+ guidelines for oral presentations
Oral presentations are the centerpiece of the ISSW and offer an excellent opportunity to share your work and ideas with the international avalanche community. Moderators will host each session and introduce the theme, presenters, keep the session within the allotted time and lead the Q&As.
Advances in Understanding Session Format
The 90 minute "Advances in Understanding" oral sessions are scheduled in the morning of each conference day for a total of 4 sessions. Each session has a general theme. The presentation slots will be either 10 or 12 min for a total of 6 or 7 talks. Each session will end with a 10-15 min Q&A with all presenters joining the stage.
Avalanche Risk Management Session Format
The 75 minute "Avalanche Risk Management" oral sessions occur twice per day for a total of 8 sessions throughout the conference. These sessions are designed around common challenges and problems faced by the profession with a more practical presentation beginning the session, followed by more theoretical talks. The opening talk will be alloted 12 mins and the following talks are alloted 8 mins for a total of 7 talks. Each session ends with a 10-15 min Q&A with all presenters joining the stage.
Focus Session Format
The 75 minute "Focus" oral sessions occur once per day in the afternoon concurrently with some panel discussions for a total of 4 sessions. These sessions are designed around emerging areas of research and practice. The talks are alloted 8 mins for a total of 7 talks. Each session ends with a 10-15 min Q&A with all presenters joining the stage.
Panel Discussion Session Format
The "Panel Discussion" oral sessions occur once per day in the afternoon concurrently with the focused sessions for a total of 4 panels. These sessions are designed to be more interactive and discussion-based, and will be held in the Rainbow theatre (max 250 people). Presenters will likely give a short 5 mins introduction and first thoughts, followed by about 45 mins of lively discussion and interaction with the audience.
Preparation
Please try and make your presentation as accessible to as many members of your audience as possible. A wide range of professional and academic experience exists within the ISSW community. The impact of your presentation will depend on your ability to use common language and to illustrate the relevance of your topic to the audience.
Each presentation should strive to foster dialogue between researchers and practitioners. We encourage researchers to discuss the practical application of their topic and we encourage practitioners to discuss how research can help solve operational challenges.
Please consider:
Focus on the main take-home points of your work in the presentation and use your proceedings paper to dive into details.
Keep the introductory slides about past work, contributions from others, and theory short (or omit completely!) and focus on your results.
A maximum of 1 min per slide is often sufficient.
Use text and equations sparingly and rather show photos and figures.
Use 18 font size or larger. Avoid wasting space on things that the audience can’t read.
Make sure to explain all details in a figure.
Format:
We will offer both PC (Windows) and Mac (OS X) laptops for running the oral sessions. We will not support the setting up of your own personal computers, except for the keynote speakers. We will support the following formats:
Microsoft Power Point (PC and Mac)
Keynote (Mac)
Standard format will be 16:9, and presenters are asked to prepare their slides in English. Computers will be available to preview and upload presentations in the Speaker Room, located close to the hotel reception. Presentations should be uploaded at least one hour before the session starts or the day before. Please name your presentation with your own name, date, and time of presentation, not ISSW 2026.
