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Information for presenters

A Twitter-based conference offers a number of advantages and opportunities otherwise unavailable to traditional conferences. We are excited to explore some of these opportunities by embracing our global community, as well as incorporating technology into #BTCon18. 

Guidelines for standard (i.e. tweet-based) and video presentations an be found, below. Click the icon for the relevant section.

Standard (tweet-based) presentations

Rules for invited presenters
  • You must have a Twitter account

  • Presenters are allocated a 30 minute slot (see the schedule) within which time they may tweet as often, or as infrequently as they wish.

  • Every tweet must start with the hashtag #BTCon18 (e.g., #BTCon18)

  • Links to extra text (e.g. tweet extensions) are not permitted

  • Pictures, graphs and other media are encouraged
     

Rules for accepted presenters
  • You must have a Twitter account

  • Presenters are allocated a maximum of 4 tweets, each a maximum of 280 characters long

  • Every tweet must be numbered (1 – 4) and start with the hashtag #BTCon18 (e.g., 1 #BTCon18)

  • Presentations should start with an introductory tweet, follow by 2 tweets describing methods and results, and end with a summary tweet

  • Links to extra text (e.g. tweet extensions) are not permitted

  • Links to supporting information (e.g. scientific papers) are encouraged. 

  • Pictures, graphs and other media are encouraged
     

Guidelines
  • You will be assigned a 15 minute time slot in which to tweet your research which will be determined based on your geographic location. Ensure you give us your time zone information during the sign up.

  • Draft your tweets ahead of time in order to avoid issues during the event.

  • Make sure your account is not private and your tweets are not protected, otherwise we will be unable to see them.

  • We strongly recommend threading your posts as this allows followers to click on a specific tweet and see what came before and after. To thread your presentation, simply reply to your own tweets. We recognise, however, that threading is not always possible, particularly when scheduling tweets.

  • We ask that presenters provide descriptions for any images attached to their tweets, using Twitter's accessibility options, in order to best communicate their science to as many people as possible. Instructions for increasing the accessibility of visual tweets can be found here: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/picture-descriptions

  • Please use suitable graph color schemes to make sure they're accessible to those with color blindness.

  • Discussion and questions are encouraged. When replying to an individual or asking a question, please use their handle (e.g., @biotweeps) and the conference hashtag #BTCon18

Scheduling

  • Presentations will be scheduled in one of three time-zone regions each day:

    • ​​Session 1: 1700 - 2100 BIOT (British Indian Ocean Time; GMT +6; CST +12)

    • Session 2: 1700 - 2100 GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time; BIOT -6; CST +6) 

    • Session 3: 1700 - 2100 CST (Central Standard Time; GMT -6; BIOT -12)

  • Specific scheduling of themes will be decided after the submission deadline has passed.​

  • Presenters may be allocated to a time zone where it is not possible for them to tweet live. In such circumstances we suggest the use of scheduled tweets.
     

Tips and tricks
  • Follow others
    If you are new to twitter, follow some of the larger scientist groups to catch a glimpse of how you can tweet to reach out with your work and to connect with other researchers. For instance, the main @biotweeps account.
     

  • Space out your tweets, but not too much!
    You get 15 minutes to present your 4 tweets. Our advice is to tweet one per minute or similar, which will then allow some time for questions or comments.
     

  • Get organised!
    Tweetdeck and other platforms allow you follow many feeds simultaneously. For example you can set up threads to just show tweets which contain certain tags such as #BTCon18. If you want to make sure you see all the tweets from the participants during the conference you can subscribe to the main Biotweeps account (@biotweeps) and set it up as a feed in Tweetdeck. Alternatively, make your own twitter list of users which you specifically want to get tweets from.
     

  • Follow topic-specific presentations
    When we introduce talks we will take care to use the appropriate topic tags as shown in the abstract index. This makes it easy for you to follow presentations of particular interest, but note that it will most likely only be the introductory tweet to a presentation which will contain the topic tag.
     

  • Get creative!
    Be creative with how you present your work. Use graphs, photographs, animated gifs or infographics to get people’s attention.

Abstracts are no longer being accepted

Video presentations

This year we are excited to bring a new presentation format to the Biotweeps conference: video presentations. During each session of the conference, there will be the opportunity to present a 20 minute broadcast of your science via the Periscope app (shared through Twitter) or pre-recorded via YouTube. However this will not be a return to the classic lecturing style of other conferences. Taking advantage of the ability to broadcast directly from any location, we are calling for presentations which would not be feasible on a traditional stage. Demonstrate your science in the lab, show us an interesting specimen collection, or even take us to your field site if it has a stable enough internet connection!

 

Rules for accepted presenters
 
  • You must have a Twitter account.

  • You must have a stable enough internet connection (i.e. wifi/4g) to reliably support continuous video broadcast through the Periscope app (if presenting live).

  • Presenters are allocated a 20 minute slot, during which they should present their science.

  • Videos must feature the presenter. They must not only feature wildlife/scenery, or be silent (muted).

  • When starting the broadcast, a link should be tweeted from the presenter’s account, starting with the hashtag #BTCon18 and including a brief introduction or title to the presentation.

 

Guidelines
 
  • Rehearse your presentation and make sure you are familiar with the way that comments are displayed on Periscope before the conference so that you can effectively answer questions.

  • Video presentations are not lectures. Presenters are not permitted to simply project tables, plots, or text, and narrate as though presenting at a typical conference. We strongly encourage creativity and the use of on-location videos (e.g. museums, labs, forests, etc.).

  • While most smartphones/tablets/laptops are adequately set up to record video which is suitable for broadcast in #BTCon18, we recommend that you check the audio quality on your device and speak at an appropriate volume to be picked up clearly during your presentation.

  • Discussion and questions are encouraged. Please reply to questions asked in the comments during the live-stream and, if you respond via tweet at a later time, please use their handle (e.g. @biotweeps) and the conference hashtag #BTCon18.

 

Scheduling
 
  • A video presentation will be scheduled during each of the three time-zone regions each day:

    • Session 1: 1700 - 2100 BIOT (British Indian Ocean Time; GMT +6; CST +12)

    • Session 2: 1700 - 2100 GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time; BIOT -6; CST +6) 

    • Session 3: 1700 - 2100 CST (Central Standard Time; GMT -6; BIOT -12)

  • Presenters will be allocated a slot within their own time-zone unless they can put forward a strong case for why it should be otherwise (i.e. a demonstration only possible at a different time of day).

STANDARD
VIDEO
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