Guidelines for speakers

Guidelines for speakers

Your talk
When it comes to the title and content description of your talk: please imagine you’re a DevDays attendee, who has a basic/intermediate level of understanding of FHIR, and who lives in a country other than yours. Keeping that in mind and please revisit the proposed title of your talk. Is the title unambiguous ? Will attendees understand what you’ll be talking about ?

In the description of your talk, start with a 2-3 line summary of its content – attendees will quickly scan titles and the first part of the textual description of your talk – this is your opportunity to motivate them to visit YOUR talk. What would be attractive to the audience ?

If attendees are supposed to have prior knowledge, please list it in your description.

When it comes to the content of your presentation: again, please imagine you’re a DevDays attendee. Imagine an attendee who’s not using your platform/programming language/development stack, and try to ensure that any ‘lessons learned’ can be translated to different contexts.

Should you represent a commercial organization: It’s very likely they don’t want to hear you talk about your business or product. What attendees want is valuable information that will help them in their own context. That doesn’t mean you can’t mention your business or tell a story about how you were able to achieve x through y. By providing immense value to the audience, everyone will want to know the name of your organization and talk to you afterward anyway. Be a great conference speaker and sell more by not selling anything at all while you’re on stage (besides yourself)!

Time zone & Venue

Time zone
Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Venue
B. A m s t e r d a m
Johan Huizingalaan 763a
1066 VH Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Documentation/Links for all speakers

Recording of Speaker Training Session can be watched on our YouTube channel
Slides of the Speaker Training Session
DevDays PowerPoint Template for Tutorial and Community Talk presenters
Link to the DevDays Feedback Form
Spreadsheet with direct links to the sessions
Dropbox link for uploading your slides (in PDF), preferably before June 5.
Naming convention: YYMMDD_FirstLastName_Title
The webpage with Frequently Asked Questions

Questions

Before and during DevDays, you can find / reach us here:

Technical support questions: devdays@fire.ly
Questions during DevDays: post via (closed) Zulip stream #DevDays Speaker Support.
Whova: Ask the organizers anything
In Amsterdam: all team members are wearing yellow shirts

**Guidelines for tutorials and community talks, presented *virtually***

As much as possible, we are aiming to make the hybrid edition of HL7 FHIR DevDays 2023 a “live” experience and are looking forward seeing your ‘live’ presentation, presented virtually.

Presentation Timeline

20 minutes prior to session	5 minutes prior to session	Session 20 or 45 min.	After: 15 minutes
Zoom meeting is open for speaker and host	Opening slides are displayed	Tutorial: 35 min presentation Community Talk: 15 min presentation	Break for delegates
Host is available for testing	Session is open for attendees	Tutorial: 10 min Q&A Community Talk: 5 min Q&A

Detailed Timeline

The Zoom meeting for your session will be opened 20 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the session.
- Important: all presenters are requested to enter the Zoom meeting 20 minutes prior to the start of the session. Your host will let you in.
- The Zoom link(s) to your session(s) will be shared with you on May 31 the latest.
The host promotes the speaker to co-host.
The host will test screen-sharing with all presenters.
The host will unmute you and enable screen sharing.
- This allows you to confirm that your audio and visual setups work properly.
The audience will be allowed to enter the session five minutes prior to the start time.
By default the audience is muted and cameras are off.
Virtual attendees can post questions via the Q&A box in the conference app Whova. Attendees in Amsterdam can post questions via the host in the room.
The host will introduce and ‘spotlight’ you, making you visible to the audience.
The session will be recorded automatically (unless you have indicated that recording is not allowed).
Before the scheduled end of your presentation, you will be shown color-coded slides indicating remaining time.
- Green: five minutes
- Yellow: two minutes
- Red: one minute
If the session’s allocated time has expired and the speaker is still talking, the host will announce that time has run out.
During the session, attendees can ask questions in the Q&A box on the Whova App.
- The host will monitor the questions, answer them where possible or reading them out loud during the final 10 minutes of Q&A.
- At the end of the presentation: the host will assist with questions from the audience in Amsterdam.

Post-presentation

In addition to posting questions during the session, attendees can also ask questions via your sessions channel in Whova. Make sure to check your Whova session channel throughout the duration of DevDays and reply to any further questions or conversation threads.

Presenter Checklist

–> Pre-event Preparation

Make sure you have the latest update of Zoom Desktop client installed
Test audio/video at any time at zoom.us/test
Use the PowerPoint Template provided by the organizers.
- The template contains the proper format and colors, as well as several slides to help you structure your presentation.
Plan to use a laptop or desktop PC, not a mobile device.
- Confirm that you have installed the latest versions of Google Chrome and the Zoom Desktop application to ensure optimal functionality.
Make sure you have abundant connectivity at your disposal.
- A cable connection to the Internet is preferred over a wireless connection.
- If you will be using WiFi, try to stay in the same room as your wireless router or relocate near an office access point to maintain the strongest signal (and check the signal strength beforehand).
Test your camera, microphone, speaker and screen-sharing capabilities. We recommend doing this with a friend or colleague.
Check items displayed your background. Are you sure you want these to be on display?
- Books, a plant, a painting on the wall are all perfectly fine, but aim to avoid distracting attendees.
Plan to wear a neutral shirt, avoiding stripes, dots or busy prints.
- Make sure the color of your shirt contrasts with background colors.
Consider doing a dry run of your talk to ensure that you are not exceeding 35 minutes (tutorial) of 15 minutes (Community Talk).
Upload your slide deck by June 5 via this content upload link, using the following naming convention: YYMMDD_FirstLastName_ShortTitle. E.g. 230608_EwoutKramer_DotNET

-> Day of Presentation Prep | 20 minutes prior to session

Close all apps (other than Zoom) on your PC or laptop during your presentation.
Have Whova available on your mobile device (during your presentation). This is by far the easiest way to monitor the questions (via the Speaker Hub section)
Disable all notifications (unless needed for your presentation).
If possible, place a timer next to your screen, such as a mobile phone or watch (the host will also be keeping time for you)
Mute your mobile phone.
Make sure family members, roommates or colleagues know that you are presenting. Ideally, they should avoid using too much bandwidth (no streaming).
Please ensure there will be no interruptions or invasive background noise while you present.

-> During Presentation

Speak directly to the camera.
Position the main source of light so it is not behind you.
Make sure you can be heard.
- if you do not have a headset, be close to your computer and face the camera while you speak.
If you have the choice to sit or stand when presenting, standing is better.
- Your body is a key communication tool, and you should use it that way.
If wearing glasses, tip the camera to avoid reflection from your computer screen.

After your presentation

In addition to the questions posted during the session, attendees can also ask questions via your sessions channel in Whova. Make sure to check your Whova session channel throughout the duration of DevDays and reply to any further questions or conversation threads.

In case of emergency

If something unexpected happens during the event or your session, please follow this guide to resolve.

Cannot join the session as speaker or panelist:
- Join from the Zoom desktop client instead of the event app.
- Make sure the link you are using is the speaker link and not the attendee link.
Your Internet connection has problems (unable to reconnect or connection is slow):
- Contact the session host to use your pre-recorded video if you have uploaded a recording.
Cannot share screen or share video:
- Contact the session host to confirm that permissions are set correctly or to enable on the Zoom client.
The camera does not work properly:
- Check with the host to confirm it is ok to present without a camera. If acceptable, you may still present with audio and slides.
The audio device does not work properly:
- Contact the session host.