Review Guidance and Etiquette for Presenters and Participants

Review Guidance and Etiquette for Presenters and Participants PIP-II Management Meeting 17 -Nov-2017 By Dean Hoffer

Review Guidelines: Slide Development • Stay within your time. Plan for questions and leave about 20% of your allocated presentation time for questions. • Plan for approximately 1 slide every 1 ½ minutes of time allocated for slides. Absolute maximum is 1 slide per minute. (i. e. for a 30 minute presentation, allow 6 minutes for questions and the number of slides to be presented should be around 16, max of 24) • Additional backup slides can be included in the slide file. These slides are to be used only if additional detailed is need to address questions. • Keep text and figures large • Limit complexity of slides • Focus on important points, skip complicated details (backup slides may be used for this)

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Speakers and Audience • Be in your seats 10 minutes prior to schedule start of the open sessions. We don’t want anyone walking in during a presentation, and sessions have been known to sometimes start early. • Don’t leave during a presentation. Wait for the transition between speakers. • Please refrain from entering the food or drinks line (lunch or dinner)until all committee members have had a chance. – Especially, do not start on food or alcohol when the committee is still in executive session • Please do not wear shorts, tee-shirts, or flip-flops • All plenary speakers should wear coat and tie, or equivalently professional attire for women.

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Speakers • Be prepared to give your presentation. Know what is on your slides. Be prepared to explain graphics or tables that have been supplied to you for your presentation. (i. e. cost, schedule, resource graphics/tables) • Speak with confidence. Speak to the Committee members with eye contact. Speak clearly. Speak at a level that the person at the back of the room can hear you. Speak at a rate that the committee members will be able comprehend on what you said (not to fast or not to slow). • Do not read your slides. Talk to the points on the slides. Slides should be simple, with bullet points and graphics that support your presentation. Slides that are overly wordy can distract the reviewer from what you are trying to convey. • •

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Speakers (continued) • Use appropriate language for the audience. If you are talking to technical people (scientist or engineers) you may use terms or acronyms that are commonly used when talking to your peers. When talking with cost/schedule/management reviewers don’t expect them to know and understand technical terms. • Watch your Body Language, which includes facial expressions, body posture, and gestures. Don’t verbally be saying one thing and your body saying something else. • Keep on topic and stay on time. Follow the agenda and presentation timeline as much as possible, unless the review committee has directed you otherwise. Stay focused on the message you are trying to portray to the review team.

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Speakers (continued) • Never interrupt a committee member in the middle of a question. It will annoy the committee member and half the time you will misinterpret where the question is headed. • First make sure you understand the question being asked. If not clear, ask for clarification. • Never start the answer to a question with “no”, “that’s wrong”, or any other wording that would establish an adversarial relationship. Try not to act defensively to questions. • Committee members may or may not have reviewed materials on the meeting website in advance of the meeting. – If a Committee member asks a question that is covered in the posted materials do not say “That was covered in the posted materials”. Simply answer the question and point them to the posted materials for more information.

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Speakers (continued) • Answer the question asked, if you know the answer. • Answer questions honestly, to the best of your ability. If you do not know the answer either: 1)redirect the question to someone in the audience who you believe is in a position to answer; or 2) say “I don’t know, but I will get back to you. ” • If a question from the review team will be covered in another plenary talk or in more detail in a breakout talk, tell them that. Make sure they are okay with that and then move on. • Provide concise answers. Don’t offer more information than is requested and/or don’t answer questions that aren’t asked. • Don’t air grievances about your management to the committee – this is proven to be counterproductive.

Review Guidelines: Session Chair • For the Plenary and Breakout Session each Session Chair should act as the timekeeper (or designate one) for their session to make sure the presentations are staying on schedule as defined in the agenda. If the Session Organizer has a presentation, then another person should be the timekeeper for their presentation. • If the Review Subcommittee Lead request a change to the session agenda, accommodate the request as reasonably possible. Inform Steve and Paul of the requested changes. • Have a note taker identified for each session to record requests from review team for documents or question that cannot be answered during that presentation. Identify who will be given the request and follow-up to make sure the questions have been answered and that any requested documentation has been posted on the review website.

Review Etiquette Guidelines: Audience • Never speak unless requested by either the speaker or a committee member. If the speaker is floundering with a question and is either unaware of your presence or your knowledge on the topic, indicate to him/her in some discreet manner that you are able to answer the question. • Never ask a question of the speaker yourself. • Do not engage in conversation with fellow audience members when the meeting is underway. Background noise is an annoying distraction and creates a bad impression. • Defer seating to speakers. For meetings in the Comitium the committee will sit at the table and the audience should sit in the chairs along the walls. For 1 -West this tends to not be an issue. • Feel free to take notes: In many instances a session chair may wish to designate a note taker.

Committee Interactions • Use the coffee breaks and dinner to explain any misunderstandings to the relevant committee member. • Every project member should attempt to have at least one committee member at their table for dinner. • The committee has been asked to give up their time to come to Fermilab and offer their wisdom – Thank them – Acknowledge when they make a good point