Presentation guidelines

Please follow the guidelines for oral presentations, poster pitches and posters carefully to make sure that you are well prepared for presenting your research.

Current programme version (please be aware that the day and time of sessions can still change depending on the availabilities of speakers):


 Track A Track B
Tuesday morning, 14 September

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision: expanding the bioinformatics toolkit

Evolutionary dynamics and ecology: where organisms, time and space interplay
Tuesday morning, 14 September Joined session Track A & Track B: SIB Bioinformatics Awards

Tuesday afternoon, 14 September

Pathogens, immune systems and host-pathogen interactions: an arms race with infectious agents

Spatiotemporal gene expression dynamics and single-cell approaches: zooming in to better scale up
Tuesday afternoon, 14 September
Poster session 1

(a detailed plan with your poster number and where to put your poster will be uploaded on 6 September)
Wednesday morning, 15 September

Cancer biology and precision medicine: deepening our understanding towards tailored treatments

Population genomics in human health: connecting genotypes to phenotypes
Wednesday morning, 15 September Joined session Track A & Track B: [BC]2 Highlights

Wednesday afternoon, 15 September
Poster session 2

(a detailed plan with your poster number and where to put your poster will be uploaded on 6 September)

Oral presentations

All presentations are taking place in the parallel sessions on 14 and 15 September. Information on your exact presentation slot will follow as soon as we have a confirmation from all selected abstracts.

Please note, that oral presentations have to be given on-site at the Congress Center in Basel.

Presentation structure

Presentations are 15 min in length (12 min presentation + 3 min Q&A) and are supposed to introduce the scientific question, a few key results and/or future directions and challenges of the project. 

All presentations need to be prepared in 16:9 aspect ratio and saved in one of the following file formats:

  • PowerPoint (*.pptx)
  • PDF (*.pdf)

It will not be possible to use your own computer. Please bring your presentation on a USB stick and provide it to the technical team at the Speakers' Service Centre in room Nairobi next to the registration desk on the 2nd floor.

All presentations need to be given to the Speakers' Service Centre 24h prior your respective presentation time and have the following file name: DATE_TIME_SURNAME (e.g. 14SEPT_13:30-14:00_MILLER).

You can also send your presentation to reinhard.hoehn(at)congress.ch instead of going to the Speakers' Service Centre.

If you have embedded videos, please provide the video file in a separate mp4-file as well. This will allow the technical team to play your video should there be any problems during your presentation. The video file should be called: DATE_TIME_SURNAME_VIDEO-FILE-NAME (e.g. 14SEPT_13:30-14:00_MILLER_Video-1).

If you indicated that you will bring a poster too, then please have a look at the Poster section below for more information on the poster format; a simple PowerPoint template for the virtual poster can be found in the Poster guidelines.

POSTERS NEED TO BE UPLOADED UNTIL 5 SEPTEMBER (see Poster guidelines for more info)

Giving a talk in front of a large audience, composed of on-site and online participants, is challenging and requires adapting our usual way of presenting research!

To help you master this challenge, Frédéric Schütz (SIB Group Leader and member of the SIB Training Group) will give a 2.5h virtual course on ‘best practices’ for giving and structuring presentations on 30 August 2021 (15h00 - 17h30). The course is free of charge and we encourage you to attend in case your abstract was selected for an oral presentation.

The course is followed by small group work on 31 August to give you the possibility to practice your talk and to receive feedback.

30 August 2021 - part 1 (15h00 - 17h30, CET)

Part of 1 of the course takes place from 15h to 17h30. It will highlight 'best practices' for giving a presentation, which pitfalls you may encounter when giving it, and how to pay attention to an on-site and virtual audience at the same time.

31 August 2021 - part 2 (time to be defined)

Part 2 offers participants the possibility to practice their presentation and to receive feedback from the course organiser and its participants. Participants will split into small groups (size depending on the number of participants). The exact time of group work will be determined depending on the groups's availability and in coordination with Frédéric Schütz. Each group should plan about two hours for the presentation-feedback round.

