Online Live Session FAQs

Yes. These are due by October 2. We ask that you upload a copy of your slides (PDF) and any supplemental resources prior to the conference for attendees to view. You will receive an email in mid-September from your speaker liaison with a link to upload. EDUCAUSE will post the materials to your session listing in the online agenda and event platform. This can be a game-changer for many attendees as it will allow them to prepare appropriately.

Important Note: 

• This statement below appears on the EDUCAUSE PowerPoint template and highlights the terms of the permission agreement you accepted in EDUCAUSE's Publishing Agreement. If you are using your own PowerPoint, we ask you to use the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference branding on the first and last slides. Please also include this statement on one of your slides:

  This presentation leaves copyright of the content to the presenter. Unless otherwise noted in the materials, uploaded content carries the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which grants usage to the general public, with appropriate credit to the author.

Yes. EDUCAUSE strives to hold meetings, conferences, and other professional events where all attendees feel welcome and barriers of any type do not exclude people from attending or participating. We ask that you take the time to review the Accessibility Information for Presenters section to help you create and deliver a presentation that all attendees can enjoy.

• Ensure your attendees can see your slides. Use a 44-point font for headings, 32-point font or higher for bullets; 18-point or larger for verbiage.
• Use Alt Text for all images.
• Include no more than 6 lines of text on each slide.
• Check that the presentation is accessible under Review tab> Check Accessibility.

These should be uploaded as PDFs. The copy of your presentation slides (that will serve as a resource for attendees) should be converted to a PDF that is accessible. See below for instructions on converting a copy of your presentation as a resource. File sizes should be 2GB or smaller.

• ✓ First find and fix any accessibility issues using PowerPoint’s Accessibility Checker.
• ✓ Select File > Save As and choose where to store your PDF.
• ✓ Do NOT select “Print to PDF” or “Save as Adobe PDF”!
• ✓ Change “Save As” type to PDF (*.pdf).
• ✓ Fill the Title field with the title of your PowerPoint presentation.
• ✓ Select the “More Options” button near the title of your document and then select “Options.”
• ✓ Check both “Document Properties” and “Document structure tags for accessibility” boxes.
• ✓ Select “Save” and close Options.
• ✓ Select “Save” to convert PDF.

All presenters should share their presentation materials prior to the annual conference. Please rename files to be uploaded with the session title and the resource type (examples: "NameofSession_Slides.ppt" and/or "NameofSession_ Handout.pdf"). If you password-protect a PDF document, please make sure to enable the file to be read by a screen reader. It is our goal to make our resources easily available to those who use adaptive and assistive technology to access files over the internet.

This is a tough question to answer since...it depends. It depends on your presenting skills and comfort level with the content. A good rule of thumb, though, is that for every hour you spend presenting, you want to spend 10x that preparing. Preparation is the single most important part of making a successful presentation!

Don’t skip any of the preparation steps:

• Strategy and Logistics: Know who you are speaking to, why you are speaking, so you can figure out what you are going to present.
• Brainstorm and Outline Your Presentation: You will want to map out your entire session using a session outline template such as this one. This is where you list out how many minutes you have to speak, then write a short script for each section, and who is presenting which sections. Add in items such as engagement activities, special notes about AV, slide transitions, videos, etc. This outline or script is essentially a game plan for your session.
• Practice: Your practice sessions should be 50% of your preparation time and should begin well in advance of the event. We can’t emphasize this enough: The more you practice, the more comfortable and confident you will be! Do several dry runs of your presentation. The success of your presentation depends on it! Tip: Time your presentation from start to finish!
• Create Your Slides/Visuals: Keep it simple and visually interesting.
• Presentation: Good luck! All your preparation will pay off!
• Debrief: What went well, what didn’t. How can I/we improve for next time?

Yes! The Online Presenter Toolkit and the Presenter Concierge section of our website. There, you'll find articles, videos and resources for you, including slide design how-to’s, tips on delivering an outstanding presentation, engagement strategies, accessibility and more. Take the time to develop your presentation skills to create and deliver a presentation that is memorable and impactful.Here are a couple of our favorite resources:

• How to Give a Killer Presentation
• Top Ten Slide Design Tips
• How to Keep Your Audience Engaged During an Online Presentation

EDUCAUSE has a dedicated staff person whose primary role is to support presenters. The speaker liaison provides ongoing communication leading up to the event, answers questions and can provide extra assistance through Speaker Support Sessions if needed. We currently offer training through pre-event meetings and the EDUCAUSE Presenter Support Modules. These five-minute (or less) videos will help you create an outstanding presentation by focusing on the practices adopted by the most effective speakers, presenters, and facilitators. The content also includes machine-readable PDF versions.

• Presentation Best Practices Introduction (3:10)
• How to Use Presentation Time Effectively (4:10)
• Using Visuals (4:13)
• Presentation Content and Detail (4:19)
• Audience Interaction (4:22)
• Panels (3:38)
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (3:19)

Just like an in-person session, the presentation will begin at specific scheduled times within the event platform so attendees will be able to click into the session at the start time or a few minutes earlier. While watching the sessions, attendees can submit questions in a designated Q&A or chat section. Presenters will have a Zoom webinar experience while attendees will be viewing the session page in the Hubilo event platform. Attendees will have the option to turn on their mics and cameras.

For live sessions, a host will briefly introduce the session and take care of any housekeeping or announcements before switching over to the first speaker. For facilitated discussions, presenters will introduce themselves and then start the presentation. If you have more than one presenter, practice the handoff from speaker to speaker, as there can be some awkwardness in the transitions. Plan to allow time for Q&A or discussion.