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Advice for Speakers

IMC 2025 will be a hybrid event. This allows delegates who would otherwise be unable to access the Congress to participate virtually in sessions, as well as providing session recordings for all registered delegates to view until 20 September

Speakers and moderators are expected to facilitate delivery of hybrid sessions. At the start of each paper, you must check that slides are shared through Zoom and that both virtual and in-person delegates can hear and see the presenter.

We recommend that you practice your presentation prior to your session, ensuring that you are comfortable with sharing your screen in Zoom and navigating through your slides. Prior to presenting, please go through the Speaker's Checklist: Are my slides shared to Zoom? Can I be heard by the virtual audience? Is my face visible on camera?

Preparing Your Presentation

It is up to you what format you choose to present any visual aids or slides. However, to ensure your paper runs smoothly and without hitches we recommend that all speakers follow the below advice:

  • Make sure your paper is presented within the allotted time (20 minutes for sessions with three papers and 15 minutes for sessions with four papers).
  • All speakers must use Zoom to share their slides, rather than sharing them directly with the in-room audience. Due to the hybrid nature of the IMC this year, we expect all in person presenters use the in room PC for their sessions. Virtual presenters should make sure they save a copy of the presentation on the device you are using to present.
  • We recommend that you practice your presentation prior to your session, ensuring that you are comfortable with sharing your screen in Zoom and navigating through your slides. For more information on how to share your slides via Zoom, as well as information on presentation formats, see below.
  • Use PowerPoint’s built-in captioning system to add automatic live captions to your presentation.
  • Make sure that all materials you use are clearly legible for delegates with visual impairments.
  • If you are speaking in-person, either email your presentation to yourself, or bring it along on a memory stick, or access it via cloud storage. We recommend using PowerPoint or saving your presentation as a PDF file.
  • If you require access to specialist software or your own device to present, you must contact imc@leeds.ac.uk to arrange this in good time before the IMC begins.
  • If your presentation has a large number of images or other content, ensure the file size is as small as it can be by following the guidance here.

Using Zoom to Share Your Screen

All presenters, both in-person and virtual, must share their slides via Zoom and not directly with the room audience. This is to ensure that delegates attending virtually can see your slides and that they will be included in session recordings.

  • Share your whole screen, not the individual PowerPoint, this ensures a smooth transition between speakers' papers for the online audience and recordings.
  • There are three methods you can use to screen share a PowerPoint presentation in a Zoom meeting. If you have dual monitors, you can share a slide show while viewing presenter's notes in another monitor. If you have a single monitor, you can also start the slide show in a window so you have access to other meeting features while sharing your presentation. Find out more with Zoom's handy guide here.
  • While screen sharing from a Mac or Windows device, video of the other participants will move to an adjustable video panel. Check out how to configure this in Zoom here.
  • You can share a Keynote presentation with Zoom. However, IMC in room PCs do not have Keynote installed, so we recommend exporting your presentation to PowerPoint. You share a Keynote presentation like any other screen, but this article covers a few tips for optimizing your experience when sharing with Keynote.

General Advice for Speakers

Our advice to speakers is to help make your presentation as accessible as possible.

  • Arrive 35 minutes before the session to prepare, load your slides, and familiarise yourself with the in-room PC.
  • If technical difficulties occur and you are unable to present your paper at all, it will not be possible to reschedule your paper.
  • Ensure you have any video, audio, or weblinks you need loaded before you begin speaking.
  • Before you begin speaking, check that you are audible, and that your slides are visible to remote attendees by asking attendees to give you a thumbs up or post in the chat.
  • Speak clearly and slowly so that all delegates, both virtual and in-person, can follow your paper. The language in which you are speaking may not be the first language of everyone in the audience.
  • If you are presenting your paper in a language other than English, we recommend producing a short handout summarising the key points of your paper in English.
  • Ensure you describe any images or visual aids used in your presentation so that it is accessible for any attendees with visual impairments. We recommend using the guidelines on making presentations accessible from Microsoft.
  • It is likely that there will be members of the audience with hearing impairments or who rely upon lipreading. Ensure that you are facing the camera head on, that you are well lit, and your face can be clearly seen. Keep your camera on throughout your presentation. Use PowerPoint’s built-in captioning system to add automatic live captions to your presentation
  • If you are presenting your paper in a language other than English, we recommend producing a short handout summarising the key points of your paper in English.

Session Room Support

A team of Session Room Organisers (SROs) will be available to assist speakers and moderators throughout the Congress, both virtually and in-person. In-person SROs can be found outside your session room. Virtual SROs can be contacted by speaking into the computer microphone or by typing into the Zoom chat.

In-person SROs will be available around campus to ensure session rooms are set up correctly, to keep rooms tidy, to ensure temperature and lighting are comfortable, to ensure water is available for speakers, and that the correct equipment is provided.

Virtual SROs will be monitoring your session through Zoom to ensure that sessions are accessible for our virtual delegates. They will be proactive in contacting moderators and speakers in sessions experiencing audio / visual difficulties, either through the in-room speakers or through the Zoom chat.

Both in-room and virtual teams will be able to assist with basic technical queries and support.

SROs will try to resolve any issues, but they may need to request additional technical support either from on-campus IT support or our virtual platform helpdesk.

Please make sure you are familiar with the basic functions of the equipment you are using before your presentation. Both in-room and virtual SROs will be assigned to multiple rooms and so will not be able to help every speaker with their equipment.