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Dale Platteter |
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Dale Platteter |
According to Art Campell, NSREC 2000 Technical Program Chairman, NSREC will not rent a 35mm color slide projector for its oral sessions. NSREC has made a shift to viewfoils.
What brought about this change? Well, the fact that only 2 authors used color slides at the 1999 meeting convinced us to change. The age of high-tech color laser desktop printers, rear projection screens, and high-wattage Xenon overhead projectors have accounted for this “ever so slow” shift in presentation technology. If you come to NSREC and view the rear-projected transparencies this coming year, the quality promises to be excellent.
Transparencies have slowly become the preferred “media of choice” for authors. If you bring your laptop to the Conference, having viewfoils allow for changes, up to hours before a presentation. One of the most frequently asked questions at the conference registration desk is “where is the closest ‘Kinkos’ copy center located?”
Looking to the future, NSREC is also considering computer-aided projection. We first previewed a PowerPoint slide show at the ‘95 meeting. This past year, Capt. Tom Bosse presented his invited talk using PowerPoint. However there are still some technical concerns about using computer-aided slide shows, especially if the Conference decides to rent hardware/ software which does not match your home/office setup.
The major issue with the computer (PowerPoint) projection approach is this: NSREC must support over 100 authors from 10-15 countries who have collected countless versions of software and fonts. Font substitutions, especially for Greek symbol fonts used in math equations, have been known to display some strange looking characters on the screen. And by the time an author realizes it, he is already on-stage in the middle of his presentation.
The absolute nightmare for a Technical Program Chairman is that unexpected 5-minute delay at the beginning of a presentation. “Well, it worked back at the office”, the author exclaims, as he scrambles to find his backup viewfoils. And it is hard to sleep the night before your presentation remembering the dreaded “blue screen lockups” or the “program execution halted on line 287666" crashes that we have all experienced.
The Radiation Effects Steering Group is investigating the best approach to computer-aided slide shows, so please be patient. Bring your viewfoils.
Dale Platteter can be reached at the Naval Sea Systems Command - Crane Division, Code 605, B-2088, Crane, IN 47522-5001; Phone (812) 854-1206; Fax: (812) 854-1751; E-mail: platteter@atd.crane.navy.mil