Please check below for the answers to frequently asked presenter questions.
Submission notifications have been emailed ahead of schedule. As of 11pm ET on August 3, all notifications will have gone out. If, as a lead presenter, you do not receive a notification, please email conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
The following guidelines are meant to help you with your preparations to present at the conference. Should you have additional questions after reading these guidelines, please contact the OLC Conference Management Team at conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
Download our “Session Evaluation Reminder Slide” (.pptx) to insert at the beginning of your presentation to encourage attendees to complete evaluations for your session. Breakout rooms will be set up for 4:3 ratio presentations. Please note that we no longer use paper evaluation forms. All sessions evaluations are done through the conference mobile app or website.
Let’s work together to create some buzz about your participation in this conference! Please promote your own presentation as well as the conference in general to your colleagues and social networks. The Twitter handle is @OLCToday; the hashtag for this conference is #OLCAccelerate. Feel free to create hashtag for your own presentation as well. Presenters may indicate a customer hashtag in the presentation claiming process. We also suggest you post hashtags at the start of your session and encourage attendees to use them.
Yes, all presenters are required to register in advance of the conference. Presenters must register and pay the registration fee no later than September 21, 2016 in order to avoid potential session cancelation. The registration fee table can be found on the registration page. Any presenter unable to register by September 21 should contact Christine Hinkley, Director of Conferences, at christine.hinkley@onlinelearning-c.org with a description of the issue and the time frame you expect it to be resolved within.
No, OLC does not cover any other conference-related expenses for presenters. As a non-profit, OLC is unable to provide assistance for travel or lodging expenses to presenters. Presenters are responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses, including all taxes and fees on said travel and lodging expenses.
The final date presenters can submit edits to their abstracts or submit co-presenter information is September 21, 2016. Any changes submitted after that date will not be included in the printed Schedule at a Glance and may or may not be updated on the website and mobile app. Any changes to presenters, session descriptions, etc. must be submitted no later than September 21 to christine.hinkley@onlinelearning-c.org.
Submission notifications are scheduled to be emailed on August 5. Notifications are sent to the lead author on each submission. All submissions are sent notification emails, regardless of acceptance status. Please be sure to “whitelist” emails from the @onlinelearning-c.org domain. If you do not receive a notification email, please contact us at conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
No, OLC does not require a final paper submission. Your presentation is your final product. We require presenters to upload a final presentation by November 1, 2016 to the presenter’s session page so that it is available to conference attendees. Your presentation can be a link (ie. Prezi, SlideShare, VoiceThread, etc.) or a file upload (.pdf is recommended). This material, along with the full abstract and information about the authors, becomes part of the conference materials that remain on the website. You may also elect to submit a final paper (recommended for Research Highlights sessions), should you have one, for consideration for publication in OLC’s Online Learning Journal. These are the stated guidelines for the journal: papers should be full papers, which include scientific rigor and data. The results presented should clearly advance our field by providing new information. Papers that are purely anecdotal or have no research underlayment will not be considered for publication. Papers are typically 10 to 20 pages printed and conform to the guidelines for publication found at https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/publications/olj_main. All full paper submissions may be eligible for publication in the conference proceedings and/or special issue of the Online Learning Journal. These manuscripts must be original (= not published or accepted in a journal or conference proceedings and currently not under consideration for publication elsewhere). Papers are blind reviewed.
OLC’s policy on virtual presentations is that the lead presenter must register for and attend the conference on-site. A co-presenter may be brought in virtually and must pay the virtual registration fee. OLC does not provide IT support or cover the cost of any additional technology required for virtual presenters. Discovery sessions are not conducive to virtual presenters due to difficulties with hearing sound volume (there are no speakers for audio output provided).
No, OLC does not provide laptops for presenters. Each room is equipped with an LCD projector, a wired Internet connection to the podium, laptop audio output capability, a podium and a screen. Computers are not provided. Each presenter must bring his own laptop. LCD projectors are installed with a universal VGA cable to accommodate both PC and Macintosh systems. Make certain that your computer is properly configured and all the necessary plug-ins have been pre-loaded prior to your presentation. If you are using a non-PC device to present, be sure to bring the appropriate adapters. If you are presenting using an Apple Macintosh computer, PLEASE remember to bring your video adapter – specifically, the adapter that converts your computer’s video output to VGA. A VGA connector looks like the standard 15-pin monitor connector. In addition, because of the idiosyncrasies of internet traffic, you should consider loading Web pages onto a flash drive rather than trying to call them up live. If you have technical questions or other A/V needs not mentioned above, please contact conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
Yes, OLC has contracted for a special room rate at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, where the conference will be held. Attendees of the conference must book their hotel room through the conference website no later than October 28, 2106 in order to receive discounted rates starting at $202++* per night plus taxes and fees. The special conference rate also applies for three days prior to and three days after the conclusion of the conference. You will be able to make your hotel reservations using the reservations link on the travel page.
