APWA - For Speakers

Thank You For Participating in the 2013 APWA North American Snow Conference!

The following information provides important deadlines and details for your presentation.

Please feel free to contact Phyllis Muder at pmuder@apwa.net or 816 595 5211 with any questions, concerns or assistance needs you may have.

Speaker Checklist and Important Deadlines

Feb. 10: Complete the Audio Visual form and fax to 816 595 5311 by February 10, 2013 (APWA will provide the LCD projector, but you must bring your own laptop computer.)

March 8: Submit Copy of Presentation for handouts, complete & fax release form to 816-595-5311

April 7 – 10: 2013 North American Snow Conference; Charlotte NC

Registering for Snow Conference

As a speaker at APWA's Snow Conference, you must still register as an attendee and pay the appropriate member or non-member registration fee.. You may do this by using the regular attendee form. We will code you as a speaker once you are registered so you will receive a speaker's name badge.

If you are attending only on the day of your presentation, your registration is complimentary. You still must complete a registration form and fax it to Phyllis Muder at 816-595-5311 so that you are entered into the conference database to receive a name badge. Do not use online registration or fax your form to the number on the form - complete the form and fax it directly to Phyllis to ensure that you are not billed for a one-day registration. If you are attending the entire conference, you must pay the full registration fee - APWA does not apply single-day compensation against full registration fees.

Travel/Lodging Arrangements

You are responsible for making your own travel arrangements and covering the expenses connected with your travel to APWA's Snow Conference. Information about hotels is available on the Snow Conference website. Please make your hotel reservations early, as premium hotel space goes quickly. Click here for host city information.

Audiovisual Equipment Guidelines

Most speakers at Snow Conference use PowerPoint slides in their presentations. APWA will provide an LCD projector as standard equipment in each session room, BUT - you must bring your own laptop computer. APWA will not supply laptop computers for speakers. Please fill out and submit your Audiovisual Equipment Request Form online by February 10, 2013.

If You Must Cancel

Information about your presentation has been included in marketing materials prepared to announce this conference. Registrants expect and look forward to your presentation. If at any time you become unable to honor your commitment to participate, please notify Phyllis Muder at 816-595-5211 or pmuder@apwa.net. You will be asked to recruit a replacement speaker to assume your commitment.

Release Form

We do sometimes record and release sessions to our members for subsequent viewing. Please review your presentation for copyrighted material, complete the release form and fax to Phyllis Muder at 816 – 595 -5311.

Presentation Guidelines

APWA audiences come to Snow Conference expecting a professional level of exchange and to be able to take home information that will help their agencies provide improved public works services to their communities. The four most common complaints noted on evaluations from prior Snow Conferences are:

"The presentation was a 'sales' pitch for a particular product or service."
"I couldn't read the slides."
"One speaker took so much time that the others were not able to give their full presentations."
"I'd like more practical knowledge."

So, we ask you to consider the following as you prepare for your presentation:

For preparation tips, review our Tips on Using PowerPoint Slides and Other Visuals. Review the Tips on Using PowerPoint Slides and Other Visuals to make sure your visuals can be seen by your audience.
If there are other speakers in your session, be sure to coordinate with them in advance to make sure that all of your presentations will fit into the assigned timeframe. If you do not have the contact information for the individuals you will be co-presenting with, please contact Phyllis Muder at 816-595-5211 or pmuder@apwa.net. We also recommend that you meet with the other speakers prior to your session to load all of your presentations on to one laptop computer.
Selling from the podium can create conflict of interest problems for APWA. Presentations at APWA programs should never be advertisements for your products or services. If a product comparison is part of your presentation, disclose your financial interest in your product or service and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of competing products fairly.

A full copy of your PowerPoint Presentation must be submitted to APWA by April 6th, 2012 in an electronic format. APWA will post a PDF copy of the slides for the attendees as handouts.

Handouts Instructions:

You can submit your presentation via email, through a web transfer service or by uploading it to our FTP site.

To upload your files to APWA's ftp site.

Name your file using the database code for your session and your last name. For example: "1710 Smith"
(You can find the 4 digit database number on the attached speaker session report)
Click on this link to access the FTP site ( or copy the link and paste into your browser) ftp://education:education@ftp.apwa.net
If you have IE 7 or higher you may need to load the FTP site to your “network” places -follow the directions detailed in this document.
If the site ever asks for "Logon As" information, the username is "education" and the password is "education". (You can click the "Save password" box and the computer will remember it for you in the future.)
You may see this verbiage at the top of the page: “To view this FTP site in Windows Explorer, click Page, and then click Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer.” Follow these instructions (the page button is typically on the top right side of the screen)
Double click on the "NASC 2012 Handouts" folder to open it.
Drag and drop your handout file(s) into the folder.
Once your files appear in the window, you’re done! Simply click out of the site.

There is an alternative free web file transfer service that also works well. This site is http://www.wetransfer.info/. Simply attach the file and send to pmuder@apwa.net.

Please feel free to contact Phyllis Muder at pmuder@apwa.net or 816 595 5211 with any questions, concerns or assistance needs you may have.

Click here to download the 2013 APWA North American Snow Conference Program Preview in PDF format.