Guidelines for Preparing and Presenting a Paper at the VIIIth Conference on Military Monuments
In order to achieve high quality contributions, contributors to the VIIIth Conference on Military Monuments are urged to review the following suggestions for developing proposals and presentations, and actually presenting them.
1. Preparing a proposal abstract
This first step is critical. A successful abstract will set one on the right track for a good paper and a winning presentation. Please pay attention to the following suggestions:
The statement of the topic must be crystal clear and in such a way that the first couple of setences grab the attention of even the most casual reader.
The abstract must make a clear argument why the topic is interesting, relevant and important to the conference community of scholars. Special attention will be given to what contributions will the exploration of the topics make and what research question(s) are adressed in the paper.
The method and body of research used to tackle the topic should be very clear.
In sum, the very best abstracts and resulting papers state the topic clearly in the first few setences, explain the relevance of the topic to known interests within this conference, and identify the author's methodology. All the abstracts presented will be read by the Scientific Committe.
2. Preparing the presentation
With a solid abstract, the writing of the presentation should not be difficult. We remind that presentations are not full-length articles. Timing, clarity, and relevance must be taken in account to a successful paper.
Timing. The contributors will have no more than 20 minutes to speak. That is roughly equivalent to 8 double-spaced typed pages. Don’t write more than 8 pages, and if you are not going to read your paper you should write out less your paper in less than 8 pages. Contributors will be asked to submit full-length, documented versions of their papers to be included in the Conference Proceedings.
Clarity. As with the abstract, the attention of the audience in the introduction is essential. The topics and arguments must be clear from the outset, avoiding digress and wander, and making each point in the paper flow smoothly towards the conclusion.
3. Making the Presentation
To achieve an effective talk we remind the following:
1) communicate your arguments and evidence,
2) persuade your audience that they are true, and
3) be interesting and entertaining.
Listening is hard work, especially at conferences, where audiences listen to many talks over many hours. Listeners need the speaker’s help to maintain their focus.
1) Talk rather than read. Written academic language is too complex and too awkward for reading aloud. Talking makes it easier to understand, and it allows to make genuine contact with the audience. Furthermore, it helps to think more clearly, by forcing to communicate in ordinary terms.
2) Vary the pitch of your voice, breaking the monotony.
3) Speak loudly and clearly, facing the audience, establishing eye contact with the audience and not to ignoring any one part of the audience.
4) Focus on main arguments. At conferences, audience doesn’t remember details. Give your audience short, striking ideas and “punch lines” that they’ll remember. They can always read your written work later.
5) Use visual aids. “PowerPoint” is standard at this Conference. Keep your PowerPoint slides simple and limit the use of special effects. Slides should be concise and uncluttered. Seven lines of text per slide is good; 10 lines is a lot; 15 lines is far too much. Pictures, graphs, and other images are good if they are related to your topic. Choose white or light-colored slide backgrounds, so you don’t have to turn off room lights or close window shades.
6) Finish your talk within the time limit. You have 20 minutes to deliver your talk. Presentations will be interrupted by the session coordinator should they exceed the time limit. If necessary rehearse previously and time your presentation.
7) Summarize your talk at the beginning and again at the end.
8) Notice your audience and respond to its needs. If people seem to be falling asleep or getting restless or distracted, the problem may not be you. It might be that the room is too hot or too cold, too dark, or too noisy. Don't hesitate stop talking in order to solve these problems.
Conference Web site http://congresso.amigosdoscastelos.org.pt/