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Guidelines for Presenters

The SPARC programme accommodates a wide range of presentation formats. Below are some guidelines explaining the different options, and some resources to help you plan your presentation. We also welcome submissions for alternative formats not listed below, if you have any ideas that are not covered below, please contact us on sparc@salford.ac.uk to discuss them.

Formats

15 minute presentation

This is a presentation delivered as part of a themed parallel session, comprising a maximum of 4 presenters. The session is chaired by a member of academic staff and there is a short amount of time allocated within each panel for questions and answers. There are usually several panel sessions running in parallel, which means you will not be presenting to the entire conference audience. You can, if you choose, present a paper that you will be giving at another conference, though please remember to adapt it to suit a non specialist conference audience. This format is particularly suited to researchers who are in the mid or later stages of their PhD as it provides space to discuss research findings.

You can submit an abstract for an individual presentation, or you can get together with a group of presenters (3 or 4) and submit a proposal for a themed session.

PechaKucha

PechaKucha is a presentation format in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (6 min 40 sec in total). The slides advance automatically while the presenter talks. Originating among architects in Japan, it has since spread worldwide and is a fast-growing mode of communication across all disciplines.  The controlled format encourages a concise, fast-paced presentation. When planning your presentation, it is helpful to think about the ‘story’ that you will tell about your research. Aim for lots of images and minimal text when producing your slides, and set the slides to advance automatically every 20 seconds (go to animation > advance slide automatically in MS power point) or use a template.  There are various guides and examples available online, including:

You can also see some PechaKucha presentations in action at Salford by attending the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Exchange events

Three minute thesis

The three minute thesis is a ‘research pitch’ which compresses your research interests and motivation into 180 seconds, and communicates this to an audience outside of your immediate specialism. You can accompany your presentation with a single, static power point slide, but this is not compulsory. The aim is to sell your research, engage people’s interest and encourage the audience to ask you more during the discussion period. It offers presenters the chance to speak to a larger and more cross disciplinary audience than a conventional 15 minute presentation. The three minute thesis (3MT) format has been popularised by a competition run by the University of Queensland, and you can find information and video examples of the winners of this competition below.

Useful resources

Poster

Posters are a means of communicating your research visually, and should combine graphics with text. They should be able to communicate ideas and methods to a non specialist audience. Posters will be displayed throughout the conference, but there will also be a dedicated poster session where audience members can speak to you alongside your poster. 

Posters should be no larger than A1. There are lots of web resources that offer guidance on creating research posters effectively, including:

Performance

A presentation of up to 15 minutes of creative, practice-led research. This could also include a reading of creative writing.

Exhibition

A presentation of any form of visual work or a film screening.

Demonstration

A presentation of up to 15 minutes of applied research , eg. an application, system or technology.

Alternative formats

SPARC is also open to other conference formats not covered above. If you would like to present your work in any alternative formats, please select the ‘other’ option on the submission form, and the committee will be happy to discuss with you the best way of accommodating your presentation.

We would also welcome submissions for student-led workshops, particularly those focusing on any aspect of researcher development. Please contact us at sparc@salford.ac.uk to discuss.

Please note that we will only accept ONE submission per person. Because the conference tends to be over-subscribed, we ask presenters to focus on a single presentation in order to ensure more people can take part.

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