Presenting your Paper at iPRES 2025

iPRES 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland. Photo credit: Digital Preservation Coalition, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Presenting a Paper at iPRES and wondering what to expect? This blog post is for you!

First off, congratulations on having your Paper accepted at iPRES! Each Paper submitted to iPRES is evaluated by at least three different reviewers before being accepted, so giving a Paper here is no small feat! We know how much work goes into the initial writing and updating of papers based on the reviewers' feedback, as well as the significant volunteer time commitment of our reviewers. 

Hopefully we’ve received all final papers by now, but if you are still working on that iPRES_Paper_v5_Final_No_Really_Final_This_Time.docx version, please email it to info@ipres2025.nz as soon as possible!

To Read, or Not to Read, that is the question…

You may now be wondering how best to present your paper at iPRES. Depending on the length of your presentation, it may make sense to create a presentation script based on your Paper, which focuses on the key points. For the confident orators among us, you may be comfortable just talking to your slides, rather than following a script. 

The great thing about iPRES is that attendees can go back and read your completed paper to get all of the detail. In your presentation, you can focus on the key points and allow your slides to help tell the story.

But regardless of what option you choose, practicing your presentation ahead of time, and ensuring that you keep to your allotted time, is essential!

For Short Papers, you have 15 minutes (including time for Q&A). For Full Papers, you have 30 minutes in total (again, including time for Q&A). We recommend speaking for 10 minutes for Short Papers and 20 minutes for Full Papers to allow time for questions.

There are a lot of Papers on the schedule - 33 Full Papers and 36 Short Papers - to be exact. Don’t expect that attendees will have necessarily read yours in advance. Make sure to cover the key points in your presentation that you want the audience to take away.

Follow the Scout Motto - Be Prepared

Practice makes perfect. If you will be following a script, reading it aloud a few times to yourself beforehand can help prevent slips of the tongue on the day. And it gives you an understanding of timing - there probably will be some content you need to leave out in order to have time for Q&A and discussion. 

Take advantage of the Speakers notes area in PowerPoint. You can include notes under your slides and use the presenters view to make sure you don’t forget anything. 

We encourage you to share your presentation slides in advance by uploading your presentation to the iPRES 2025 Dropbox. Please supply the source files of any embedded audio or video in your presentation. The Dropbox link will be supplied via email to accepted presenters.

Make several copies

We also recommend that you bring a copy of your presentation on a USB stick to the conference, just in case! Consider if you want to bring a printed copy of your script/talking points as well.

Relax and enjoy the moment

If you find that butterflies are kicking in on the day, you’re not alone! Even the most seasoned presenters get nervous. Taking a few deep breaths before you begin can help. But keep in mind that everyone in the room with you (and online) is rooting for you. 

iPRES is a place to learn from one another, and to share ideas, to discuss, to ask questions. This conference wouldn’t be possible without all of you! We’re excited to hear from you and are grateful to everyone who is sharing their knowledge and experiences with us this year. 

Questions? Contact info@ipres2025.nz