Information for Presenters

Please review all of the sections below:

Session Guidelines and Preparation
In addition to following these general guidelines, be sure to review guidelines specific to your submission type below.

Style Sheet: All papers must be submitted in .txt, .doc, or .pdf formats and uploaded prior to the deadline for inclusion in the proceedings. Papers should adhere to the standards described in our conference style template (MS Word Document).

Photographs: Photographs are required only for keynote and invited speakers, and plenary panelists. Photographs for use on the website, printed program and proceedings must meet these specifications:

  • FORMAT: Adobe Photoshop JPEG or TIFF
  • FILE NAME: Last_First, e.g., Hopper_Grace.jpg OR Hopper_Grace.tif
  • COLOR SETTING: RGB or CMYK
  • RESOLUTION: High resolution, 300 DPI at original size
  • Preferred original size is 4 x 6 inches (1,200 x 1,800 pixels)
  • Alternate original size is 2 x 3 inches (600 x 900 pixels)
  • See Specifications for Photos (PDF) for more information.
    • Session title,
    • Name, affiliation and title of all presenters,
    • a 100-word biography and photo (optional) for the moderator and each presenter in your session,
    • and a 70-word abstract.
    • Session title
    • Name and title of all presenters
    • A text summary of your session
      • Before the Conference: Meet with your fellow panelists at least twice and make sure everyone understands their role. We know you are all busy but schedule the meetings NOW. The better prepared you are, the more you practice, the better the session!
      The deadline to submit program materials is July 5, 2011
    • Birds-of-a-Feather
    You will need to submit the following program materials to the GHC submission site:
    You have the option of including a 1-page summary in the conference proceedings. If you choose to include a summary, at minimum it must include:
    PhD Forum and New Investigators
    You will need to submit the following program materials to the GHC submission site:
    • Session title,
    • Name, affiliation and title of all presenters,
    • a 100-word biography and photo (optional) for each presenter in your session,
    • Advisor Information (for PhD Forum only)
    • a 70-word abstract,
    • and a 6 page (maximum) quality paper (to be published in the GHC conference proceedings).
      • The 6-page paper should describe your proposed thesis research, providing a description of the larger problem your research is trying to address, a focused description of the proposed research, including a statement of your hypothesis, a description of the approach and evaluation plans, an indication of related work and expected improvements and benefits, and research philosophy and advice.
      At the Conference: Each participant in the PhD Forum and New Investigators sessions will be given approximately 10-20 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions, depending on the number of speakers in their session. Be sure to make your presentation on your research and research plans about 10-15 minutes long to allow for questions. Focus on your target research problem, proposed approach, any results, and evaluation plan.
      The deadline to submit program materials is July 5, 2011
      For PhD Forum – The audience will be given a short evaluation form for feedback to each presenter. Each presenter will also meet for a few minutes with a research expert to discuss the audience feedback.
    Panels, Workshops and Presentations
    You will need to submit the following program materials to the GHC submission site: a 70-word abstract, 1 page summary of your session, and a 100-word biography and photo for each presenter in your session (optional).
    At a minimum, your summary should include:
    • Session title,
    • Name and title of all presenters,
    • A text summary of your session
      • Before the Conference: Meet with your panelists and practice! We recommend you create an agenda and determine who will speak about the different parts of your presentation given the expertise of the people participating. Meet at least twice and make sure everyone understands their role. We know you are all busy but schedule the meetings NOW. The better prepared you are, the more you practice, the better the presentation!
      The deadline to submit program materials is July 5, 2011
    Posters and SRC Posters
    You will need to submit the following program materials to the GHC submission site:
    • Poster title,
    • Name, affiliation and title of all contributors. Please note only one person per poster will present. Please note when submitting program materials who will be the presenter,
    • a 100-word biography and photo (optional) for each presenter,
    • a 70-word abstract
      • Poster Set-Up: Please print and bring your poster with you to the Conference. Posters may be no larger than 4′x4′. Your poster will be displayed on a 4 foot x 8 foot corkboard space that you share with another presenter. We will assign your space and will provide pushpins. A map of your location will be provided at a later date. Please be prepared to set-up your poster on Thursday, November 10th from 9:30am-5:00pm before the Poster Session begins at 6:30pm. You can organize your space any way that you’d like. You might want to use a single large page format or you may choose to have a number of separate pages posted in the space. We will not have power or AV available to the poster presenters due to the number of participants.
