Presentation proposal tips

[Jeff_F]

My team is super excited about presenting in 2024. For folks who have presented in the past, what are the key ingredients for a successful proposal?

Thanks for your insights!

[valentinesking · Accepted solution]

Howdy @Jeff_F 

Love this question. One of the things I always do is to check out last year's presentations/titles. For some conferences, I've done a word cloud of titles and/or abstracts to see what key words pop up or a tally of different "main topics." If I have access to the abstracts, then I skim to see if most are more "promotional" than specific, longer vs. shorter.

It is always helpful as you are progressing to pitch your ideas to others and engage in a brainstorming discussion with your peers. Be open to suggestions (with a grain of salt). Many of us who do presentations at different conferences, have a running list of what they have submitted, when they submitted, status, and future/current ideas. This is definitely helpful over a few years time.

Consider co-presenting with a vendor/Canvas partner if you use their tool/platform/services. Consider co-presenting with someone from a different school. You can definitely submit more than one presentation proposal, but make sure they are all strong. Instructure gets a lot of proposals so getting selected is competitive (as there is only so much time, so much space etc. during the conference) while trying to balance topics, audiences, session formats, and audience tracks.

Even if you are not selected or even before then, you have an opportunity to present at Instructure Live Events.

Suggestions for Prepping Your Proposal

• [Topic] Identify something you love to talk about or yourself/your team is really proud of. We all have experiences that are valuable. We definitely don't all do things or necessarily use Instructure tools all in the same way.
  
  
• [Audience] Identify who is your audience? Familiarize yourself with the intended audiences listed on the InstructureCon proposal site (see link at bottom of this post). Be specific with this, selecting them all doesn't mean your presentation is more likely to be picked.
  • Is your topic scalable to large institutions and smaller institutions alike? There is some room for niche topics, too- but of course being of interest to a larger group can be helpful.
  • Think about how you are going to engage with the audience (if your presentation format lends to this).
    
    
• [Format] Familiarize yourself with the session format types and pick the best one. Maybe before submitting take your idea and imagine what it would be like if you applied that topic to different session formats- maybe what you first imagined as a full 45 min. breakout session would be more impactful as 20 min. snapshot.
  
  
• [Title] While I try to be creative, I'm a big fan of keeping it simple (Goldilocks approach= not too long, not too short). I recommend to others starting with a verb to start with energy, ex "Diving into Student Analytics: [more specific topic title]"
  • If you are struggling for a catchy/creative title, you can always use your favorite generative AI tool to bounce some ideas around.
    
    
• [Abstract] Given that you have 50 words or less, be a poet. Not in the whimsical long-drawn out way, but by being judicial with words to be concise while painting a vivid, robust picture. If you are struggle to fit it in 50 or less- GenAI or a friend might be able to help. (Yes, I like using GenAI as it can be helpful with brainstorming- but often it tells me without telling me, I wrote it better my way). Focus on how you will address your topic, what data or evidence you'll be sharing, and what you expect folks to come away with - the good stuff!
  
  One thing I find of value from any presentation is to give the attendees something to walk away with, either virtually or physically so when they go back to their institutions they can share what they've learned from others.
  
  
• [Samples, Resources] This is optional, but if you've presented before but not for InstructureCon- this might be beneficial (maybe a few slides of a deck, a clip of you presenting to an audience etc.)

Good luck... One of the key ingredients is to "try" and another is to do so "on-time." Definitely, proofread & have someone else look over your proposal before you enter your proposal on the website. 

When you are ready, submit your proposal before March 18, 2024!
Hope this has helped. Looking forward to meeting you in Vegas.

Val