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To download
answers to frequently asked questions about
ESRI 2008, please click
here.
Proposals
How
do I submit a proposal?
What is the next step in the proposal process?
When will I be notified if my proposal
was accepted?
Papers
My proposal was accepted. What now?
What might my paper cover?
Are there any length/format requirements
for my paper?
When is my paper due?
Presentations
What is the format for each session?
What equipment is available for my presentation?
What should I prepare to hand out at my
presentation?
How should I prepare for my presentation?
Feedback
What is a discussant and what
does a discussant do?
What type of feedback will I receive?
Marketplace
of Ideas
What is the format for Marketplace of Ideas?
What equipment is available for the Marketplace
of Ideas?
How should I prepare for my demonstration
or poster fair session?
What should I bring to the conference to
support my presentation?
Miscellaneous
How do I create an effective Power Point
presentation?
Where do I go if I still have questions?
PROPOSALS
How
do I submit a proposal?
Visit www.gwu.edu/~esri/proposals.htm
for information on submitting your proposal. Proposals
are due to the ESRI Planning Committee no later than
5 p.m. on November 26, 2007, and must be sent via email
to the Committee at esri2008@gmail.com.
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What
is the next step in the proposal process?
After November 26, the ESRI Planning Committee will
remove all identifiers from your proposal and submit
it to a panel for peer review. Your proposal will be
reviewed by at least three individuals. Final decisions
on which proposals will be selected for presentation
at ESRI will be made early in December, with notification
and individual feedback provided to you in mid-December.
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When
will I be notified if my proposal was accepted?
The panel will review your proposal on December 5, 2007.
The ESRI Planning Committee will send notification during
the third week of December.
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PAPERS
My
proposal was accepted. What now?
Congratulations! The next step is to now write the paper
and conduct any research that still needs to be conducted.
If you based your proposal off of a course paper, you
will want to revise that paper for a discussant to read
and critique at the conference. If this is a new project,
you will want to conduct your research and write a paper
roughly along the guidelines of the proposal format
for anticipated sections. Please remember to use proper
APA citations in all work submitted for presentation
at ESRI.
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What
might my paper cover?
First, bear in mind that this paper is not simply an
excerpt from your dissertation. Do not send your literature
review, your methodology chapter, or your findings chapter.
If you are presenting a paper that comes from your dissertation,
then you need to shape the appropriate material into
a paper format.
One recommendation would
be to organize your paper following the list of topics
in the call for proposals. By going through the topics
you briefly mentioned in your proposal, you are likely
to cover all relevant portions of what is needed in
a paper for an academic conference.
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Are
there any length/format requirements for my paper?
Papers should be between 10–25 pages in length,
double-spaced, with proper APA style. Your page total
should include the cover page, abstract, reference list,
and appendices. For the benefit of our discussants,
please do not submit papers over 25 pages long.
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When
is my paper due?
Papers should be turned in by February 1, 2008.
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PRESENTATIONS
What is the format for each session?
Scholarly paper sessions (research findings, research
design proposal, literature review, policy analysis,
etc.) will be 45 minutes in length and will feature
two student presentations per session. The Chair will
use 5 minutes to introduce the session and presenters.
Students will speak in the order listed in the conference
program and will be given 10 minutes each to present.
The discussants will then comment on the presentations
based on the papers submitted by the students (15 minutes
total). The remaining time will be available for audience
questions. The Chair will monitor time usage.
Symposia will also be
45 minutes in length. The symposia proposal specified
how many students were to present in the session. A
session chair will use 5 minutes to introduce the session
and presenters. For the next 20 minutes the presenters
will follow a schedule they have organized to serve
the purpose of their proposal. There will then be 15
minutes of commentary from the discussants based on
the materials submitted by students. Any remaining time
will be available for audience questions. The Chair
will monitor time usage.
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What
equipment is available for my presentation?
A LCD projector and screen will be provided for use
during your presentation. Please note, you will
need to bring your own computer. However, please not
the LCD projector will not work with MAC computers.
Presenters are strongly encouraged to coordinate
with each other to share laptops for use during the
presentation. Once a draft program is available it is
suggested that you contact the individual(s) presenting
in your time slot and make arrangements to share computers
if possible.
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What
should I prepare to hand out at my presentation?
If you choose to use PowerPoint for your presentation,
make sure to format slides such that there is an appropriate
amount of information on each slide. Remember to use
larger fonts so audience members in the back of the
room may see your presentation. You may also want to
prepare handouts for the audience to follow along and
take notes. Average audience sizes tend to be between
20–30 individuals.
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How
should I prepare for my presentation?
It is important to practice your presentation in advance.
