Presentation & Session Guidelines

Speaker Expectations

  • The BAI Content Team is committed to working hard with you to ensure your needs are met and that together we deliver the best possible quality and experience to our event attendees.  
  • Speaker presentations take many shapes, please check with a content representative at BAI while developing your session format and materials. 
  • Speakers will be approved only by BAI. BAI has sole discretion to make speaker selections and changes.
  • BAI strongly encourages presenters to copyright their material.
  • BAI will provide session and speaker evaluations within four weeks following the event.  
  • Plan for a Q&A period—encourage opinions, and leave 5-10 minutes for audience interaction (includes webinars).
  • Avoid marketing materials, which audience members strongly dislike. It is appropriate to include contact information on the final slide in smaller type size.
  • Do not include copyrighted material (e.g., cartoons, proprietary information, charts) unless you get written permission and include such permission with your presentation. Note all quoted sources of information. 
  • Speakers must meet BAI deadlines to ensure the quality of the final presentation. A speaker waiting list will be managed and substitutions made if speakers fail to meet deadlines.   

Guidelines for Speakers Onsite

  • You are required to provide your own laptop loaded with a copy of your presentation. BAI will provide multimedia support to connect to presentation equipment.
  • Only one person from the speaker's organization may accompany/attend the speaker's session with the presenter.
  • Any relevant session materials need to be sumitted in advance of your session and they will be available for download on the Presentation website or onsite.
  • Marketing materials are not permitted in session rooms or embedded in presentations.
  • For onsite events only: No badge scanning, collecting of business cards or other sales-like activities should be conducted prior, during or after the presentation 

Presentation Guidelines

  • Speakers should design their session with the following format in mind: set up the problem/need, deliver solutions, and provide key take aways from the session.
  • Speakers will use approved BAI PowerPoint templates to present session materials.
  • Content for the session will be educational and insightful; avoid marketing materials.
  • Presentations and supplemental materials sbumitted with your session content must be orginial to this event and/or the session audience.
  • Based on the time allowed for presentation, gauge the maximum number of slides using 1-3 minutes per slide (assuming no more than 6-7 lines per slide)
  • Do not include copyrighted material (e.g., cartoons, proprietary information, charts) unless you get written permission and include such permission with your presentation submission.  Note all quoted sources of information.

Formatting for Quality Slides

  • Title slide should contain the conference name in which you are participating, for example: BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo or BAI Retail Delivery.
  • Use slide/page numbers so it is easy for attendees to follow along.
  • Capitalization format:  use title caps for headlines; sentence caps for bullets.
  • Print out your presentation to make sure that all graphics are readable.
  • Use a simple font such as Arial or Helvetica to make the text easy to read. 
  • Make sure the slides are readable by using 28/26/24-size fonts for body text (as bullets and sub-bullets evolve) and 32-point font size for headlines, with no more than 6-7 lines per page. 
  • Graphics should engage learners and clarify the message in the text.  Avoid adding graphics to fill space. Use of software screen shots is discouraged. Reproduction quality, once projected, is poor.