Notes for Presenters in Conference Symposia

Congratulations on being selected by the Conference Scientific Committee as a Paper Presenter within a Symposium.  These suggestions are meant to be a helpful guide.  They are based on feedback about successful presentations at recent EECERA Conferences.  Your paper has been grouped either within a Self Organized Symposium or clustered with others into a symposium with a shared theme. All presenters receive these notes and they will, we hope, give reassurance to those who may not have presented before and form an agreed basis, for those not in a self organized symposium, which your fellow  symposium colleagues can use as a starting point for collaboration.

We appreciate that a relatively short slot in a symposium is not always the best way in which to present your work but our role as organisers is to maximise the opportunities for those who have something important to say and to stimulate debate and contact. This symposium should be seen as a chance to present the essentials of your work to an international audience of colleagues working in the same field, to get critical feedback and ideas and to network with people who share your interests.  We do hope that your presentation will give rise to further discussion outside the symposium and perhaps future collaborations.  The Scientific Committee is very keen to see self-organised, cross-national symposia groups develop, and you may wish to consider this idea for future conferences.  No presenter should be in a symposium of more than 3 presentations unless previously agreed and a symposium should last an hour and a half, being shared equally between the presentations.  We would suggest that at least half an hour is given to questions and discussion between audience and presenters.  Presenters may also wish to have a public dialogue between themselves. This means that your individual presentation is unlikely to be more than 20 minutes for you to present the ‘essence’ of your work. The Chair of your symposium will introduce you and ensure you keep to time.

Each symposium have papers which have been grouped on the basis of the abstracts that were submitted during the ‘Call for Papers’.  Every attempt is made to ensure that presenters within a symposium have some common theme. We recommend that papers are presented in turn, separated only by short questions of clarification. The session is concluded with an opportunity for audience debate and dialogue. 

Be aware of your audience: many delegates will be talking and listening in a language which is not their own.  Make sure you have clear power-points to structure your talk and to give aid to those who may be having difficulty understanding you.  In keeping with the inclusionary aims of EECERA, Conference participants come from a wide range of countries, professional backgrounds and disciplines. Some contributors will be highly experienced but there will be many who are not.  The development of contributors both as researchers and as communicators is seen by the EECERA Trustees as an important part of raising the debate about early childhood issues. 

Each symposium is allocated a Symposium Chair. The Symposia Chairs will encourage and support contributors, so use them if you need help. For those who are not in Self Organized Symposia, we will allocate Chairs and co-presenters and forward their emails to you so that you may begin a pre-Conference dialogue.

1. The Preparatory Meeting

We would recommend that everyone reads each others’ papers beforehand, or at least the abstracts which will be published in the Conference Programme and perhaps have a brief preparatory meeting before the session, if possible on the previous day. 

If you can, have this meeting in the room you will be using for your symposium so everyone knows where it is.

Check the layout of the room and the technical equipment that you need is compatible. A technician will be on call and water should be in your room.

Agree on a timetable with your symposium chair; how long each is to have; and what is the order of appearance.  We recommend that essential questions of clarification are dealt with during or immediately after each presentation but that the greater amount of time is kept for discussion at the end of the session.  To be fair to all, agreed times should be strictly enforced by the Chair.

During the Session

Begin on time and finish on time.  The Chair will introduce you, so make sure she/he has brief accurate biographical details.

Requests from the audience for copies of your paper are your responsibility. You should either bring sufficient numbers for delegates who want a copy.  Alternatively, you can ask delegates who want copies to leave their name and address on a sheet or to email you and mail them a copy electronically after the Conference or use the Conference Twitter site.

Publications

Remember if wish to submit your full paper for consideration for the EECER Journal, which is now included in the prestigious Institute for Science Information (ISI) Social Sciences Citation Index (R), you may do so online at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1350293X.asp. Papers successfully going through the formal peer review process may be accepted for the Journal, but presentation at Conference is no guarantee of that happening.  Your abstract will however be published in the Conference Proceedings Programme, and will also be published online and in a searchable archive of Conference Proceedings on the EECERA website. 

Enjoy your presentation and thank you for sharing your work.  We hope you have a fruitful and pleasurable Conference.  We would value your evaluative feedback after the Conference, so that we can continue to respond to delegates’ needs.

EECERA Trustees
March 2010