GCAGS 2015 Houston

Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Convention
George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas
September 20–22, 2015
Use #GCAGS2015 to tag your posts related to the convention!

Instructions for Oral Presenters

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GCAGS 2015 logo colorGETTING TO THE GCAGS MEETING

The Technical Program will be held on the 3rd floor of the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Please attend the Session/Awards Ceremony, Sunday September 20, 5:00-6:00 pm in Room 310ABC. The Speaker Ready Room (330AB in the G. R. Brown Convention Center) will be open Sunday 1:00-5:00 pm.

The Technical Program rooms will be near the Exhibit Hall B3 area and the luncheon rooms. You may have attended AAPG meetings at the George R. Brown Convention Center before. The difference will be that all GCAGS activities will be on the 3rd floor, whereas the AAPG was spread between the 1st and 3rd floors.

The George R. Brown Convention Center website has maps and parking information, including updates on downtown Houston construction projects that may affect parking.

SPEAKER, POSTER, AND SESSION CHAIR BREAKFAST

We encourage you to attend the Speaker and Poster Breakfast on the day of your talk. The Speaker and Poster Breakfasts are served from 7:00 am to 8:00 am.

  • Monday Breakfast location: Bush Grand Ballroom, 3rd floor, George R. Brown Convention Center
  • Tuesday Breakfast location: Room 360 ABDE, George R. Brown Convention Center.

Why you need to attend: You can meet the session chairs for your session,  pick up your speaker gift, get a speaker ribbon, and upload your PowerPoint presentation in the Speaker and Poster Ready Room (330AB on the third floor of the G.R. Brown Convention Center).

ORAL PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

The room, day and time scheduled for your presentation have been emailed to you and also printed in the 2015 GCAGS Announcement Brochure. The technical program is Monday, September 21 and Tuesday, September 22. The schedule is also available online in the Oral Program Overview. Click on the red title to see the details of each session.

Oral talks should be 20-22 minutes long, and cannot be longer than 25 minutes. The exception is the Tuesday Education Forum, in Assembly Room A, which will have 40-minute talks. All other sessions will have 25 minute talks. Please practice your timings.

Slides will be advanced by the speaker from the podium. You can use the laser pointer provided on the slide advancer, or bring your own laser pointer. Plan on staying near the podium while you speak to the audience. You will NOT be able to go in front of the screen to point to slides.

NOTE: There will NOT be internet connections in the session rooms.

SLIDE FORMAT REQUIREMENTS

  • Use a recent version of PowerPoint (2007 or later).
  • Save your presentation in PowerPoint and as a PDF, so you have both versions.
  • The convention uses PC computers.
  • Format your slides in Landscape 4:3 format, standard size, not widescreen size.
  • If you want to embed a video in the PPT, put the video file (.MP4 or .AVI or .MOV) in a folder with your .PPT and test it ahead of time in the Speaker Ready Room. Tell your session chair you plan to use videos or animations, so they can be aware that your presentation is “multimedia.”

UPLOADING SLIDES FOR YOUR TALK AHEAD OF TIME

Bring your PowerPoint presentation on a removable USB drive to the Speaker and Poster Ready Room (Room 330 AB, George R. Brown Convention Center) on Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm.  You can also upload it Monday morning before 8 am. Even if you are speaking on Tuesday, we would like you to upload your presentation on Monday.

DON’T bring your PowerPoint to the session room before your talk, because it can’t be uploaded there. If you have a conflict with early arrival at the George R. Brown Convention Center, the GCAGS Technical Chair will upload your PowerPoint on your behalf.

Make arrangements to submit the latest version of your presentation by ftp or using Dropbox, before Sunday Sept 19, by emailing linda.sternbach@gmail.com. PowerPoints will be stored in a protected and confidential site.

PRESENTATION ADVICE

Here are some tips so your talk will be a candidate for a best presentation award.

  • Read the tips on the AAPG website:
    https://www2.aapg.org/meetings/kits/electronicallyspeaking.pdf
  • The name of your PowerPoint should start with your last name and part of the title, for example: Smith_John_DeepwaterField.ppt
  • Credit any images that show other authors’ work. The credit should name the previous author, year, and publication.
  • Don’t crowd more than 2 or 3 images on each slide.
  • Use 18 point or larger font.
  • Use standard fonts like Arial or Calibri.
  • Don’t go backwards to previous slides during your talk. If you want to return to a previous slide, just copy the slide and place it in the slide show twice.
  • Company logos should just appear on the first and last slide, not on every slide. Remember you are giving a scientific, technical talk and the audience is not expecting to be shown any sales promotions for software or hardware.

SESSION CHAIRS ARE THERE TO HELP YOU

  • Please go to the session room at least 10 minutes before the session starts and makes sure the Session Chairs know you have arrived, and your PowerPoint is loaded on the computer system.
  • Tell your Session Chairs if you have a video in the slideshow or need to switch to a video.
  • Let the Session Chairs know how you would like to be introduced, (Dr . Smith, or  Professor Smith), and help them with pronouncing your first and last name and company name.
  • The Session Chair will call for audience questions, or ask you a question, if time permits.
  • Session Chairs will remind the audience that there is no audience photography or video recording permitted during technical talks.

CONVENTION REGISTRATION

All oral and poster presenters should register for the 2015 Convention by August 16, 2015. There is a discounted price of $200 for professional registration that includes the Sunday Icebreaker, all day Monday, and all day Tuesday access to the technical sessions and Exhibit Hall. Student oral presenters can register for $35. After August 16, the registration price increases to $300. Register Now.

Hotel Reservations are available at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel and can be made during the online registration. Alternatively you can call 1-800-Hiltons as ask for the group code 1GS. Speakers can stay at any downtown Houston hotel, but be aware GCAGS is not running buses between hotels.

Any other questions on the oral or poster sessions?
Please email linda.sternbach@gmail.com or
call Linda Sternbach at 281-679-7333 ext 2.

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