What’s up with all the different presentation formats at SIGUCCS? What’s the difference between a presentation and a poster? And what is a lightning talk?

SIGUCCS has an opportunity for a variety of session types and we are looking for people to present in all of them!

Are you doing something interesting at work? Something that might be of interest to others in higher ed IT? Have you found a unique way to manage help desk tickets? Do you have a great method for getting faculty to come to training? Have you created a web site or documentation that has made your service so much easier to support? All of these are great ideas to share at SIGUCCS.

So, what’s the best way to share?

One option is a standard presentation. This involves writing a short (4-8 page) paper that outlines your presentation prior to the conference. The cool part is that this paper gets published in the ACM digital library. This is an official publication source. At the conference, you have an hour long time slot in which to give your presentation and answer questions of your attendees. For information about the paper process, read The SIGUCCS Presentation Paper.

If you know people at other institutions are doing something similar, suggest a panel presentation. This is one where each school would present on their own methods and discuss similarities and differences in approaches. The audience benefits from multiple perspectives. Not sure how to find co-presenters? Use the SIGUCCS-L email list! If you are not a member, join today (http://www.siguccs.org/lists.shtml). A paper is optional for this type of presentation.

If you have a great process to share and it can be an interactive session, submit a proposal for a facilitated discussion. This type of session allows you to get attendees to work together, brainstorm, etc. You become the moderator/facilitator of the session. And everyone comes away learning something. A paper is also optional for this type of presentation.

Don’t want to present to a group? Submit a proposal for a poster. The poster session provides you an opportunity to discuss your topic/project one-on-one with other attendees. For more information about the poster session and how beneficial this can be to you and your career, see Present a poster at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference.

And what the heck is a lightning talk? Read more at Lightning Talks at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference

The 2018 SIGUCCS Annual Conference is accepting presentation proposals through February 16, 2018. Submit your proposal today!

~Lisa Brown

Did you know that the 2018 SIGUCCS Conference marks the five-year anniversary of the Lightning Talks format? During this period, attendees gave over forty bite-sized presentations, and these Lightning Talks have turned into one of the more popular sessions during conferences. For those who are curious about these mini-presentations, let’s answer some of the more common questions about these sessions.

So what happens during Lightning Talks sessions at SIGUCCS conferences?

During Lightning Talks sessions, there are typically about five presenters. Speaker have 7 minutes each to present, followed by 2-minute question-and-answer period (during the Q & A, the next speaker prepares for their talk). The talks and Q & A periods repeat until all speakers have presented. There is also a general Q & A forum at end of the session.

Seven minutes? Why would anyone want to give such short presentations?

Lightning Talks offer an interesting take on traditional (longer) full-length presentations. They force speakers to distill their ideas into key points and encourage concise presentations. Instead of delving into the weeds, speakers focus on high-level ideas. Some presenters also use this format to work out nascent ideas which bloom into full-length presentations at a later time. For first-time conference attendees and those who are afraid of public speaking, Lightning Talks are a great gateway into giving presentations.

Why did SIGUCCS add Lightning Talks in their recent conferences?

Lightning Talks offer opportunities for conference attendees to get involved. By having at least one session with Lightning Talks, attendees have the opportunity to be exposed to more presentations and ideas. Speakers have an option of giving shorter talks instead of (or in addition to) presenting a full-length session. Furthermore, other Special Interest Groups (SIGs) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) have also incorporated Lightning Talks in their conferences.

How should I prepare for a SIGUCCS Lightning Talk?

First of all, submit your ideas to SIGUCCS 2018 Conference Call for Proposals (deadline is February 16). Once selected to present, arrange your ideas into a logical order with flow—you want your audience to fluidly follow your story. Slides are optional during these presentations, as are conference papers.

Do attendees actually get hit by electrostatic discharges?

Fortunately that is not the case, but many attendees have been struck by inspiration and fresh ideas from these talks. We’ve seen the following memorable Lightning Talks during past SIGUCCS conferences, including:

Using Twitter API technology to create a wearable signage system

Becoming a better employee through travel experiences

Lessons learned from helpdesk redesign iterations

Five tips for beating procrastination

Making quick support videos using a smartphone

Overcoming doubts and fears to initiate career changes

Where can I learn more about Lightning Talks?

Fortunately, this short presentation format is becoming widely adopted at various industries’ conferences and events. The American Library Association published best practices for Lightning Talks, and there are useful guides from the Software Sustainability Institute and Opensource.com. For SIGUCCS-specific Lightning Talks topics, the SIGUCCS Slack channel and email listserv are great places to ask question and share ideas.

– Mo Nishiyama

You might ask yourself, “Why should I present a poster at the SIGUCCS conference?  What’s in it for me?” Well, there are plenty of good reasons you should present a poster!  You’ll get valuable experience in presenting, experience writing a conference paper, and you’ll also get to network with other people who might be doing similar work.

Don’t be intimidated by the word “presentation” – the poster session does involve presenting, but on a smaller scale.  You’ll get to talk directly to people who are interested in your poster and what you’re presenting about, as opposed to a room full of attendees.  You’ll also gain valuable experience in writing a short research paper for a conference – and your paper will be published in the ACM Digital Library.  Sharing information about interesting projects you’ve been working on at your university is definitely a plus – and with the poster format, you can talk about topics that might not quite fit into a typical presentation format.  And last, but certainly not least, poster presenting is fun!  You can be creative with your posters to help make them stand out and be more eye-catching, and you’ll get to talk with all sorts of people who are curious about what you’re presenting on.

What’s the process like?

The process for submitting a proposal and preparing to present is pretty straightforward.  The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out what you want to present about.  Once you’ve decided on a topic, you’ll write up your proposal abstract – aim for 150-250 words for your abstract.  This can be tough, especially if you have a lot you want to talk about, but remember this: whatever you don’t cover in the abstract, you can talk about in your poster and its accompanying paper.  When you’ve written up that proposal, the next step is submitting it!  The deadline for proposals has been extended to February 16th, so you’ve got a little extra time to put together and submit your proposal.

After your proposal’s been submitted and accepted (which is exciting on its own!), then you get to write the paper that your poster will be based off of.  While writing a paper might sound intimidating, keep in mind this one will be short (2-4 pages), and you get the additional bonus of your paper being published!  The paper writing process will also help you organize your thoughts before making your poster, and help guide you in the poster creation process.

Speaking of the poster creation process: once your paper is written, you can get to work on its accompanying poster!  This is where the fun starts – be creative in presenting your content.  You want to catch the attention of your fellow conference-goers, and get them interested in your poster.  If you’re not sure where to start on your poster, Indiana University’s UITS IT Training has an award-winning and publicly available resource on creating research posters here: https://iu.instructure.com/courses/1590156/

After finishing your poster, the last step in the process is to wait eagerly for the poster session at this year’s conference.  That might be hard, especially if you’re writing about something very exciting, but the wait will be completely worth it.

Let’s fill the poster session at the SIGUCCS Annual Conference with exciting posters about all the interesting projects we’ve been working on this year – submit your proposal today!

http://siguccs.org/Conference/2018/call-for-proposals/

–Beth Lynn Nolen