of your stated learning objectives.
Your presentation should be well-organized. Know what you are going to say, when you are going to say it, and how you are going to say it. Prepare an outline of topic. Bullet or number the main points.
State your objectives in the beginning of your presentation and prepare concluding points for the end, before questions and discussion.
Decide what, if any, visual aids you will use. For example, you may want to prepare PowerPoint slides of the major points of your presentation. See the section on PowerPoint presentations for ideas and guidelines.
Practice your presentation. Practicing is probably the single most important thing you can do beforehand. Use you outline to guide your thoughts. Time your presentation making sure that it adheres to allotted time. Know what to omit if you start to go over your allotted time. You are responsible for ending your presentation on time.

Guidelines for the Presentation:

The following guidelines should assist you plan a well-structured presentation:

Begin your presentation by telling your audience what your topic is and what you will be covering. Decide what your major point is and describe it in the first 2 or 3 minutes of your presentation. This is you essential message that will help your audience understand your presentation in terms of their own settings, client population, or research interest.
Describe your intervention, topic area, or research project in depth. What were its unique components or procedures? Don't "tell" the audience all about your topic; rather, think about what they would like to hear. The average conference attendees has years of professional experience and wants to know about interventions that work or what is new on the horizon in terms of professional issues, assessment, intervention, and research.
Use your last 5 minutes to emphasize how your procedures, data, or issues will make a difference in the profession. If you have presented preliminary research data, tell the audience what comes next. This is your application time to draw conclusions or speculate about what you did, analyzed, read, or experienced.
Because your goal is to interest your audience in your topic, be prepared for questions during the discussion period at the close of the presentation. Since these presentations often leave the audience "wanting more," we require that you provide a brief handout for the audience including a topical outline of your presentation, references with full citations, and details on how you can be contacted for further information. See the section on handouts for ideas and guidelines for preparing handout materials.
Involve your audience. While not all presentation can be hands-on in nature, however, we recommend that you include some type of interactive component in your session. Our members tell us repeatedly that their preferred learning style is interactive.?

Involving the audience can be accomplished by providing participants with an opportunity to directly apply some of the principles they have been learning throughout the presentation to get immediate feedback for presenters and peers. A few examples include group discussions, case studies, demonstrations, simulation, role play, or a structured experiential learning activity. It is important for the presenter to determine the most appropriate methods for his or her session on the basis of material being presented and the size of the audience. A simple "show of hands" only takes 10 seconds and can connect you with your audience
1. Large Groups: The large group is appropriate for guide group interaction, question-and-answer periods, feedback session, demonstration, and audiovisual materials. When leading a guided discussion, the presenter should develop a list of questions or points that will stimulate the discussion of a specific topic.
2. Enriching information can be added to the session when participants are encouraged to share resources and experience from their individual work environments. It is important to avoid recognizing the same individuals over and over and to encourage participation by as many people as possible. If the discussion begins to wander for the topic, you must redirect it. This is your responsibility. As with other educational approaches, the discussion that follows should help participants integrate the exercise with the theme of the presentation. Large-group discussion should be guided with lead questions presented by the speakers.
3. Small Groups: Small-group activities have proved to be highly successful and it is strongly suggested that the small-group size be 6 to 8 people. For these activities, it will be helpful to assign a group facilitator to foster the discussion and coordinate the report of the small group in the large-group format. It is helpful to describe the facilitator's role to the entire group before the participants break into small groups.
4. Simulation Methods: Audience participation in role-playing, games, or simulation exercises, may take several forms ? an activity done in dyads or a demonstration in front of the audience, for example. Whatever form it takes, a good simulation experience requires that the purpose of the exercise be clear, the rules be defined, and the players be well versed on their contribution to the scene.
5. Case Studies: Case studies are very effective in highlighting, reinforcing, and integrating information that is being presented. They can be presented as either informal verbal "examples" or more formal written scenarios of a particular case. Case studies can also be used to facilitate either small or large-group discussions or activities.
6. Questions and Answers: An easy and effective way to involve the audience is to open up the dialogue between the presenters and the participants. Ask the group at the beginning of the presentation what they hope to gain from their attendance. Establish whether you will take questions spontaneously throughout the presentation or whether there will be a question-and-answer period at specific junctions. Make sure, however, that you build time for questions and try incorporating some of the following techniques:
  - Before the presentation, think about what questions might be asked; formulate brief clear answers to each question and rehearse your answers.
  - Develop some questions on your own to ask the audience in case the question-and-answer period begins slowly.
  - Throughout your presentation, ask questions of the group even if they are only answering the questions in their minds as they listen to you. Ask questions like "Has anyone done this? How did it work for you?"
  - During your presentation, answer questions to clarify ambiguities immediately. Repeat questions participants pose to ensure that the entire audience has heard the question. Postpone questions related to resolving individual or specify problem to the end of the session or to a private discussion later.
  - Do not become involved in an extended dialogue with one person; take as many questions from as many participants as possible.
  - If someone asks a questions that you cannot answer, you have several options:
    - Say that you will locate the answer and get back to him or her.
    - Suggest appropriate resources that will provide the answer.
    - Ask for suggestions from members of the audience.

