Presentation style

Oral presentations (15 minutes: 12 minute talk + 3 minute questions):
Typically, oral presentations will be complete stories or largely finished research projects, with clear outcomes and conclusions. They should be placed in a broad adaptation context and aimed at being of general interest beyond the immediate subject area. These will generally be in concurrent sessions and will have focussed, self-selected audiences.

Speed talks + Posters (5 minutes: 4 minute talk + 1 minute changeover):
The short duration of speed talks makes them challenging to deliver. They are often very rewarding for audiences. Typically, they are a short vignette of key findings or key methods for projects at the earlier stages of work. There can be a maximum of three supporting slides plus one title slide to accompany the talk. Presenting in these sessions provides a learning opportunity for those people who wish to present key information to decision makers in a short, sharp fashion. Audiences will be large and information will be accessible to all conference attendees.

Speed talks will be presented in 1.5 hour blocks followed by a dedicated poster session where presenters will be available for further discussion. Prizes will be presented to the best student contribution and the best in conference.

Posters:
Delegates may also select to present a poster on its own. This format is very suitable for those with projects with a more specialised interest or at an early stage of project development. They also enable presenters to focus on delivery of succinct, attention grabbing information in a visual format.

Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference and provide opportunities for relaxed discussion throughout the entire conference. There will be two dedicated poster sessions, each of 1.5 hours duration, plus a breakfast poster session on the final morning. Presenters of speed talk sessions will be asked to attend their poster at the session falling on the same day as their speed talk presentation. This will minimise crowding in front of the posters, maximise opportunities for discussion with presenters, and also allow poster presenters to view other posters. Audiences will be large and information will be accessible to all conference attendees.

Prizes will be presented to the best student contribution and the overall best poster.

Preparing your poster:

Your poster should be no bigger than A0 size (841mm X 1189mm), and can be presented in either landscape or portrait style.
On arrival at the Conference you will be directed to your session’s poster area where you will be able to attach your poster.  Our poster boards are Velcro compatible (use the hook side of the Velcro only), 2.4m wide by 1.2m tall. Each poster board will have 2 posters attached to each side.

Abstract selection criteria

The Scientific Committee will attempt to accommodate the preferred presentation type for all delegates. Our experience of previous conferences is that demand for oral presentations (15 min) generally exceeds the program space limitations. All abstracts will be reviewed by panels of reviewers and some delegates who request oral presentations will be given the option of presenting a speed talk + poster. We do not expect to exceed the limitation on space for posters or speed talks.

The criteria used to assess abstracts may include:
- a demonstrable fit to the description of oral presentations (above);
- clear statements regarding (i) the motivation of the study/project/issue; (ii) the results/findings; (iii) conclusions/implications;
- research merit, originality and interest;
- significance to an applied adaptation audience;
- complementarity to the session theme to ensure the program is diverse and topical.

Conference session themes and symposia

Authors of abstracts for all presentation types are required to categorise their abstract to help Program Organisers group related presentations.

The session categories relate to both cross-sectoral challenges of climate adaptation aimed at bringing together a diversity of sectors, researchers and stakeholders; as well as more sector specific sessions. The sessions are draft only and the final program will be built around the demand from abstracts (i.e. more abstracts from a particular theme will result in larger sessions) and strong themes that arise from submitted abstracts.

In the spirit of the theme of the conference, which is “knowledge + partnerships”, we very strongly encourage presentations from practitioners, policymakers and decision makers from private and government backgrounds to present papers on their plans, activities and experiences of managing the challenge of climate change adaptation. For researchers, we would encourage consideration of partnering with stakeholders to make your presentation.

Themes
1. Climate ready natural resource management
2. Food for thought: Food security in a changing world
3. Business as usual? Productivity and prosperity in a changed climate
4. Feeling the Heat: Planning for extreme heat
5. Climate adaptation and emergency management
6. Communication
7. The role of tools and knowledge in adaptation
8. The governance of adaptation
9. Decision-making under uncertainty
10. The economics of adaptation
11. Policy and regulation
12. Monitoring and measuring adaptation
13. Case studies of adaptation in action
14. Cities and infrastructure
15. Coasts
16. Ecosystems
17. Communities
18. Human health
19. Water resources
20. Other
21. Science for adaptation
22. Marine and fisheries: conservation and adaptation
23. Adaptation and Indigenous Communities: lessons and challenges

Abstract submission

When submitting an abstract you will be required to provide the following information:
- Abstract title: a brief, interesting and explicit description of the presentation (<15 words)
- Suggested theme (refer to list above)
- Name and address of corresponding author
- Identification where the presentation is given by a student who wishes to be considered for the student prize
- Preferred presentation type (oral presentation, speed talk+poster, poster)
- Authors’ names
- Presenting author
- Authors’ affiliations
- Abstract (max. length 250 words)
- Acknowledgement that at least one author will register and pay to attend the Conference

Early submission of abstracts is recommended. A last minute rush has been known to crash the system, so submit your abstract well before the closing date of 15 February  22 February in order to avoid frustration.

Abstract notification

Notification letters will be dispatched at the end of March.