PLEASE NOTE THAT THE USE OF PERSONAL LAPTOPS IS NOT PERMITTED

Adult Cardiac Surgery

Hall D (Blue Level, -1):

09.00-16.30

Thoracic Surgery

Hall H (Blue Level, -1) :

09.00-16.30

Congenital Surgery

Hall E1 (Yellow Level, 0)

09.00-16.00

Perfusion

Hall P (Blue Level, -1) :

09.00-16.40

Adult Cardiac Surgery   

Hall H (Blue Level, -1)

07.30-08.30

Thoracic Surgery           

Hall K (Blue Level, -1)

07.30-08.30

Innovations & Patents    

Hall I (Blue Level,- 1)

07.30-08.30

Adult Cardiac Surgery   

Hall H (Blue Level, -1)

07.30-08.30

Congenital Surgery        

Hall I (Blue Level, -1)

07.30-08.30

Thoracic Surgery           

Hall K (Blue Level, -1)

07.30-08.30

Dear Meeting Presenter,

In order to ensure that your presentations run smoothly from the computer network that will be set up for the 2^nd EACTS/ESTS Joint Meeting, please find below some recommendations for preparing your presentation and bringing it with you.

Of course, a fully equipped Speakers Preview Room with highly skilled AV-computer technicians will be at your disposal at the Meeting site, but experience has shown that many problems could have been avoided with some simple measures taken when you make your presentation and before you leave for the Meeting. This can reduce last-minute stress considerably. 

If you are not very proficient in creating your own presentation and wish to "keep it simple", just consider the items that are useful to you. For instance, if you are not considering placing pictures in your presentation, you can skip Item #6. However, if you do want pictures in your presentation, these recommendations ARE important - so please consider them carefully !  

These guidelines are NOT specific to this Meeting's AV setup: you can keep this Recommendation Paper for your future reference, also for other meetings. 

1.     Use MS Powerpoint. 
Although we are aware that there are other excellent presentation software packages on the market, we can not install all of those onto the Presentation Computers. Because we find that often, little changes need to be made at the last minute, we strongly recommend you to "stick with the obvious". This also ensures a smooth integration with other MS programmes (spreadsheet, word processing, image enhancement).

2.   Use the "Onscreen Show" format as your page layout.
A common mistake is to choose "35mm slides" - although this is indeed the "slide format", be aware that all projectors (unless deliberately modified) will project in 4x3 (such as a computer screen). If you choose "35mm slides", there will be ugly black bands above and below each slide.

3.   Safe text area.
Please keep in mind that when we use rear projection, a small part of your slide is cut off. Do not place your text / images very close to the border (ideally, leave 10% at each side free). This will also make your slides easier to read.

4.   Use enough contrast between background and text.

Dark text on a light background, light text on a dark background. Some of the predefined "design templates" do NOT give a good result when projected, because of lack of contrast.
 

5.   Use simple text "fonts".
The "ideal" text fonts are Arial and Tahoma, they are so-called "sans-serif" fonts (as opposed to e.g. Times, which has small "serifs" at the extremities of each letter). These are the most easy to read. Do not make the text too small. If you cannot read your computer screen from a distance of three meters, your text is too small.   If you choose to use another font, it is best to "include it" in your presentation when saving to make sure that your presentation will look exactly the same during projection at the Meeting. There is an option for this when you use "Save as" or "Save… Pack and Go".

6.   Pictures
      Pictures are a great way to enhance your presentation. However, they can make your presentation extremelylarge if you don't pay attention to the following:

-     Picture size and resolution:
Always use a picture enhancement programme to change the resolution and size of your picture to "72 dpi" and "800 x 600 pixels" (or something of that range). There is absolutely no reason to include pictures of "300 dpi" and/or "2000+ x 1000+ pixels" in your presentation - the programme will convert those to lower (screen) resolution, but your file size will grow enormously. In general, you should be able to keep the size of your presentation under 20 Mb. Files of 100 Mb and more take sometimes a long time to transfer through the network.

-     Picture type:
When you've adjusted picture resolution and size, save the picture to your disk as JPG file (avoid TIFF of BMP).

-     Avoid linking:
When inserting a picture, avoid to use "insert MS Photo Editor Object". This will insert parts of the MS Photo Editor programme too, increasing your file size dramatically. Instead, use "Insert… Picture… From File" and select the JPG file you've just created. You can adjust the size on screen by dragging on the handles at the corners.

7.   Movies
      When using video clips, take extreme care of the following:

-     Powerpoint (and MS Windows in general) does not like MOV or Quicktime video files. These should be avoided ! Even if they play back nicely on your computer, this is highly unpredictable, and can depend on some obscure installation settings that are almost impossible to re-create. Therefore, although we will do our very best, we cannot guarantee that they will play on our Presentation Computers.