The conference website will have a complete listing of sessions where you may find the date and time assigned for your presentation. After the schedule is published in early August, you may search for your presentation date/time/room assignment. You may search a number of ways – by strand, by presentation type, date, etc. – to find your presentation. You can also use the Presenter tab to search by your last name. There are advanced search filters in the “Search” tab that allow you to search by keyword, date, session type, strand, audience, or special session type. Click on the link for your presentation and you will see the full description for your session. Please refer to the conference website if you are uncertain about your presentation type or length. It will be listed as part of your presentation description. Be sure to check back frequently as presentation rooms, dates, and times do change. We recommend that you plan to stay through the end of the conference (Friday at 1pm ET) and make your travel arrangements accordingly.
Certain sessions have been designated for live streaming from the conference for virtual attendee viewing. Please review the live streaming schedule to determine if your session has been designated for streaming. If so, at least one presenter from each streamed session must complete the presenter release form. Please note that the photo uploaded to your user profile will be used for the streamed session catalog. Beyond the release form, minimal additional preparation is required for live streamed presenters.
Goals for Live Stream Sessions:
Tips for Designing Your Live Streamed Session:
Working with Your Session Chair:
Delivering an Interactive, Live Streamed Session
Yes. Each session has a link on the website and in the mobile app that allows attendees to complete session evaluation forms online. All session evaluations will be collected, tabulated by the conference management team, and the results sent to you in the weeks following the conference. Keynote and plenary presentations will have their evaluations gathered in the online post-conference survey.
Each session will have either a session chair or a door monitor. All live streamed sessions will have session chairs, who will notify the AV manager if the presenter is having technical issues, introduce the presentation to the onsite and virtual audiences, monitor the live stream, and collect virtual attendee questions to pose to the presenter(s) during Q & A. Non-streamed sessions will have door monitors, who will report technical issues to the AV manager.
Due to the number of presentations, we are unable to make photocopies of any presentation materials, either onsite or prior to the conference. We encourage you to post your presentation and any support materials to the conference proceedings repository. If you feel you must provide handouts during your presentation, we recommend bringing at least 35-50 copies. If there are extra handouts, you may bring them to the Registration Desk and they will be displayed for others to pick-up.
No, OLC does not provide flipcharts for presenters to use in the presentation rooms except to workshop presenters on request. We recommend that you start a Google doc and project it as your “flip chart” and then share the doc with any participants who want access after your presentation.
Breakout rooms will have screens that are set up for 4:3 presentations, but either 4:3 or 16:9 can be accommodated.
Yes! Let’s work together to create some buzz about your participation in this conference! Please promote your own presentation as well as the conference in general to your colleagues and social networks. The Twitter handle is @OLCToday; the hashtag for this conference is #OLCAccelerate. Feel free to create hashtag for your own presentation as well. Presenters may indicate a custom hashtag in the presentation claiming process. We also suggest you post hashtags at the start of your session and encourage attendees to use them.
Check in and pick-up your name badge at the conference registration desk. Check the website to verify your session time/room. Last minute changes are always possible.
It is becoming increasingly common for conference participants to document and disseminate the information shared in conference sessions through social media. We are requesting that you help them (and us) capture, credit, and amplify your message more effectively and accurately. Here are some best practices and ideas for your consideration.
Include your Twitter handle and conference hashtag on each slide. If you do not have a Twitter handle, consider including one of a research partner or affiliated program or institution. Doing so benefits you in several ways. First, it provides session attendees with an easy way to give you credit for your ideas. Second, it allows you to monitor what attendees are tweeting about your session. If they quote you incorrectly, you have the opportunity to correct them or engage them in dialogue. Finally, by having the information on each slide, it automatically provides a source and context when participants take pictures of your slides – even if they fail to caption the pictures on social media.
Be explicit (in advance) about things you don’t want shared beyond the room. If there are just a few ideas within your talk that are sensitive in nature, just make that clear to your audience; live tweeters are even more likely to honor your wishes than the non-tweeting conference goer, because if they share something inappropriate you are more likely to find out!
Consider publishing your slides to a digital slide sharing service. Many presenters across disciplines are beginning to publish their slides – either in advance or immediately after – to platforms such as www.slideshare.net. This allows attendees to revisit the presentation and reaches individuals who were unable to attend your session, thereby amplifying your message far beyond your session. If you choose to publish your slides, you can include the link in your session page instead of your final presentation file (due November 1).
Use a microphone and repeat any audience questions into it. Some of these sessions are being live streamed; virtual attendees cannot hear you or questions if they are not spoken into a microphone.
As lead presenter of a session at the conference, we urge you to upload or link to your presentation file and any additional supplemental files for your presentation. These materials will be available to onsite and virtual conference attendees on the OLC Accelerate 2016 website, linked on your session page. Providing your final presentation is essential to providing a quality conference experience for all attendees.
We ask for files to be uploaded by November 1, 2016. If you make changes to your presentation in the weeks leading up to the conference, you may upload a revised version of your presentation at any time by following the same steps outlined above.
Please check this page as updates and additional information is added as the conference approaches.
