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Virtual RECS 2022 Speaker Guidelines

Thank you for agreeing to speak at the Virtual Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) 2022. We are honored to have a distinguished group of experts participating.

This year's conference will be held virtually from June 1–3, 2022. Virtual RECS 2022 will feature sessions delivered live during the event, and no sessions will be pre-recorded. All sessions will begin with a 30-minute tech check with producers from a company called Flying Colors, immediately followed by the live session. All sessions will feature moderated question-and-answer (Q&A) with the audience.

General attendees of RECS 2022 will join sessions from the virtual conference venue, while speakers will follow a customized link to join a speakers' room. All speakers should join their sessions using the links in their calendar holds and not through the virtual venue. Plenary and breakout speakers' rooms will be hosted in a production platform called vMix. Emerging Scholars speakers' rooms will be hosted in Zoom. All speakers' calendar holds for RECS sessions will be updated with the link to their speakers' room no later than the morning of the live session.

Please find additional information and a link to detailed speaker guidelines by session type below. If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Cruttenden at RECS@air.org.

Plenary and Breakout Sessions

  • Plenary sessions are 75 minutes in duration. Please follow time limits for presentations and remarks agreed upon during session prep calls to ensure sufficient time for Q&A with the audience.
  • Breakout sessions are 60 minutes in duration. It is recommended that each presenter or discussant limit their remarks to 10–12 minutes (depending on the total number of speakers and as agreed upon during session prep calls), resulting in prepared remarks that are no more than 45 minutes in total. Speakers’ remarks will immediately be followed by 15 minutes of moderated Q&A with the audience.

 

Emerging Scholars Lightning Talks

  • Three concurrent Emerging Scholars Lightning Talks sessions will take place on Wednesday, June 1 from 4:00–5:00 pm ET. You will be assigned to one of these Zoom rooms in advance of the conference, and the password-protected Zoom link added to your Outlook invitation the morning of your session will direct you to the correct room.
  • Each Emerging Scholars Lightning Talk session will feature 6 or 7 Emerging Scholars. It is recommended that each Emerging Scholar limit their presentation to 5–6 minutes and use no more than five slides each. Emerging Scholars’ presentations will immediately be followed by 15 minutes of moderated Q&A with the audience.

 

Speaker Responsibilities

  • Registration
    All speakers will be registered for the conference by our conference logistics contractor. You will not need to take any steps to register. In late May, you will receive an email from our virtual conference platform with instructions to access and update your profile in the virtual venue.
  • Bios and Headshots
    All speakers are asked to submit their updated biography (500 words max) and headshot (PNG or JPG format) to RECS@air.org, no later than Monday, May 2. If you presented at RECS 2020, we have a headshot on file and there is no need to submit a new photo. If you are part of a session that was submitted to the Call for Proposals, you were sent your bio as an attachment to your speaker invitation. If you do not provide an updated bio by May 2, the bio submitted with your session submission will be used in conference materials.
  • Presentation Slides and Materials
    All PowerPoint slides must be in widescreen format (16:9) and cannot contain animations. Emerging Scholars are also invited to submit other relevant materials (e.g., a longer PowerPoint slide deck, digital poster, draft paper, or link to a website) to be included in an area of the virtual venue dedicated to Emerging Scholars. Our logistics contractor will compile all slide decks in presenter order and send the final deck back to all speakers for approval, so it is imperative that all slides are submitted no later than Sunday, May 15, 2022. A Box link where presentations and additional materials, if applicable, can be uploaded for your session will be shared on May 5.
  • Speaker Orientation Webinar
    A speaker orientation webinar took place on Tuesday, May 3 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm ET. The webinar included best practices for presenting your live session.


  • Speaker Tech Checks – For plenary and breakout speakers only
    Brief speaker tech checks will be scheduled with our session producer, Flying Colors, on May 16–19. Please sign up for a tech check and select only one time slot; the time will be used to optimize your video, audio, and lighting to ensure the best possible virtual presentation during the conference. You will receive a calendar hold for your tech check from RECS@air.org after you sign up.