The Technical Committee has developed and agreed to a list of minimum abstract standards that every abstract must meet. Our goal is to enable all submitted abstracts to be included in the final program. Some abstracts may not meet minimal standards, but we expect that most abstracts will be acceptable without revision. If an abstract does not meet minimal standards the Technical Committee will notify the author and work with them to bring the abstract up to standard.

Standards

1. Abstract word limit is 250-500 words.

2. The Abstract should include the following components:

   • Explanation of the importance of the research or activity

   • Objectives/Goals/Purpose

   • Methods

   • Results/Expected

   • Conclusion/Summary

Abstract Review

The technical review uses the following review criteria:

1. Importance and Relevance of Topic

2. Innovation and Contribution to Knowledge Base

3. Clarity and Completeness - made up of the following: overall quality, purposes and objectives, theoretical and/or applied focus, research/activity methods, findings, and potential practical application.

Oral Presentation

1. You will have a 15 minute time slot for your presentation. There will be 5 minutes for questions directly after your presentation. You will not be able to extend your time if you have technical problems during your talk. A technical assistant will be on hand for equipment operation.

2. All visuals must be in PowerPoint format. No other medium (overhead projectors etc will NOT be available)

3. Prepare your presentation as a single PowerPoint file to run on an IBM compatible computer with Microsoft Office 2003 or Office 2007. Save your file as a normal PowerPoint file (.ppt or .pptx). Do not save your file as a PowerPoint Show (.pps) file. Each technical session conference room will have a rostrum with a microphone, PowerPoint⎴ multimedia and pointer. The Symposium planning committee strongly suggests you bring a duplicate copy of your PowerPoint presentation on CD, and/or a thumb drive.

4. All presentations must run on the Windows operating system. Conference computers will run on Windows XP.

5. PowerPoint presentations must be submitted to the technical assistant before the Technical Session in the morning. PowerPoint presentations must be smaller than 50 MB. Name your PowerPoint file with the last name of the first author and the day and time of the presentation (e.g. your-name_mon _10:30). (Note: Day and time information will be available on the conference website).

6. If you are unable to submit your presentation by the due date as a result of technical difficulties, please email secretary@ibcast.org.pk.

7. Bring one copy of your presentation to the conference on a CD-ROM or USB media storage device. This copy is to be used as a backup by you and the session technician if needed. Make sure the presentation file is properly named with your name, presentation day, and time.

8. Presenters will NOT be allowed to use their own laptop computers Macintosh computers will NOT be available.

Poster Presentation

1. The available size of the poster board is approximately 6'x 4'.

2. Visual materials must be limited to those that can be displayed on a board and read at a distance of 1.5 meters or so.

3. Papers should be discussed, rather than simply read.

4. Poster displays frequently require more planning and preparation and can have more complex figures.

5. It is also recommended that you have a handout of your full paper.

6. Focus on the introduction, methods, results & discussions, summary, and references.

7. Do not crowd too much information into the presentation.

8. All lettering must be easily read from a distance of 1.5 meters. Use a bold or semi bold typeface for headings & labels.

9. Use sans serif type such as Arial or Lucida Sans for text. It is much easier to read than serif type such as Courier.

10. Do include clear figures & tables.

11. Do not paste-up typed pages from a paper.

12. Posters should be understandable - even in the absence of the author(s)!

13. Paper mounting items (drawing pins/tape etc.) will be provided at the site.

14. Size of the Poster = A1 (approximately)