Poster pitch + poster

PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR POSTER UNTIL 5 SEPTEMBER (see Poster guidelines for more info)

All poster pitches are taking place in the parallel sessions on 14 and 15 September. Information on your exact presentation slot will follow as soon as we have a confirmation from all selected abstracts.

Please note, that poster pitches have to be given on-site at the Congress Center in Basel. 

Presentation structure

Presentations are 5 min in length (no Q&A) and should briefly introduce your scientific question, one key result and when/where the audience can find you at your poster. 

All presentations need to be prepared in 16:9 aspect ratio and saved in one of the following file formats:

  • PowerPoint (*.pptx)
  • PDF (*.pdf)

It will not be possible to use your own computer. Please bring your presentation on a USB stick and provide it to the technical team at the Speakers' Service Centre in room Nairobi next to the registration desk on the 2nd floor.

All presentations need to be given to the Speakers' Service Centre 24h prior your respective presentation time and have the following file name: DATE_TIME_SURNAME (e.g. 14SEPT_13:30-14:00_MILLER).

You can also send your presentation to reinhard.hoehn(at)congress.ch instead of going to the Speakers' Service Centre.

If you have embedded videos, please provide the video file in a separate mp4-file as well. This will allow the technical team to play your video should there be any problems during your presentation. The video file should be called: DATE_TIME_SURNAME_VIDEO-FILE-NAME (e.g. 14SEPT_13:30-14:00_MILLER_Video-1).

All details on the poster format can be found in the Poster section below; a simple PowerPoint template for your virtual poster can be found in the Poster guidelines. Don't forget to upload your poster until 5 September.

Giving a talk in front of a large audience, composed of on-site and online participants, is challenging and requires adapting our usual way of presenting research!

To help you master this challenge, Frédéric Schütz (SIB Group Leader and member of the SIB Training Group) will give a 2.5h virtual course on ‘best practices’ for giving and structuring presentations on 30 August 2021 (12h00 - 14h30). The course is free of charge and we encourage you to attend in case your abstract was selected for a poster pitch.

The course is followed by small group work on 31 August to give you the possibility to practice your talk and to receive feedback.

30 August 2021 - part 1 (12h00 - 14h30, CET)

Part of 1 of the course takes place from 12h to 14h30. It will highlight 'best practices' for giving a presentation, which pitfalls you may encounter when giving it, and how to pay attention to an on-site and virtual audience at the same time.

31 August 2021 - part 2 (time to be defined)

Part 2 offers participants the possibility to practice their presentation and to receive feedback from the course organiser and its participants. Participants will split into small groups (size depending on the number of participants). The exact time of group work will be determined depending on the groups's availability and in coordination with Frédéric Schütz. Each group should plan about two hours for the presentation-feedback round.

Poster

PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR POSTER UNTIL 5 SEPTEMBER (see Poster guidelines for more info)

Poster sessions are taking place on 14 September (Poster session 1) and 15 September (Poster session 2). In addition to the on-site presentation, all posters are displayed in the virtual [BC]2 Poster Gallery to provide virtual participants with the possibility to see and discover the presented posters.

All poster presenters thus need to prepare a simple virtual poster (see below and poster guidelines). If you are attending the on-site event, you will have to bring a real poster too. Poster presenters, who are benefiting from an additional screen to present their research, will be informed in a separate email.

Poster structure

Your virtual poster
To provide participants with the best possible “poster browsing experience”, we are asking all poster presenters to prepare a simple graphical abstract of their poster based on the better poster ideas by Mike Morrison. This virtual poster serves as an “entry port” to your poster, which will allow participants to get in touch with you to learn more about your research. You will find more details on how to prepare your poster in the poster guidelines below. We are strongly encouraging you to use the suggested format to avoid overcrowded poster images and unreadable text on a small computer screen. 

Your on-site poster
If you are participating on-site, you need to bring a printed poster! Similar to the virtual poster, you may find it useful to have a look at the “better poster” ideas presented in our poster guidelines below and integrate them when preparing your poster. You can either use your online poster in a printed version (make sure that it fits on the poster wall), or prepare a new version.

1. Maintain a storyline

With a poster, you present what you have done, why and how you have conducted your analyses, what the results are and how they fit into the rest of the findings of your research field. Make sure that the text and graphics on your poster present a simple and cohesive story. In particular, do not try to tell several stories (e.g. to present several different research projects).

