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Accepted Oral Presentation Guidelines

Congratulations on having your abstract accepted for a presentation at the 114th AAVSO Annual Meeting!

On this page, you will find information about deadlines, as well as digital format requirements and advice for preparing your slide deck. Please review these instructions carefully. If you have any questions, please contact Bert Pablo (hpablo@aavso.org).

Instructions

  1. Register for the Annual Meeting before September 30, 2025.
    • You can also book your stay at the AAVSO group rate while there’s room! (Deadline: October 2, 2025).
       
  2. Create your slide deck.
    • You will have 15 minutes for your presentation (plus another 5 at the end for Q&A), so using the classic “2-minute rule”, seven slides is a good target.
    • For technical reasons, please use a 16:9 ("widescreen") aspect ratio. If necessary, you can pad a 4:3 slide deck to 16:9 using the "Slide size" option under the "Design" tab in PowerPoint. Here's a tutorial.
    • For reference: Instead of a traditional projector, this year's venue features large digital display screens at the front of the room. Your slides will be shown on these display screens.
       
  3. Save your slide deck as PowerPoint format (.pptx).
    • Make sure to export your slide deck as PowerPoint format, .pptx. We will not be able to accept any other formats, such as PDFs, Keynote presentations, etc.
    • Double-check that your slide deck uses a 16:9 aspect ratio.
    • In-person presenters, please use the filename format "[Your last name]_inperson24.pptx".
    • Remote presenters, please use the filename format "[Your last name]_remote24.pptx".
       
  4. Email your final slide deck to Bert Pablo (hpablo@aavso.org).
    • Please use the filename as your email's subject line, and include your name in the body of the email.
    • The deadline is October 16, 2025  @ 11:59 p.m. ET.
       
  5. Email an audio-inclusive version of your presentation to Bert Pablo (hpablo@aavso.org).
    • This is required for all remote presentations, with a deadline of October 16,2025 @ 11:59 p.m. ET.
    • This is not required for in-person presentations, but we do encourage that you consider sending a recording for us to keep on hand as a backup, just in case you need to change your plans at the last minute (e.g. due to an illness or cancelled flight).
    • An easy way to create a recording is to record yourself presenting to an empty Zoom meeting [instructions].

Please be prepared to schedule a quick A/V check with Bert via Zoom, to ensure that all necessary tech is in working order and your slideshow appears as it should.

AAVSO Guide for Presenters

The AAVSO Guide for Presenters contains tips for giving a compelling, memorable presentation, based on many years of watching talks at the Annual Meetings and observing what works (and what doesn't). Please consult the guide for advice on slide design, delivery, and more: