2024 Speakers Terms and Agreements

Terms and Agreements for all speakers in the 2022 National Zero Waste Conference are as follows:

National Zero Waste Conference

Zero Waste USA, in cooperation with partners and sponsors, is providing a virtual venue (likely Zoom) to present this conference in September 2024. We will choose a number of speakers from those that apply. Zero Waste USA staff will contact speakers and meet on zoom to firm up specifics before the conference. Zero Waste USA will also provide an example presentation slide deck and presentation times to selected speakers.

Speakers

Speakers who are selected will be required to provide the following:

• Material deliverables:
  • A photo that is suitable for presentation.
  • Contact information including at the minimum, phone and email.
  • A 250 word abstract explaining the purpose of the presentation
  • An approved slide deck of your presentation in the preferred format.
• Time-based deliverables:
  • Finalized slide deck to ZWUSA no later than August 15, 2024.
  • Expect to attend one or two meetings (an hour, maybe far less) prior to the conference to clarify order of presentation and address any technical details such as connection lag, etc. Meeting details to be coordinated by ZWUSA staff.
  • As soon as you’re in the conference, rename your screen name to include at least your first and last name. For example:
    • Johnny Cash – MIB Institute (he/him)
    • Florence Cassell – Detective Sergeant, SMPD
    • Jiminy Cricket
  • Be in the appropriate conference meeting fifteen minutes prior to your speaking time so we can make you cohost.
  • Practice a few times to make sure your presentation stays within your allotted time.

For the “day of”, your slide deck will be combined with other slide decks in order to facilitate ease of presentation. When it’s your turn, you will simply say “Next Slide” to advance the slides. We will present the last slide deck you’ve provided prior to the August 15 final submittal date. Please confirm with ZWUSA staff that your slides are submitted and approved.

All presentations will be recorded.

By submitting the Calls for Presentation form and/or the Speaker form, each speaker agrees to allow Zero Waste USA to record their presentation for the National Zero Waste Conference 2024 and upload it to a suitable venue for redistribution by Zero Waste USA. We may also elect to publish a pdf of the slide deck you used in your presentation.

Photo Information

We will need a recent photo no smaller than 1000 pixels wide by 1000 pixels tall. Before uploading, save your profile photo with this naming structure: Firstname_Lastname_NZWC_2024.jpg. It can be wider or taller. You should be the only subject in the photo.

Photo Selection Guidelines

• Viewers should be just able to at least distinguish individual eyelashes, eyebrow hairs and eye color when looking close.
• If there’s a lot of space around you in the photo, that’s okay. We can crop it down later.
• Avoid harsh sun/shade lines on the face. (Google “golden hour for photography”.)
• Avoid photos lit from behind. (We need to see your face, not a blown-out backgroun.d)
• Tiny, blurry, blown out or overly shadowy images are not acceptable.
• No selfies. Have someone else take your picture with a decent camera phone or a prosumer-grade camera. This will avoid odd face shapes and crossed eyes.
• Please do not submit a quick phone-camera-grab of a wrinkled printed photo from your office door.

Slide Deck Presentation Format

Slides should be presented in the following format:

• Powerpoint
• 16:9 aspect ratio (1920 x 1080p)
• high quality images
• legible wording
• Use only standard fonts.
• We prefer no video in your presentation, but if necessary, video must be embedded in the slide deck.

If you are using Google slides and you don’t have powerpoint, please export them as powerpoint, download the free powerpoint viewer and check them out before submitting.

Non-standard fonts may not be available on the screen of the person presenting.

Connection Lag and Presentations

Some presenters may not have a connection stable enough to present directly due to connection lag and drop outs. Likely causes include living far outside the contiguous United States or in an area with lower or unreliable bandwidth. In some circumstances, when we are unable to find a way to provide a fast connection, it may be appropriate to create a recorded video presentation of the speaker and ask the speaker to be present during the speaking time via phone or low-bandwidth connection to answer questions after the presentation is complete.