2. Keep it simple

Virtual poster
For your virtual poster, we recommend simplifying the poster layout. This will make it easier for participants to view the online poster gallery. Your poster will be connected to a virtual presentation room, allowing virtual participants to schedule a meeting with you to discuss your poster. Remember that you can use the virtual presentation room to go into detail by showing your ‘guests’ more figures or a small presentation via screen sharing.

For your poster in the virtual gallery, please choose one of the two layouts below:

Layout 1

  • Left: main finding as one plain English sentence + graphical abstract
  • Right: 1 question + 1 result/conclusion


Layout 2

  • Left: main finding as one plain English sentence + graphical abstract
  • Right: up to 3 different highlights

Click here to get a PowerPoint template for the virtual poster.

You will have to upload your poster in PDF format (50mb max): connect to the conference platform, go to "My posters" and follow the instructions.

On-site poster
For your on-site paper, please make sure that your poster fits on the poster wall. All poster walls are 1.20 m (~47 inches) wide and 1.60 m (~63 inches) high:

Don't forget that participants will look at your poster from a distance of 2 – 3 m: the writing should be easily readable and drawings, figures and photos not be too small. In case that you are using the same format for your on-site poster as for your virtual poster, don't forget that the poster wall is only 1.20 m (~47 inches) wide.

3. When it comes to text, less is more

Convey as much of the information as possible using plots, images and flow charts. Remember: a poster is just a visual aid to explain your research to others during the conference, it is not a journal article! It is OK to use incomplete sentences and bullet points, but not OK to copy-paste whole paragraphs from your article(s). Remember that the people will have only limited time available to read your poster.

A useful test is to sit in front of your computer screen (with some distance) and to check whether you can read and understand all text and figures when the image is shown fullscreen.

If you need advice and inspiration about how to create a great poster, we recommend the #betterposter scheme and blogspot [1-2].

4. Be colour-blind friendly 

When choosing colours for your poster, try to avoid colour combinations that will be difficult to distinguish for people with colour blindness. This applies to poster backgrounds and plots but also microscopic images. For more information, go to [3-5].

5. Acknowledge all authors and funding sources 

Please remember to include the logo of your university and other funding sources. There will be a comment box below your poster in the virtual poster gallery (only visible to [BC]2 participants) - you can put your e-mail address as well as the website of your group here, so that people can contact you in case they want to know more about your work.

If you are a SIB Employee, please follow the formatting suggestions in the SIB brand book. Different formats of the SIB logo can be downloaded from here.

6. Be aware of social media

The scientific community has grown incredibly fond of social media, especially Twitter. If you do not wish for others to mention your work on internet platforms, put a ‘no twitter’ icon in the upper left corner of your poster. 

7. Remember to network

The primary aim of attending conferences and meetings such as [BC]2 is to meet new people, exchange ideas and seek potential collaborations for your present and future projects. 

If you are participating as a virtual attendee at [BC]2, networking will not be as easy as usual. But don’t let this stop you! Try to make use of the online platform provided: use the comment box to schedule a meeting, think about how to present your research in the virtual room and be available in the virtual presentation room when participants are interested in discussing your poster!

8. A bit more on the organisation

Please be aware that all posters need to be uploaded on the conference platform by 5 September. This will allow us to make sure that your poster is properly displayed, and more importantly, gives you the possibility to test the platform. More information on the “how-to upload” will follow closer to the conference. 

If you are presenting an on-site poster, then we will assign your poster with a number to indicate where you have to hang your poster. You will find your poster number and the poster plan on our website in the beginning of September. Posters have to be mounted in the evening of Monday, 13 September, or in the morning of Tuesday, 14 September. They will be displayed throughout the whole conference.


If you have any questions on the different formats and the organisation, feel free to contact us at bc2@sib.swiss!

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RwJbhkCA58

[2] http://betterposters.blogspot.com/

[3] https://knightlab.northwestern.edu/2016/07/18/three-tools-to-help-you-make-colorblind-friendly-graphics/

[3] https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/

[4] https://www.colorbrewer2.org/