Always repeat the question, so that the entire audience hears and understands it; this also serves to refocus attention on you, the presenter. This is particularly important if there are people in the audience using augmented communication devices.

Presentation Tips:

Try to relax. Most people are nervous presenting before a group. Focusing on a responsive person in the audience helps you connect with the audience.
Be sure everyone in the room can hear you. Look for nonverbal cues from people in the back of the room to see if they are struggling to hear you.
Be sure to talk slow enough for everyone to grasp the important elements of your topic/research.
Don't read your presentation! Audiences lose interest quickly when someone reads to them.
Remember, don't ever "speak down" to your audience. You are the identified expert but your audience will listen more intently if they feel a collegial connection with you.
Put yourself in the participant's place. Project enthusiasm for and interest in your topic.
Avoid repetitive mannerisms and phrases. Avoid using such phrases as "uhhh" and "you know".
Be sure to look around the room. Eye contact is essential to maintaining attention.
If you use audiovisuals, avoid the tendency to speak to the screen instead of the audience. Be so familiar with your visual aids that the only reason you look at them is to point something out.

Audiovisual Support

ACA will provide presenters (except poster presentations) with the following equipment:

1 podium and 1 head table
1 wired microphone on long cord in center of head table
1 projection screen
New for the 2007 Convention - 1 LCD projector for use with presenter's personal laptop computer (ACA does not provide computers)?

Internet Access: COBO Center offers free wireless internet access in their Atrium, Exhibit Halls and common areas. ?All meeting rooms have internet lines installed and will be accessible for a fee.

If a presentation requires audiovisual equipment that is not listed above, additional equipment can be order, at the expense of the presenter, prior to the convention or in the Speakers Ready Room prior to your presentation.

Carefully selected AV material can be a refreshing adjunct to teaching methods. They offer variation for different learning styles and keep the flow of the presentation stimulating. AV aids are an important way to reinforce and enhance the major themes of your presentation by:

Stimulating interest
Clarifying content
Simplifying complex information
Improving the listener's recall
Keeping you on the subject

Guidelines for Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation

The graphic you project on the screen to support what you say should help clarify ideas, emphasize key points, show relationships, and provide the visual information your audience needs to understand your message. Remember, this presentation is for your audience to see, not for you to read word for word from you slides. Use the following guidelines to assist you in preparing a PowerPoint presentation:

