CUG Guidelines for Presenters

Thank you for sharing your experiences and research findings with your colleagues.  Your presentation at the upcoming Cray User Group annual meeting is one of the most important means of exchanging information among users of Cray high performance computing systems. The guidelines provided here will help ensure your presentation is as effective as possible!

The time allotted for each talk is usually 25 or 40 minutes. Please check the “Final Program” on the CUG web site for your individual session time and length.  Your Session Chair will monitor your progress and not allow you to go over this time, since doing so would infringe upon someone else’s well-prepared talk.  Should you have some special needs for your presentation that have not already been accounted for, let your Session Chair know in advance.  The session start times are coordinated and in parallel with other sessions; therefore, time extensions throughout the day are NOT possible.  We suggest you plan your talk to allow at least 5 minutes for questions.  The 30 or 45 minute session schedules will permit time for switching between presentations and between tracks.

All presentations are to be delivered in English, but remember that CUG is an international audience and many attendees speak English as a second language.  Please plan to speak slowly and enunciate clearly so that everyone can understand you, especially if you speak to a topic not covered in your visual presentation materials.  As a rough guideline, you should plan for approximately 1-2 minutes for each slide that is shown in your presentation.  We recommend that you plan for approximately 14-18 slides for a 25 minute talk and 24-28 slides for a 40 minute talk.  You should also have an opening slide that includes your talk title, your name, and your CUG site or affiliation.

Due to the large number of technical attendees, conference wireless can at times problematic, particularly early in the conference. Please ensure you have prepared all materials in advance for use in an offline environment. Test the conference network in advance of your presentation if you plan to attempt a live demonstration or tutorial, be prepared in case of failure and don’t rely on network access as your only presentation method.

Because the rooms used for the sessions can be much larger than typical conference rooms, use large, well-spaced type and allow space for the border around the image. Note that CUG does not provide a slide template, presenters are free to user the style of their respective institutions.

At the CUG Meeting

Arrive at your session track 15 minutes before the first talk (even if you are not the first presenter in the session) to discuss your part of the session with your Session Chair. Presenters are responsible for providing a laptop for their presentation or making sure one is available. CUG does not provide laptops, but will try to help if the one you plan to use fails. Please check that the laptop works with the audio visual equipment available and that your presentation displays correctly. Ask the Session Chair to ensure that your position will not obscure the screen so that the audience can see the visuals you will be using.

It is possible that the display screen will be located apart from the presenter (such as when a podium is used); in this case you should ask someone to assist you in controlling a laptop computer.

Prior to your talk, the Session Chair will introduce you, giving (at least) your name, site, and the title of your talk.

Remember, there is a maximum time for your entire presentation; the majority of your time (approximately 75%) should be dedicated to your formal presentation and the remainder to questions/answers from/to the audience. Your Session Chair will signal you when you have approximately 10 minutes remaining. The Session Chair will interrupt you if necessary to remain on schedule and allow about 5 minutes of questions from the audience.

Conference session layouts usually run approximately 90 or 120 minutes; breaks will be provided for sessions which run longer. Typically there are 3 tracks per session and 3 or 4 talks per track. Talks are scheduled across session tracks so that they end at the same time; hence, CUG attendees may attend a first talk in one session and then proceed to a second talk in another session. It is helpful if 3-5 minutes can be left between talks to allow people to transfer to other sessions. Sessions and talks must begin on time for these reasons.

One Further Request

We all realize that plans change and emergency situations can and will disrupt our lives and carefully aligned schedules.  If such an occurrence prevents you from attending the conference please take the time to inform the CUG Vice President/Program Chair as soon as possible so that we may give another presenter an opportunity to fill in.  If there are colleagues of yours attending, and they are familiar with your work and presentation, please feel free to ask them to present in your place.  We try to keep the program meaningful and varied and want your ideas and observations integrated with other pertinent talks or discussion topics.  Last minute changes disrupt this flow and often require schedule shuffling which can make for an uneven conference experience for others.

(revised February 2022)