      ACM-SRC (Judging): The first phase of the the ACM Student Research Competition (SRC) judging will take place during the opening reception on Thursday, November 10th. Students will give a short presentation to the Student Research Competition jury during a walk-through of the posters. The jury will then select a small number of students to give a second talk about their research on Friday, November 11th. Each semi-finalist selected for the second day of competition should be prepared to give a second, formal talk on Friday, November 11th during the final judging session. The winners from the second phase of the competition will be announced at the Grace Hopper Awards Ceremony on Friday night, and will continue on to ACM’s Grand Finals.
      ACM-SRC (Travel Reimbursement): Students who were chosen to participate in the ACM-SRC will be reimbursed for some travel expenses of up to $500 and receive special recognition. This is not a grant – but rather, a reimbursement, so receipts above $25 must be provided and only certain types of expenses are included. A representative from ACM will be at the Poster Session to provide you with a packet explaining the reimbursement process and will be available to answer any questions you may have.
      The deadline to submit program materials is July 5, 2011
    Speaker template
    ABI has designed a PowerPoint template with the 2011 Conference theme. We ask that you use this template in its entirety for your panels, presentations and handouts. If you wish to add your company logo, feel free to do so but do not remove the Conference logos. Download the .ppt template
    If you are not using PowerPoint and would like to use our images in your presentation, you can download the .jpgs here (coming soon).
    • Bullet point your key words
    • Do not use small fonts
    • Do not use acronyms
    • Keep as simple as possible
    • Always check grammar and spellings
    • Don’t put what you are going to say on the slide and then read it – BORING! The slide should summarize what you are saying!
    Seven Steps to Better Presentations
    1. Maximize Your Eye Contact: Focus on one person at a time – about 5 seconds. Finish your thought, then move on to someone else. Eye contact is a significant skill to master. It allows you to connect on an emotional level with your audience.
    2. Don’t Forget to Breathe: Breathing is the base for a relaxed, strong voice. If you hold your breath, you will sound nervous.
    3. Use Body Language Wisely: Balance your stance before you start talking, use gestures to emphasize key words and move with a purpose. Before you walk left or right, shift your focus to someone on that side of the room.
    4. Conquer to Content: The more organized the information, the easier it is to deliver and understand. State your idea, support it with examples and summarize your main points.
    5. Control Questions and Answers: Select a questioner, but don’t point. Look directly at the person and listen to the issue. Rephrase the question, addressing the group.
    6. Observe the Audience: Pay attention to their non-verbal clues.
    7. Practice, Practice, Practice!
    If you are a panel, it is very important that you meet at least twice before the conference to organize your presentation so everyone understands their role.
    Post Materials to Wiki
    We ask all presenters to post their materials to the Conference Wiki when they are complete. Materials can be posted before the Conference giving attendees an opportunity to view what will be presented. You may also post supplementary materials and links to related content on other sites.
    Use Our Online Communities
    Here are a few ways to use our GHC online communities to introduce yourself and your topic, gather input, share content, and connect with other presenters and attendees before, during and after the conference:
    • Are you blogging about the conference or your session (or planning to)? Tag your posts with ghc11 and share links to them on the Conference Wiki. (Encourage your audience to share their notes and blog posts about your session on the wiki, too).
    • If you’re on Twitter, ask @ghc to add you to the Twitter list of GHC 2011 attendees.
    • Display a GHC11 Speaker badge on your blog, Facebook page, or website to let others know you’re presenting at Grace Hopper.
    • Encourage twitterers in your audience to use the #ghc11 hashtag. If you like, create a session hashtag to be used with #ghc11 (we recommend 5 characters or less) and include it in your presentation materials.
    Learn more about our online communities on the GHC Community Home page.
    Conference Check-In and Speaker Ready Room

    Please check-in at the conference registration desk and pick up your name badge and conference materials. Once on site, feel free to approach the conference information booth if you have any questions or require additional assistance.

    All breakout speakers in rooms A105-106, A107-109, B110-112, B113-115, B117-119, C123-124, D135-136, D137-140, and E141-142 will need to check in at the Speaker Ready Room (C120-122) no less than 4 hours before their session to upload their presentations. Our AV team (Production Resource Group (PRG)) will contact you with more detailed instructions in advance if you are one of the breakout speakers. Please contact us with questions.

    A/V Equipment: Every room will be equipped with a LCD projector, screen, wired lecturn microphone, 2 table microphones, flip chart on easel with color markers and a standing wireless mic in the middle of the room for Q&A. Presenters will need to visit the speaker ready room prior to their speaking time in order to load their presentations on conference servers. Standard computers will be available to run presentations in each breakout room.
    Frequently Asked Questions
    We will add these as duplicate questions arise…
    The deadline to submit program materials is July 5, 2011

    What were the acceptance rates for GHC?

    Panels, Workshops and Presentations – 24%

    New Investigators – 24%

    PhD Forum – 59%

    Birds of a Feather – 34%

    SRC – 23%