Dear Frontline, Online Presenter:
We appreciate your participation as a presenter and your willingness to share your time and expertise with attendees of this important educational event which is designed specifically for library workers who work directly with library users.
This page will provide you with information regarding deadlines, access to your speaker portal, presentation tips and more!
Using the Virtual Conference Platform
We will be using Pheedloop once again to host our online conference, with Zoom integration for real time discussion. All sessions are scheduled to take place live on Wednesday, February 4.
Before the Event:
You will be provided with access to your unique speaker portal in the "Backstage" of the Pheedloop platform. There, you can:
- create a speaker profile
- upload a photo and link web or social media sites
- upload handouts for your session
During the LIVE event on February 4:
- Presenters will enter and present their live session via Zoom.
- We will provide the Zoom meeting link to you the week prior to the event.
- A PaLA staff member will be assigned to each session to trouble shoot any Zoom issues
- Presenters are asked to log into the Zoom meeting 10 minutes before the session start time.
- Live presentations will be conducted as a Zoom Meeting to allow full engagement with event participants.
- Presenters will be given co-hosting access so you can share screens, etc.
- Attendees will enter and participate in sessions by logging into the Pheedloop platform, where the Zoom presentation will be seamlessly integrated.
- They will join sessions at their scheduled times during the live, virtual event
- The tech team member assigned to the session will monitor chat in Pheedloop and will relay attendee comments or questions with the speaker.
After the LIVE event:
- All conference participants (attendees & speakers) will have access to recorded versions of the sessions through March 6.
- In order to maintain the uniqueness of the event, presenters are asked not to share the exact presentation, recording, and related materials with other individuals or organizations until after March 6.
General Tips for a High-Quality Presentation
- Use a wired internet connection if possible. Video does require more bandwidth and WiFi is not as robust.
- If you are going to speak, please use a wired microphone, and NOT your computer microphone. A headset, wired mic, or even earbuds for a smart phone will give better audio quality. Audio is super important – no tin cans please!
- If possible, stand during your presentation for better voice projection.
- Present or Record in a quiet location – mute all phones, turn off computer notifications, and try to avoid background noises.
- Lighting – try to avoid windows or lights behind you and instead have overhead or lights facing you.
- Look at the camera. Consider raising the level of you laptop/camera so that it is eye level.
- Smile! It really warms up the group and will be engaging for the audience. 😊
Tips for Making Your Visual Material Accessible:
- Make Your PowerPoint Presentation Accessible - Some articles and tips from Microsoft for making PowerPoint presentations inclusive for all. View Resource
- Use text that is high-contrast and in a large, legible font, such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid italics and specialty or decorative fonts. Use an online color contrast checker.
- Describe all images used in the slide presentation and read the relevant text from the screen for people who have difficulty reading or seeing text and visual images. Avoid adding too much text and unnecessary images to slides.
- Balance the need to verbalize visual information with the need to keep the text concise.
- Leave blank space at the lower center of slides as live captioning will be displayed here for those who opt to use this accessibility option.
- PheedLoop's Zoom integration supportsZoom's caption feature, which should be activated at the start of your presentation. For optimal effectiveness of this feature, please be sure to ennunciate clearly and speak at a measured pace so that the auto captioning system can keep up.
Promote Yourself & Your Session!
Presenting at a statewide event is a big deal, so get the word out about your accomplishment! We encourage you to promote your session, as well as the event as a whole - through your social media channels, email and word of mouth! Event logo for use in your promotions.