This will make you more confident with the material
and make sure you abide by time limits. Please make
sure that your presentation abides within a 10-minute
time frame. Due to the number of presentations that
take place that day, you may be cut off at the 10 minute
mark to ensure that all presenters have an opportunity
to speak. You will be notified at the 2-minute and 1-minute
mark so that you can wrap up your presentation. Symposia
presenters will need to work out their own division
of time per speaker. The session Chair will serve as
timekeeper and will give 2-minute and 1-minute warnings
as well. For guidelines on creating quality Power Point
presentations, see the miscellaneous section.
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FEEDBACK
What
is a discussant and what does a discussant do?
A major objective of this conference is to provide students
with the opportunity to receive feedback on their work.
To this end, a faculty member, content expert, or doctoral
program alumnus will be assigned to each scholarly paper
and symposia session to provide feedback to the participants.
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What
type of feedback will I receive?
The type of feedback you will receive will depend on
a number of factors, including timing, length, and style
of the discussant. We ask that you submit papers no
later than February 1, 2008 to give your discussant
ample time to prepare a response and provide feedback.
Discussants may give
feedback in a variety of formats, depending on their
personal style. Some may prepare a memorandum summarizing
their thoughts and reactions to your paper. Others may
have notes for what they plan to say at the session
and provide a copy to you. Some discussants will respond
to each paper individually, while others will weave
together each presentation’s similarities and
differences into a “teachable moment” on
various aspects presented. Since discussant styles vary
greatly, it is important to jot some notes down regarding
what they say in addition to any comments you receive
on your paper from peers in attendance.
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MARKETPLACE
OF IDEAS
What is the format for Marketplace of
Ideas?
For the Marketplace of Ideas, students giving demonstrations
and poster fair presentations will set up their materials
in the morning. A demonstration will have one table
for set up in a manner that serves the purposes of the
proposal. A poster fair presentation will have an easel
and a table for display. During the afternoon Marketplace
session, conference participants will circulate around
the ballroom and engage in informal conversation with
student presenters. These will not be formal presentations,
but rather individualized discussions with one visitor
or small groups of visitors. Faculty hosts will circulate
through the ballroom to engage in discussions and provide
commentary and feedback.
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What
equipment is available for the Marketplace of Ideas?
ESRI will provide you an easel and table for displaying
materials. The easel (as used to hold a tablet of flip
chart paper) will have a surface space about 3’
high and 2’ wide. You may tape materials to the
easel directly. You may also wish to invest in a tri-fold
presentation board (such as those used for science fair
presentations). Please note that ESRI is not able to
provide projectors or laptops for use during the Marketplace
of Ideas. Presenters wishing to use a laptop or LCD
projector will need to provide their own. If you plan
on using your own equipment, please notify the ESRI
Planning Committee at least a week prior to the conference.
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How
should I prepare for my demonstration or poster fair
session?
Although these presentations are informal, you should
prepare a 3-5 minute overview of the project and be
prepared to answer questions.
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What
should I bring to the conference to support my presentation?
You should bring any display materials that you plan
to use during your demonstration. In addition to your
basic presentation information, you should prepare a
one page handout for visitors who stop by your presentation
for discussion (20-30 copies should be enough, but it
is always better to overestimate than underestimate).
While you do not need to prepare full copies of any
papers on which your presentation is based, you may
want to bring business cards for anyone that would be
interested in learning more about your research or continuing
the discussion further.
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MISCELLANEOUS
How
do I create an effective Power Point presentation?
Efficiency is the goal of any Power Point presentation.
Do not inundate your readers with too much information
in the slide as that will make them uninterested and
unable to read the slide. You can always expand on what
is on the slide during your actual presentation.
Some other quick tips
include:
- Use Power Point design
templates
- Include only necessary,
essential information
- Avoid dark background
colors, since the room may be darkened. The best contrasts
may be a light background with dark text to maximize
its contrast.
- Be consistent with
any effects, transitions, and animation.
- Use animation sparingly,
as it can distract from the presentation.
- Use figures and tables
sparingly. Most present information that is too small
for readers to see which makes these poor communicators
of your points.
- Too many slides can
bore your audience and they will stop paying attention.
For ESRI presentations, try not to include more than
12 slides.
- Use large font (sizes
20 through 48) as an audience may be sitting at a
long distance away and unable to read smaller font.
- Put your name and
presentation title on the first slide.
- Be sparing with your
text. A slide overloaded with text will quickly be
ignored by the audience.
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to Top
Where
do I go if I still have questions?
If you still have questions regarding any element of
ESRI, please email the ESRI Planning Committee at esri2008@gmail.com.
In addition, you may find it useful to talk with professors
and peers who have attended academic conferences to
glean useful information from their experiences.
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