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Guide for Attendees

General information


Please note: While most of the guidelines provided below are universal, there are slight differences (marked in the text) in how they apply to conference talks and workshop talks.

Guidelines for all attendees

Guidelines for attending on-site

  • Bring your headphones, microphone, and a laptop computer with you when attending onsite to join Whova, e.g., during the online poster session, or other online sessions.

Guidelines for attending online

  • Pick a quiet space for giving your presentation or asking questions, to avoid disturbing background noise.
  • Similarly, always use headphones to avoid echos and parasitic feedback.

Guidelines for speakers

For detailed instructions, see Presenter Guidelines (last updated: 28 June 2024).

  • All talks will be given through Zoom (embedded in Whova). i.e., showing the slides by means of screen sharing from your own laptop (if online), or a MCEC room computer (if the talk is given onsite). Note that inside of each session room, you will not be able to connect your laptop via HDMI and you will not be able to use a USB stick.
  • All onsite speakers are expected to have already uploaded their presentation slides in MCEC's speaker preparation room. This can be done either online prior to the conference (see next point), or onsite at the speaker preparation room prior to your sessions. This will ensure a smooth transition to the next talk.
  • Online presentation file upload: You can upload your presentation file online remotely to the speaker preparation room before the beginning of the conference using the following link: Presenter (Request Files) Link. Please make sure your file follows the below naming convention: Day Room Session Time FirstName LastName. For example, WED 211 1300 Jane Smith. You can view (or download) your uploaded file using this link.
  • All talks should be given live — pre-recorded videos are meant only as a backup, to be used sparingly in case of serious technical difficulties.
  • If you are an online speaker, you will be joining through Zoom. Ensure you are present 15 minutes before the session stats.
  • After checking in to your session, confirm to session chair that your presentation will be virtual or onsite.
  • Enable your camera whenever possible, to connect better to your audience and improve listeners’ experience. As much as possible, have your camera at eye level and look into the camera when talking. Try and have an uncluttered background or use built-in functionality to blur your natural background or apply a professional looking background.
  • Avoid quick flipping of slides – viewers with slower connections may experience significant lags. If you plan to play a video clip, consider slowing it down, for the same reason.
  • Be ready to reply to questions that may arise in Whova after your talk.

Guidelines for preparing your oral presentations

  • The amount of time available for presentations should adhere to the following limits:
    • For conference and long workshop presentations: not longer than 16 minutes.
    • For Hot Off the Press and short workshop presentations: not longer than 8 minutes.
    • For any poster presentation (including Late Breaking Abstracts and Competitions): not longer than 5 minutes.
    • For Tutorials: between 60 and 100 minutes.
  • For workshop talks, presentation length may vary; you will receive instructions from the workshop organizers whether presentations are long or short.
  • Make an extra effort to engage the audience and sustain its attention.
  • Focus on conveying the essence of your contribution, leaving out the inessential details. Saying less, but clearly is preferable to rushing through a lot of content.
  • Avoid verbosity on your visual material: prefer short phrases to full sentences, and use no more than 5-6 of them on each slide. Remember that most people are bad at multitasking, which implies they tend to either listen to you or read your slides, but rarely both.
  • Try not to read directly from the slides or notes that you write for yourself, notes are great for practice, but a natural live presentation is so much better, even if not as smooth.
  • If you have equations or result graphs on slides, ensure that you explain them and do not rush through.
  • Do not assume that everyone in the audience knows all the concepts, make a judgement on what needs to be introduced based on the track and session that you are in — a 30 seconds introduction often saves a lot of frustration for someone less familiar with the topic of your work.
  • Please keep the following in mind that, in online events, the attention span of the audience tends to be shorter than in onsite events — this was one of the motivations for shortening the talks of GECCO — we kindly ask you to make an extra effort to stimulate interactions.
  • Ensure that the font size is readable (without zooming in) even at the HD resolution (1280×720 pixels).

Instructions for pre-recorded video presentations

  • Pre-recorded videos are mandatory for Conference (corresponding to an 8-page full paper), Poster, Workshop (short, long, poster), Hot Off the Press presentations, as well as for remote Tutorial presentations.

  • Pre-recorded videos are meant only as a backup, to be used sparingly in case of serious technical difficulties — all talks should be given live.
  • The video duration/length should adhere to the following:
    • For conference and long workshop presentations: not longer than 16 minutes.
    • For Hot Off the Press and short workshop presentations: not longer than 8 minutes.
    • For any poster presentation (including Late Breaking Abstracts and Competitions): not longer than 5 minutes.
    • For Tutorials: between 60 and 100 minutes.
  • Prepare your video in MP4 file format.
  • Video presentations shall be uploaded using the GECCO submission system.

