SOFE97
San Diego, California
October 6-10, 1997

Guidelines for Oral Presentations

Oral presentations provide a forum in which authors can present research results to a large audience. However, to make effective use of this format, authors must keep in mind that audiences can be quickly lost by illogical presentation or overwhelmed by too much mater-ial presented too rapidly. In the brief time allocated, authors should motivate the work, outline the methods used, and present key results. Because SOFE attendees represent a variety of scientific disciplines, some tutorial background is usually in order. Remember that audiences respond to the mode of presentation and the enthusiasm of the speaker as well as to the scientific content. Speak clearly and concisely.

Timing

Contributed oral presentations are allocated 15 minutes for the talk and an additional 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Invited talks are allocated 25 minutes for the talk plus 5 minutes for discussion. Session timings are listed in the program book to permit attendees to select talks they wish to attend. Consequently, session chairs will strictly enforce theses time limits. A useful estimate is to allot one to two minutes for each trans-parency or slide prepared for the talk.

Presentation

Each author (or representative) should Òcheck inÓ with the session chair at least five minutes before the scheduled start of the session. Inform the chairperson if someone other than the first author will present the talk. Talks will be called at the time scheduled in the program book. Session chairs have the responsibility of reporting Òno-showsÓ to the publication committee. No-show papers will not be published in the Proceedings. All speakers are urged to prepare visuals in advance of the conference and to practice their talk. The success of the conference rests, after all, on the quality of the technical presentations. Overhead projectors will be available in each session. However, slide projectors, VCRÕs and monitors will not be provided by the conference. Should these be required for your presentation, you must rent the necessary equipment at your own expense and see to its set up and removal. Please contact the Bahia Hotel for further information.