Slide presentations should be well laid out and formatted, be visually appealing with the use of color, and present a professional image.
Keep in mind that your information must be concise; focus on summarizing the most notable aspects of the information for your presentation.
Keep your words large enough ? at least font size 24.
Limit the number of words you put on a page. One of the biggest complaints we get is that attendees can not read slides from the middle to back of the room.
1. Use bullet points or numbers for sub-points.
2. Use succinct phrases instead of sentences.
3. Limit each slide to 6 bullet points. It is better to have several slides per heading or concept than to cram all the information on one slide.
4. Avoid paragraphs.
Fancy is not always better.
Choose color combinations that make your text easy to read.
Limit your graphics to 1-3 per page. Too many graphics can be distracting.
Slides are designed to supplement your presentation ? not be your presentation. Keep it simple.?
Fill out a storyboard before you begin to put your presentation together. It will help you stay organized, and things will get done faster.
Number your slides and reference them in your presentation notes so you will know which visuals to use at various points.
Basic rule of presentations ? Bells and whistles are fun to put in, but they tend to be distracting to the viewer. Make sure that special effects have a purpose.
Proofread and spell check! Proofread and spell check! Proofread and spell check!

Handouts:

All Convention presenters are REQUIRED to bring 100 handouts for their session. This is an important piece of your presentation that session attendees can utilize after the convention, often sharing the handouts in their work environment and with their peers. Shortage of handouts continues to be a complaint strongly noted on evaluation forms.?

Papers and materials for you presentation should be sent ahead of time to your hotel addressed to your attention and labeled "Hold for Arrival" or brought with you. Do not send any materials directly to the Convention Center. Copies can be made onsite, at your own expense at the COBO Business Center(313/567-2525) centrally located on Level 1 of the COBO Atrium adjacent to the ACA Registration Area. Can provide photocopy service, send and receive fax transmissions, offers computer usage stations and has various office products for sale. If you send them your presentation electronically in advance, they will be happy to make copies and have them waiting for you upon your arrival. Information regarding pricing will be published prior to Convention.

Handouts provide structure. They can provide supplemental materials, references, and a glossary of terms. The handout should be attractively laid out and inviting to read. Leave enough "white space" on the handout for the listener to take notes. Number your handout pages for easy reference during your presentation.

A handout should consist of:

Your name and contact information
Date of presentation
Title of your presentation
Brief abstract of your presentation
A brief outline of presentation including the major points
A bibliography of reference used to inform the presentation

Guidelines for Preparing a Poster Presentation

30-Minute Project/Research Poster Sessions are designed to convey research findings and/or novel approaches to issues in a poster format. Through an "Interactive Style" attendees will be encouraged to "stop by" and visit with as many of the presenters of the sessions as they want and engage in interactive dialogue. Some participants may stay for only a few minutes and then move on to another presentation, while others will want to stay longer and go more in-depth on your topic.?

The basic content of a Poster Session should include, although not be limited to, the following:

A title that appropriately describes your session.
An outline of a thesis, problem, or novel approach.
The method(s) used to achieve a solution to a problem or to implement a novel approach.
If appropriate, statistical data should be titled and summarized in a clear, concise format.
A clear, concise conclusion.

All the Poster Session will be located in the Convention Center Exhibit Hall. You will be provided with an 8' X 4' bulletin board and a supply of thumb tacks/push pins. No audiovisual equipment will be provided. You are responsible for setting up your poster session and removing it immediately following your presentation. Each person will be given a maximum of 15 minutes before and after the session for set up and removal of materials. Sessions will start on time.

Your Poster Session must have a professional appearance.?Please remember to use large enough print, graphs, chards or designs to be easily read from a distance of not less than 8-10 feet. We suggest using bullet or outline format. All type should be a minimum of 24-font size (1/4 inch). Posting of a small print paper/report is not professional or acceptable. During the session time, presenters will remain with their posters to discuss their projects, research findings and/or novel approaches with attendees.

All Convention presenters are REQUIRED to bring handouts for their session. Session attendees find them a valuable asset. Please provide at least 50 copies of your handouts. On-site reproduction of handouts is at the expense of the presenter.