We are looking forward to your presentation at ACH 2019 in Pittsburgh, PA from July 23-26, 2019. The conference will be taking place at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center (112 Washington Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15219).
All conference sessions, the poster and demo sessions, installations, and conference registration will be located on the 2nd floor of the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center. A meeting room with a book exhibit and a quiet room are located on the same floor as well. Additional space has been set aside for a lactation room on another floor in the same hotel.
To ensure maximum accessibility for conference presentations, all presenters and chairs must use the microphones provided for both presentations and Q&A. It is advisable to do a sound check before the beginning of the session to ensure that you are aware of how close you need to be to the microphone to ensure your voice is picked up adequately. The optimal position for a microphone is generally 3-6” from your mouth, depending on your natural voice volume and the configuration of the microphone. If your voice is “popping” (e.g. words with letters such as “p” come across with a pop sound in the middle) the microphone can be held slightly to the side of your mouth (tilted sideways) or slightly above your mouth) tilted downwards to eliminate that effect.
A wireless microphone has also been provided to circulate through the audience for questions. If audience members are unable to use the microphone for any reason, you can simply repeat (or briefly rephrase) the question into your microphone before answering it.
To ensure visual accessibility of slides, please use at least 24pt sans serif fonts (Arial, Verdana, Helvetica) on your slides. Any videos played during presentations should be captioned and audio described.
Do not use color as the only method for distinguishing information or use a color-blindness simulator to ensure that your color scheme is accessible to all viewers. Make sure that there is a high degree of contrast between the color of text and the color of the background of a slide, e.g. black text on a white background, light grey text on a black background, dark blue text on a light blue background, etc. Stark white text on black background is best avoided due to fuzzing and halation. Please also avoid rapidly flashing or strobing lights in slideshow special effects.
One way to greatly enhance the accessibility of your presentation is to make your slides or a transcript of your talk available to the audience. If you share your slides or transcript via a printout, please increase the font size on the print-outs to at least 18pt and use a sans serif font (Arial, Verdana, Helvetica). If you share your slides via a link, please make sure that you have used the “alt text” feature on any images in your slideshow. Similarly, if you share your transcript via a link and have turned it into a PDF or any other format that does not allow the easy manipulation of font size, please increase the font size to at least 18pt and use a sans serif font (Arial, Verdana, Helvetica).
Please ensure that aisles are kept free of belongings and that clear paths are maintained to the exit throughout the presentation. Closing the doors during presentations will cut down on ambient noise from the hallway, but be aware that this may create issues for audience members who have difficulty opening doors to enter/exit and be flexible as necessary.
Sometimes sessions at conferences end up “standing room only” despite there being seats available for audience members throughout the room. If this occurs during your session, the chair should pause between speakers and ask audience members to raise their hands or otherwise identify if there is an empty chair available next to them.
Paper presenters will have 20 minutes total for their presentation. This includes Q&A, which will be a minimum of 5 minutes of the allotted 20. Lightning talk presenters will have 10 minutes for their presentation, which includes Q&A, which will be a minimum of 3 minutes of the allotted 10. Chairs will be expected to enforce these time limits. The capacity for session rooms is 75-100 chairs. There will be a table in the front of the room, with chairs, a podium, and a microphone, as well as a wireless microphone for Q&A. The table and podium will be on the floor, so there will not be any steps to climb. The rooms will also be equipped with a projector and a screen. If you plan to use the projector, please arrive to your session at least 5 minutes early. We will be starting promptly and will not delay the session for technical issues.
Presenters should use the time as they see fit, but please reserve a minimum of 15 minutes for Q&A. Chairs will be expected to enforce this rule. The capacity for session rooms is 75-100 chairs. There will be a table in the front of the room, with chairs, a podium, and a microphone, as well as a wireless microphone for Q&A. The table and podium will be on the floor, so there will not be any steps to climb. The rooms will also be equipped with a projector and a screen. If you plan to use the projector, please arrive to your session at least 5 minutes early. We will be starting promptly and will not delay the session for technical issues.
Presenters should provide a laptop and/or other equipment required for the demo. There will be tables and chairs available for demo presenters. Presenters should remain with their equipment for the entirety of the demo session. We ask that demo presenters arrive by 10:30am in City Center A on Wednesday, July 24th to set up their demos and remain after the session to take down their demos.
Presenters should bring their poster, which should not exceed 24 x 36”. Easels will be provided for mounting posters. Presenters should remain with their poster for the entirety of the poster session. We ask that poster presenters arrive by 10:30am in Salon 4 & 5 on Wednesday, July 24th to set up their posters and remain after the session to take down their demos.
Presenters will be contacted with further instructions about installation date, time, and location.