Rob Calder

Four members of the SSA’s conference committee write about a relatively modern conundrum for event organisers – ‘Should we serve alcohol?’ At the SSA’s 2023 Annual Conference, we had a busy evening reception, followed by a sit-down dinner. These are standard fixtures in our Annual Conference programme, but something was different that year. For the first time, we decided to provide alcohol-free beverages for our delegates instead of the usual choice of wine or ‘soft’ drinks.

Dr Rob Calder shares his advice for giving an effective presentation at a scientific conference. On a long enough timescale, every academic has to deliver a PowerPoint presentation. It’s as inevitable as death, taxes, reviewer two’s attitude, and using too many acronyms to try and dodge a wordcount (UTMATTADAW). Here are some top tips for preparing for your presentation so that it echoes through history and crescendos into a wildly uncontrollable Pavarotti-style hour-long standing ovation. 1.