-     Video files should ideally be saved in the AVI or WMV format. MPG files may also work, but please note that there is  a wide variety of types of MPG files, and that it is possible that your files will not play on the Presentation Computer. We are keeping these computers "up to date", but as noted before, sometimes, it all depends on some obscure configuration setting that is almost impossible to re-create.

-     Your video files should also be saved with the appropriate "compressor" or "codec". Examples of useable codecs are "MS Video 1", "Indeo 5.11", "DivX", "Cinepak Radius". Please be aware that some video files might play back a bit "jerky" - this usually is the case when the files are very big or require a special codec. If possible, convert your video files to "MS Video 1" or "Cinepak Radius" - these codecs always play back smoothly.

-     If you use sounds in your presentation, please inform our technician. There is a sound connection on the Presentation Computers. We will also inform our audio technician.

-     Note that we will usually be able to get your presentation running smoothly - but please, if you have the slightest doubt, contact the Speakers Ready Room as soon as you can, not 5 minutes before your talk !

8.   Animation effects
      Animating text and pictures can provide extra emphasis to your presentation. However:

-     Do not exaggerate in the number of effects !

-     Remember that some animation effects do not work well with pictures and text: avoid using the "Fly from", "Spiral", "Swivel", "Stretch from", "Crawl" and "Peek from" effects.

-     Good effects are : "Appear", "Blinds", "Dissolve", "Split" and "Strips from" effects. 

9.   Advancing slides manually
Before you save your presentation, make sure you set up your slide show so that your slides will only be advanced manually. The best way to check this is in "Slide Show… Set up Show… Advance slides": select "Manually" and NOT "Using timings if present". You also have to check "Slide Show… Slide Transition": select "Advance : On Mouse Click" and click on "Apply to All"

10. Saving your presentation
      Save your presentation and all video and sound files to a removable disk.
      Videos and sound files are NOT embedded in your presentation, so you should bring them with you. Theeasiest way is this:

-          Create a separate directory for your presentation

-          Copy all the video and sound files, and (why not) all the pictures you will use in your presentation, into this directory

-          Create your Powerpoint presentation, using the files you copied into this directory

-          Save your presentation also into this directory

-          Make sure to select the "embed True Type Fonts" option when saving your presentation

-          Check if your presentation plays OK

-          Copy the entire directory to a Diskette, CD, ZIP or USB disk.

You can also use the "File… Pack and Go" option to save your presentation, but in any case, make sure you have all the linked files copied onto the removable disk.

Our Presentation computers are running on Windows 2000 professional. We have Powerpoint XP installed as well as Powerpoint 2000. Please check your presentation thoroughly with our technicians at the Speaker Preview Room if you are using an older version of Powerpoint. 

There is of course the option to bring your presentation only on your laptop computer. It may sometimes be extremely difficult to transfer all the necessary files to our presentation computer. Also, if you are connected to a network at home or in the office, you may easily forget to bring the necessary files with you. Therefore, we do not recommend this method, and advise you to use the method described above.   

Come to the Speakers Preview Room (Room 24, Level -1 of the Austria Center) as soon as possible and NO LATER THAN 2 HOURS before the start of your presentation
Our Preview Staff are there to help you. The more time they have available, the better they can solve the little problems that may arise. Your presentation will be loaded onto our computers, checked with you to make sure it plays back smoothly and finally will be saved onto the hard disk of the Presentation Computer.  Once you step onto the speakers stand, your first slide will be ready on the screen. 

12.  How to advance your slides

-     In the main Auditoria, slides can be advanced through the monitor in front of you at the speakers lectern, which is a touch-screen monitor. Just tap lightly with the tip of your finger anywhere on the screen to go one slide forward. There usually will be no delay, however, if the next slide contains a large graphic or picture, it may take up to two seconds for the next slide to appear (see above: "Size and resolution of pictures"). If by accident you double tap on the screen and you want to go backwards, you can just ask for the previous slide. Our technician will move back for you manually.

-     Starting movies: unless you have set those up to "autostart" when the slide appears, you have to tap with your finger on the movie to start it. To stop the movie before the end tap again on the movie. To advance to the next slide, tap on any area of the screen, but not on  the movie.

-     Please check the room set up in your meeting room with our technicians in the Speaker Preview Room where you can also practise at the lectern. 

113.   Last, but not least: the regular 35mm slide users
"Glass slides", as they are called, are not used very often any more. This is not only because of practical purposes (a CD is so much smaller to carry around than a tray of slides) but also because the projection quality of computer presentations is much better. It is usually possible to transfer your glass slides to computer images at home before you leave. 

Please inform the EACTS Executive Secretariat in Windsor before you travel to Vienna if you are using regular slides and also the technical staff in the Speaker Preview Room one day before your presentation. 

Thank you for your collaboration ! If you have any other question please do not hesitate to contact our responsible "computer wizards" at one of the following e-mail addresses :

peter@mediaventures.be
arne@mediaventures.be
joeri@mediaventures.be