Dear ICSA 2021 Presenters,

Thank you all for submitting your work to ICSA 2021. This page provides guidelines for preparing your conference presentations. There are two types of presentations:

  • Live presentations (for short summaries, keynotes, sponsor talks)
  • Pre-recorded videos shared via YouTube for talks related to your technical submissions — the deadline for video submission is March 8, 2021 — the earlier you upload your videos, the greater the likelihood that attendees will watch your presentation in advance of your session

In order to determine your talk category also consult your respective CfP pages.

General Quality Requirements for Videos

When creating slides, keep in mind that some attendees might use a small screen when viewing your video/live stream. As a consequence, please use large images, restrict the use of text to a minimum, and when you are using text, ensure a large-enough font size (>=16pt). In the background, your presentation will be either streamed through a couple of services or played back by YouTube which we will ensure to work with 1080p (1920x1080px).

However, your source video will still have the most impact on the overall quality of experience. If you want to test run your presentation you should try to look at it also in reduced quality (e.g., 720p, 480p, …). Because we are asking you to deliver your video in 1080p, it is recommended to setup your screen before the session to reflect 1080p on your side. In this way, you can see yourself in the video you are producing (Experiences from other events showed that Macs might be a bit problematic as their internal display cannot be configured to 1080p without major effort. We recommend Mac users to stream from an external display supporting 1080p).

In addition, keep in mind that 1080p is a 16:9 aspect ratio image. If you cannot use 1080p on your side natively then select a resolution that complies to 16:9 aspect ratio to avoid black bars or cut-off scenes. When giving your presentation, ensure that your source is put into full screen mode. If you need a presenter screen, ensure additionally that it is configured to be shown on a second display. In case you plan for a more complex streaming setup (e.g. using OBS virtual cams and the like) it is your responsibility to ensure that everything works as expected and you have your setup under full control.

In addition to video quality, keep in mind the general rules for presentation about colors, fonts, slide designs, etc. Some examples include limit the use of text, use high-contrast colors, restrict the number of colors, and use animations carefully. In case of doubt please check the books on Presentation Zen. Make sure your presentation contains all relevant metadata on all slides (name of the presentation, presenter, slide numbers, etc.), has an Introduction slide, and that all slides are readable. Record the Introduction slide at least for 10 seconds before starting your presentation.

As you are expected to give a voice over on your presentation keep also in mind to use a good audio recording setup. Make sure the recorded sound is loud enough, clear, stays on a constant gain level, and has background noises reduced. We recommend to use a dedicated microphone to do the recording (streaming or podcast microphone). Try not to use cheap microphones or the microphone of most mobile phones. Recommended post-processing tools include Audacity or Adobe’s Audition.

Live Presentations

For live presentations, consider that your presentation will be streamed to a heterogeneous set of attendees with different types of end-user devices and link qualities. Keep in mind that most attendees will either follow your talk via the Zoom client or via the session stream on the Whova website. This diverse setting has consequences for your presentation.

Furthermore, keep in mind that we ask you to present with your web or video camera turned on. That implies that you have a good lighting setup configured. It is important that your face is lit sufficiently. Your face should be centered in the video stream and it should look as if you were talking towards the camera. Your background light should be darker than your face (or you should use a proven green screen setup). Try to use artificial lights in your setup and reduce fluctuation light conditions as they often result from light coming through windows, etc. In case of doubt, consult one of the many available YouTube videos on how to optimize your streaming setup.

Pre-Recorded Presentations

Please upload your video by 8th of March AoE. Here are the instructions on how to prepare your video:

Naming: Name your video following the format Paper Easychair ID – Surname of First Author – Short Paper Name. For example, submission 55 from Steffen Becker about Palladio would be called 55 – Becker – Palladio.

When preparing your pre-recorded talk, include yourself into your video (e.g., via a talking head, HowTo). Setup 1080p and configure a good enough bitrate (e.g. Twitter 1080p in Adobe Premiere). Use suggested tools to create and post-process your video (e.g., OBS, Quicktime Player). In case you plan to also upload captions, please upload them as attached to your YouTube video and test them.

Time limit for all prerecorded videos is 10 minutes.

There is no predefined template for pre-recorded presentations; you are free to record in whatever way you prefer, provided that you respect the time limits and all guidelines above.

Sending the video to the ICSA YouTube channel

When you are done with the preparation of your videos, follow the following steps. Upload your video to your own YouTube channel. You can upload videos in any of the formats supported by YouTube (listed here). There are tutorials for this available online. Please ensure that your video contains a thumbnail with the information on your paper. A tutorial how to add a thumbnail to your video is available here. Once you have uploaded your videos to your own channel, copy the YouTube link to your video and complete the form under https://forms.gle/G2JjJMJdaxaJkGFh9. We will then use the information provided by you to retrieve your video, check its quality and once the video is fine, we will link it in the respective playlist in the ICSA 2021 YouTube channel.

Q&A

Q: Will there be live presentations for technical talks (e.g., technical, SAIP, NEMI tracks)?
A: No, all talks have to be given as prerecorded talk on YouTube. However, we will ask you to give a short summary of your talk (<=3min) during the live session in which we plan to discuss your contribution.

Q: How do I find my presentation session?
A: Log into our Whova instance. There, you will find the overall conference agenda as well as your personal agenda. Each session has a Zoom meeting linked from it. Join the Zoom meeting at least 10min before your session and report to your session chair. Also have a look at your session’s chat and Q&A section on Whova. Co-authors are encouraged to join the session of your paper.

Q: What happens if I experience technical difficulties?
A: If you experience technical difficulties during the live session, please report to your session chair or any of the student volunteers.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.