Most speakers are comfortable speaking in any typical public setting. However, things can be a little bit different in a virtual meeting context.

Before the meeting
Good preparation will prevent 90% of the potential hiccups you may run into during a virtual meeting.

• Tool: Make sure you are comfortable with the conference tool (Zoom) you will be using. Download and install the Zoom Client on your device: https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting
• Test Run: Participate in one of the test runs. Learn how to mute yourself, display or not your camera, and share your presentation.
• Audio/Video: Ensure that your computer audio and video are working: This means that you hear the sound, your microphone is capturing your voice, and your camera can film you properly when using the conference tool. Headsets normally provides better sound quality than inbuilt microphones and loudspeakers.
• Practice: Practice makes perfect. Run your entire session from the beginning to the end incl. Q&A session and record it. Watch your presentation and note thinks that can be improved. Respect the given time.
• Position: Check how you look on camera. You want to ensure your light is neither too dark nor too light – the audience wants to see you. Speak straight to your camera.
• Surrounding: Pick a quiet place. A place where you know you won’t be disturbed during the meeting, and where you can’t hear other noises that could compromise the quality of your presentation. Make sure that there is nothing inappropriate appearing in your surroundings. (for example, private photos on a shelf, etc.).
• Clothes: Plan ahead the clothes you will be wearing during the meeting. Working from home doesn’t prevent us from dressing appropriately for an important talk.

During the meeting

• Close the door, windows and make sure you won’t be disturbed.
• Keep a small bottle of water next to you.
• Switch your laptop to "Do not disturb" mode (on Mac or on PC).
• When you are not presenting, make sure that you mute yourself and deactivate the screen sharing. Stop your camera too.
• If anything fails, wait to receive some instructions from the operator. Don’t panic, they are used to recovering from potential connectivity or software problems.

As a poster presenter you are asked to prepare a short video of max 3min showing 3 to 5 slides. You will get the link to upload the video after your poster was accepted.

Guidelines for the short video presentation:

• The first slide should provide basic information about the project such as title, presenter and affiliation as well as an introduction explaining the challenge.
• In the middle part of the presentation you should explain the approach and present your results.
• On the last slide you should show the conclusion.
• Make sure that your video is no longer than 3min.

One (of many options) is to record your presentation with the Zoom App. Repeat the presentation until you are happy with the result. If you like, you can edit and enrich the video with e.g. music, special effects, intro and end titles, using a video editing software. However, post-editing is not mandatory.