Video Recording and Editing Software

There exist several options to record and edit your presentation and you may choose the one you are most familiar with. If this is your first time, we suggest the following options:

  • If you already use Zoom for video conferencing, you can launch a Zoom meeting just for yourself and use the Share screen and Record features to easily record your presentation.
  • If you are looking for recording software, we suggest OBS Studio, a multi-platform open source solution, for which you will find many tutorials online.
  • Once recorded, you may wish to edit your video. MacOS users may want to try iMovie. For a multi-platform open source solution, we suggest OpenShot.
  • After editing, if you need to transcode your video, you can use HandBrake.

Guidelines for poster presenters (all, online and onsite)

  • There will be two poster sessions: The first session will run at the same time separately online (Whova) and in-person (onsite). The second session will run completely in Whova, with both remote and onsite participants mingling in Whova.
  • If you are an onsite participant bring your laptop computer, headphones and microphone (if needed) to join the second Whova session and present the poster to the remote attendees.
  • Be prepared that some participants will spend 1 minute looking at your poster, others 5 mins and some others 15+ minutes.
  • Instead of trying to include every single detail of the work on the poster, think about the three groups above, and how you can create a poster from which everyone takes home something useful. Spend time on deciding what to exclude from the full paper rather than meticulously including every detail.
  • Ensure that the poster clearly presents the key take-home message.
  • Think of what is the best visual way of illustrating this.
  • Use colours that are contrasting.
  • If your paper contains very large tables or result graphs, consider just showing parts of these, or the key information instead of the full detail.
  • You can include a QR code that links to your paper online, so any interested visitor can take a picture and go directly to the paper.
  • Decide on a logical and simple structure for the poster, so that a viewer can figure out how to read it even if you are not there to explain.
  • Remember that the poster is expected to attract attention and spark a discussion, and not to be a replica of the paper.

Technical instructions for posters

All (onsite and online):

  • Prepare a digital version of your poster. This digital version can be in portrait orientation, although, if possible, we encourage you to provide the digital version in landscape orientation and 16:9 aspect ratio. The file should be in PNG or JPG format with a maximum size of 3MB and a minimum of 1000 pixels in the larger axis, i.e., minimum width of 1000 pixels in landscape orientation and minimum height of 1000 pixels in portrait orientation.
  • Upload the digital version of the poster using the GECCO submission system.
  • The digital version of the posters will be placed in Whova by the organizers.
  • As part of your submission, provide a link to a virtual meeting space (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet) that you would like to use to synchronously discuss your poster.
  • You are required to prepare a 5-minute video explaining your poster, which will be made available to the attendees and could also be uploaded to the Vimeo site for further dissemination. Providing a video does not exempt you from presenting your poster at the conference.


Onsite only:

  • Prepare your physical poster in portrait (vertical) orientation and A0 size.
  • Posters can be placed during the day of the poster session. More details will follow.
  • Posters that have already been printed at home can be carried in a poster tube. However, as an alternative, also think about printing your poster on cloth/canvas, as you can fold it and easily transport it in a suitcase.
  • Of course, you can also have the posters printed in Melbourne. See information about local printing options below on this page.


Local Poster Printing Options

For those presenting posters, we provide the following possible local printing options.

  • Officeworks provides poster printing services for all your business needs, print in high-quality large or small format. See further information. The closest Officeworks stores from MCEC are the Elizabeth Street store (107 Elizabeth Street) and Bourke Street store (Shop 1 & 2, 461 Bourke Street). You can find them on its store locator (when seeing the map, please click on "Melbourne"). Officeworks opens 8am - 7pm during weekdays, and 9am - 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. If you have printing needs on the weekend, then you should definitely consider Officeworks.
  • Dimkum provides the widest range of printing and design services in Melbourne, so you can get everything you need in one place. It is very close to CBD (460 Swanston Street). See further information. However, please note it is not open on weekend.
  • Minuteman Press Spencer Street prides itself on delivering high-quality prints at competitive prices. Located in West Melbourne, it is easily accessible for CBD residents and businesses. See further information (2.3km from Pan Pacific Melbourne, 467 Spencer St, West Melbourne VIC 3003).
  • Little Print caters specifically to businesses and students in the Melbourne CBD, offering fast turnaround times and free delivery and is located near RMIT University. See further information (3.7km from Pan Pacific Hotel, 68 Queensberry St, Carlton VIC 3053).

Guidelines for session chairs

For detailed instructions, see this PDF (last updated: July 11, 2024)