2024 VLA Annual Conference Presenter Banner

Presenter Information

All presenters must register for the conference. Online registration is now closed. Onsite registration is available for a $75 fee; you may register from 9:00AM -5:00PM on Thursday and 8:00AM - 11:00AM on Friday. If you are ONLY coming to VLA to present your session, you do not have to pay but we still ask that you register so we can make sure you are in the loop on all communications.

Make a note of your room assignment when you find it in the conference app - there are four floors in the conference space and it will be helpful to be aware of your location before your session begins. Your room layout can be found by clicking the button above.

Conference App

The conference will be using Sched this year for the conference app. Registered attendees should have received an invitation to join the event to allow for full access to the app.

Presentation Time and Location

In the conference app you will find the session schedule including the time and location of your presentation. If you do not see your name associated with the presentation or do not see your presentation listed, contact [email protected] right away so she can fix that. Make a note of your room assignment when you find it in the conference app - there are four floors in the conference space and it will be helpful to be aware of your location before your session begins.

Session and Speaker Materials

You should be able to upload presentation materials to Sched once you get your invitation. We encourage you to make your presentation available as attendees find it very useful to have copies of the presentation materials (slides, handouts, etc.), especially since they cannot attend all concurrent sessions. Consider adding your notes in the slide notes area so people who attending a different session can still benefit from your knowledge.

Room Equipment

Presentation rooms will have a projector, screen, microphone, and podium. You will need to bring your own laptop or tablet and cords to attach to the projectors. Projectors will have HDMI cables for connection. Please bring any necessary technology you need to connect your presentation device to the projector via HDMI. If you need a clicker to advance your presentation, please bring that with you. The hotel does have WiFi but there will be close to 650+ people using it at the same time so we cannot guarantee the connection speed. (If you are planning to show a video, we recommend that you download the video rather than streaming it from YouTube or other service.)

Each room will have a microphone, and it is essential that presenters speak into the microphone when presenting, regardless of how much you think your voice will carry. People with hearing disabilities and people in the back of the room will have a much easier time hearing you if you use the microphone.

Thank you for submitting the round table idea and your willingness to facilitate the conversation.

A few details about the round table discussions; your contact on the conference committee is Joy Doukas. Joy will reach out to you in the weeks before the conference to make sure you have her contact information, and vice-versa. Joy will make sure your table is clearly labeled so attendees can find you in the room.

All of the round table sessions will happen in the same room at the same time, on Thursday, October 17 in the Norfolk Ballroom 2 from 2:00PM - 2:45PM. Each topic will have one round table with seating for up to 8 attendees including the discussion leader(s).
The structure of the conversation really falls to the discussion leaders: some have formal questions, while others have less formal ones.
One format for beginning the conversation is to spend a few minutes interpreting the topic/question of the roundtable then open for discussion and follow-up questions.
You may want to prepare some of your own follow-up questions in case they are needed to restart the conversation.

Sched

You will have the ability to upload your poster to the conference app, sched.org. You must be registered to receive an invitation give you full access to sched features.

Session Details

You can hang your poster on between 4:15PM and 5:00PM, Wednesday, October 16. The poster session presentation period will run from 5:00PM - 7:00PM. Early Registration also begins at 5:00PM so be sure to stop by the registration desk to pick up your name badge. You should try to get to your poster a few minutes before the session starts so you are prepared for attendees.

Specifications

We are providing 4’ X 8’ double-sided boards for your use, on which you can Velcro or pin your posters. You will be sharing one side with another poster presenter. The maximum size of your poster is, thus, 4 feet by 4 feet. However, you may want to make it a little narrower so you can stand beside the poster to present and not block your data. We will provide push pins, though we cannot guarantee what color they will be. If you prefer to use something else to hang your poster, you are welcome to bring it. Additionally, we will provide 6 foot tables that will be available for you to share with neighboring presenters. You can use these to display handouts, business cards, and anything else you want interested attendees to take with them.

Looking for some tips on presenting your poster?

VLA held two webinars in 2017 with best practices for conference poster presenters:

What is This Poster Session You Speak of? VLA Webinar, 2017: http://bit.ly/VLAPosterTips1
Poster Tips, Tricks and Specifics: VLA Webinar, 2017: http://bit.ly/VLAPosterTips2
Where to print your poster

You might already have access to a suitable printer within your library or wider organization. Talk to your library director or your university printing office or local government public affairs office to see if anyone has a printer that can print up to a 4 foot X 4 foot page.
FedEx and PhD Posters are two resources with pros and cons. Make sure you do your research before designing to see which one would be most appropriate for your budget, size, and shipping time needs.
Fabric: A cool alternative that has gained popularity is printing on fabric. You can print posters on fabric using either PhD Posters or Spoonflower.

There is one lightning talk session on Thursday, October 17 from 2:00-2:45PM.

You’ll need to send me a copy of your slides by Tuesday, October 1. It’s essential that you send me your slides early so I can put them on a jump drive for the appropriate session. We suggest saving them as a PDF before you send to ensure that your formatting and fonts remain in place, not matter the computer they are on.

A volunteer will queue them up on the computer before the session starts so they are ready and waiting for you. You will be able to move your slides forward using a clicker.

Each lightning talk is 7 minutes and you will need to use the microphone in the room when you are presenting. Q&A will take place after all presentations have been completed.

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out.

We have created a space on the VLA Conference Portal where these details will be posted: https://www.vla.org/vla-2024-annual-conference-presenter-information.

Dr. Christine Woods, [email protected]

Presentations given in the Libraratory Makerspace (unless it is specifically a making presentation) will be held in a portion of the Libraratory separated from the Makerspace by the art show, which will be held on free standing panels. Folks may be using the makerspace while you are presenting but the show panels should provide a visual and sound barrier for fewer distractions. Seating will be set up classroom style behind the panels and AV will be available--just not as you may have experienced in the past. We appreciate your flexibility and willingness to "go with the flow" in this set up!