Speaker Checklist

The following checklist and guidelines are to help you (and us) prepare for the conference. Here is a summary of actions to take over the coming months.

1. Conference Registration ~ by 31st July

As an AutomationSTAR speaker you receive a ticket to this year’s conference. We require all speakers to register via our website & select their preferred tutorials.

• Please go to the tickets page
• Select your ticket & complete your details
• Apply discount code ASSPEAKER to your cart
• Proceed to Billing & opt to pay by invoice as there is no charge
• Deadline 31st July 2023

2. Speaker Evening & Accommodation Requirements ~ by 31st July

You are invited to a speaker evening on Sunday 19th Nov. Please confirm your attendance using this form and we’ll be in touch with details closer to the conference.

The form also requests confirmation of your accommodation requirements so we can book all speakers into the conference hotel. There is 1 room for two nights with breakfast included for each talk.

3. Prepare your Presentation ~ by 20th October

The venue require presentations to be formatted in 16:9 widescreen and preferably in PowerPoint so it will display correctly during your talk. The venue uses Windows laptops (not Mac). Please contact us if you plan to present using anything other than PowerPoint.

Presentation Tips

1. Please use the first and last slides of the AutomationSTAR PowerPoint presentation slides that will sent to you separately.  Do not change the front slide. Add your contact details to the last “Thank You” slide.
2. Save your file with your name and official title from the programme – this helps us locate the correct file!
3. Use fonts that can be read relatively easily on a presentation screen.
4. You may include your own company logo on the presentation but please limit to one or two slides.
5. Do not use running headers/footers in your presentation. If the slides are not in the correct format, we edit them. Please save us the time.
6. Don’t use too many slides – track sessions run for 30 min talk and 15 min Q&A / Discussion (approx. 15-20 slides). Keynote talks will be a 45 min talk & 15 min Q&A / Discussion. 
7. Time your presentation & practice in advance to leave time for questions. Sometimes the best session scores are because of the lively Q&A facilitated by the speaker.
8. Each talk will have a ‘track chair’ to facilitate your Q&A. If you are nervous about Q&A – prepare some questions in advance and ask your track chair to start the questions with one of these.
9. Ask for help – each speaker has a designated Committee member who are happy to help you with your talk. Your committee contact is included in your checklist email.

PRESENTATION DEADLINE: Please use the AutomationSTAR presentation template (will be sent to you separately) & upload your presentation to the  AutomationSTAR Dropbox by Friday 20th October.

The presentations are reviewed by the committee before the conference to ensure the content is as per your original abstract, as promoted on the programme.

4. Changes to Slides

Please note that the slides are sent to the venue 1 week in advance and also uploaded to the conference app. To avoid duplication and errors, please ensure any updated slides are uploaded to our Dropbox by 6th November.

5. Spread the word ~ share your talk link

It helps to spread the word on your talk – please share your link on your channels. Perhaps your company might consider posting a blog announcing your speaker slot? – we’d be happy to share this so please do get in touch or tag us in social media.

6. Have you submitted a short preview video? 

Preview videos help attendees decide which talk they’d like to attend. It helps us to promote your talk and here are a few tips:

• Use Zoom, Teams, your smartphone (horizontal) or ask someone to record you
• Keep it less than 1 minute – attention spans are short!
• Please record it in landscape (horizontal) format
• Introduce yourself – who you are & company name
• What are the top 3-5 reasons a delegate should attend your talk
• Make it as fun or quirky as you like
• If you would prefer us to record you, we can hop on a Zoom call any time

VIDEO DEADLINE: Please upload your video to our Dropbox as soon as possible. The earlier we have it, the more we can promote you!  Thanks to those that have submitted already.

Thanks for reading!

We are here to help so if you need anything please contact me.

Siobhán