Southern California SPIN
Speaker's Meeting Guidelines

Thank you for agreeing to participate in our upcoming IRUS SPIN meeting. Below are a few guidelines to help you become familiar with the Southern California SPIN and to prepare your presentation. We hope you will feel relaxed among this group of peers who have come to share information on a topic of mutual interest.

Who we are:

• We are a group of software engineering professionals interested in process improvement.
  
• We come from large and small companies, aerospace, medical instruments, software developers, tool vendors, business, academia, and other fields.
  
• We generally meet the last Friday of the month at the University of California, Irvine.
  
• We are sponsored by the Irvine Research Unit in Software (IRUS), which is supported by corporate sponsorships. A current sponsor list is available.

Benefits to You:

• Publicity for yourself and your work.
• Information dissemination and feedback on your work.
• Opportunity to meet and network with people in your community.
• You will not receive any travel costs, but you will receive publicity, appreciation, and applause.
• You are also invited to be our guest at the steering committee lunch about 30 minutes after the meeting. At this meeting we plan future SPIN meetings, discuss community issues, etc.

Before the Meeting Day:

• Phone number
• Email address
• URL (if available)
• Fax
• Complete snail mail address for sending parking pass, etc.

About three weeks prior to the meeting, you will receive a letter from IRUS containing information about A/V (see Equipment below) and viewgraphs/handouts (see Handouts below) as well as directions, a map, parking information, a parking permit, and a flyer.

(General directions to UCI including parking information are available on the web at http://www.ics.uci.edu/IRUS/directions/directions_uci.html.)

If you have any questions about the meeting, SPIN, or IRUS, please feel free to contact Debra Brodbeck, IRUS Technical Relations Director, at brodbeck@ics.uci.edu, (949) 824-2260.

The Meeting:

Your meeting coordinator will inform you as to the format and time allotted for your presentation.

Plan to arrive at the meeting room at least 15 minutes prior to your talk.

Typical meeting formats are 1) a single speaker who speaks for either a 2 1/2 hour talk interspersed with about 30 minutes of questions and answers, or a 2 hour talk with 20-30 minutes minutes for questions and answers at the end, 2) two speakers who are allotted 75 minutes each for their presentation and questions and answers, 3) a single presenter followed by a panel, and 4) special formats.

Presentations should be technical and informational, not sales pitches. You are welcome to provide sales literature for the handout table, and to discuss products and services in off-line networking conversations.

Handouts:

The SPIN audience will expect copies of your viewgraphs as handouts.

IRUS prefers for speakers to bring these copies. We ask for 60 copies, printed 2-4 viewgraphs per page (but ensure that the diagrams and text aren't too small).

Electronic versions of the presentation (power point or HTML only) or links to the presentation are appreciated and will be included on the web version of the flyer.

If you are flying in or cannot bring viewgraph copies, IRUS will make the copies. The electronic version or hard copy master should be sent to Debra Brodbeck (brodbeck@ics.uci.edu) such that it arrives at least one week in advance of the meeting.

For a hard copy master, print single-sided and 2-4 viewgraphs per page. Mail to:

snail mail: Debra Brodbeck Information and Computer Science 240 ICS2 University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3425

FedEx or other special delivery: Debra Brodbeck Information and Computer Science CS 444 University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3425 (949) 824-7403

Please note that we are unable to make copies the day of the meeting.

You may bring any additional materials as you see fit. They will be placed on the information table with your viewgraph handouts.

Equipment:

A plain overhead projector will be provided unless you request otherwise - in advance. Other equipment available upon request includes an SVGA projector, a second plain overhead projector and screen, laser pointer, and flip chart/markers. Be sure to request in advance a lavalier or hand held microphone if you are not sure your voice can fill a room of sixty people.

AV/equipment requests should be made to Aileen Broccardo, IRUS Administrator, aileen@ics.uci.edu, (949) 824-1357.

Before the Start of the Presentations:

The meeting room is set up an hour before the first speaker is introduced. Refreshments are served, attendance is recorded, and members of the audience network with whomever shows up.

During the Presentation(s):

The meeting coordinator will introduce the first speaker at 9:00 a.m. Let the audience know if you will answer questions as they come up, or if you would like the audience to hold questions until the end of the presentation.

Before the break (which occurs at about at 10:15 a.m.), Debra Brodbeck, IRUS Technical Relations Director, will make various announcements about IRUS, sponsorship of IRUS, and upcoming meetings.

During the break:

The speaker is usually surrounded by several audience members for follow up questions. More networking takes place as the last of the refreshments are disposed of.

After the break:

If there are two speakers, the meeting coordinator will introduce the second speaker. If there is only one speaker, that speaker continues his/her presentation.

At the Conclusion of the Meeting:

The meeting coordinator will thank the presenter(s), and the IRUS Technical Relations Director and SPIN Steering Committee Leader will make any final announcements before adjourning the meeting at noon.

The second speaker in turn will be besieged by people with more questions. However, the meeting coordinator and others will be in a hurry to rush off to the SPIN steering committee meeting that follows immediately. You are invited to lunch with the steering committee. If you do not have time, please forgive the coordinator and others for rushing off.

Flyers/Publicity:

The meeting coordinator will request the following information from you for the flyer three (3) months in advance of the meeting:

• Name, Title, and Affiliation (as you want it on the flyer)
• Email Address
• URL (if available)
• Presentation title
• Presentation abstract (about 100-200 words)
• Bio (about 100 words)

We may edit abstracts and bios to fit our space limitations. We prefer plain ascii text by email. We have no need for photos.

Your bio will also be used to introduce you. Send additional information you would like to have included in your introduction to the meeting coordinator.

Each IRUS SPIN flyer contains:

• Meeting topic
• Speaker(s) name, title, affiliation, email address and URL (if available)
• Presentation title and a one or two paragraph abstract
• Speaker's bio(s) - one paragraph
• Coordinator's name, title, affiliation and contact info
• Date, time, location
• Various IRUS information, e.g. Corporate Sponsors

For examples, you can find flyers from previous meetings on the IRUS schedule of events on the web. (http://www.ics.uci.edu/IRUS/schedule.html)

We publicize the upcoming meetings in multiple ways:

• Flyers are distributed electonically to the IRUS email list and other email lists.
• Hard copy flyers are mailed to the IRUS distribution list.
• Hard copy flyers are distributed at SPIN meetings beginning at least two meetings prior.
• An html version of the flyer is placed on the IRUS schedule of events on the web. (http://www.ics.uci.edu/IRUS/schedule.html)
• Announcements are placed in local organization newsletters, email, and web pages.

Return to SPIN

Written by Warren Scheinin, (310) 606-3439, wmscheinin@west.raytheon.com
Updated 7/20/1998, by Debra A. Brodbeck,UCI/IRUS brodbeck@ics.uci.edu
Updated 8/04/1998, by Debra A. Brodbeck
Updated 8/27/1998, by Debra A. Brodbeck