Presentations
Preparation and Day Of
UA IT Summit breakout sessions will take place on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 in the Student Union Memorial Center. Program
See our Media page for:
- IT Summit branded PowerPoint template (if you wish to use it)
- Zoom backgrounds (to promote your participation in advance)
Please bring your laptop with
- HDMI port or adapter
- presentation applications ready to show
You will be joining your laptop to the session Zoom meeting for screen sharing, projecting, and recording purposes.
Arrive in your room 10 minutes in advance of your start time. Work with the A/V and webinar volunteer to ensure everything is ready for your presentation.
Whova App
We are using the Whova app for this year's program.
Create an account at whova.com to access the IT Summit event.
- Use your arizona.edu email address and a secure password of your choosing.
You will be able to update your bio and add a photo, add your slide deck and ancillary materials to your session, and more.
You will also be able to interact with attendees before, during, and after the IT Summit in the Session Q&A.
Learn more about using Whova as a speaker:
- Whova Speaker Guide video (9:18)
- IT Summit Speaker Lunch N Learn video (45:00)
Presentation Tips
Make your presentation interesting for the campus audience.
- Anecdotes and concrete examples are helpful.
- Tailor your content for your audience.
- Define all terms and acronyms that are not well known to the average person.
- Include commonly known facts only if they are necessary to the continuity or flow of the presentation or add something of value.
- Design your content to leave participants better informed and help them make better decisions. Think consciously of recommendations, actions, or issues to consider that provide immediate takeaway value.
Practice your presentation and time it. Leave time at the end for questions and/or interaction with the audience.
Prepare and practice to ensure any demos run smoothly.
Follow PowerPoint design best practices.
- Remember that you are the presenter, not PowerPoint. Use your slides to emphasize a point, keep yourself on track, and illustrate a point with a graphic or photo. Don’t read the slides.
- Limit text to short fragments/headlines, not sentences (6-8 lines per slide, no more than 30 words per slide).
Keep your font size 24 or bigger. (Print out all your slides on standard paper, and drop them to the floor. The slides are probably readable if you can read them while you’re standing.) - Use easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Fonts that are not Microsoft standard may default.
Leave out the sound effects and background music, unless it’s related to the content being presented. - Proofread, proofread, proofread.
Visit brand.arizona.edu/templates if you want to download a University of Arizona PowerPoint template (log in with NetID), or use the IT Summit template.