Frequently Asked Questions for the NEPCA Conference

Submitting a Proposal

Q: How many proposals can I submit?
A: A maximum of two overall; however, one should be submitted at a time. That is, you should only submit a second proposal if your first has not been accepted.

Q: How many presentations can I do at the NEPCA conference?
A: One. Presenters will only have one presentation per conference.

Q: My proposal has been accepted, do I need to register?
A: Yes. If you do not register by Friday, September 10th by 11:59pm ET, you will be removed from the program.

Q: Do I have to pay the registration fee or is there a discount?
A: Yes, you do have to pay the registration fee. We are a small organization that runs primarily through low-cost membership and conference fees. This does require that all conference attendees pay membership and conference dues each year to make us sustainable.

Q: What if I can’t afford access to the conference?
A: Each year, we provide scholarships for free or discounted access to the conference. This information is typically posted by June on the main conference page. We will notify folks about how to apply and when they will be notified once we have opened up the call for papers.

Q: Who can submit and present at NEPCA?
A: We pride ourselves on being an accessible conferences for many scholars of different disciplinary backgrounds and experience-levels. We welcome graduate students, independent scholars, and other emerging scholars. Undergraduate students are welcome to also submit. However, they should be sponsored by a faculty member at their current institution.

Presenting at the Conference

Q: Do I need to have my paper ready and reviewed by the panel chair before the conference?
A: No. For NEPCA, presenters can present their paper in whatever form it is and do not have to submit it in advance to the panel chair.

Q: Am I actually submitting a paper for review at any point?
A: No. For NEPCA, presenters submit an abstract and present whatever state their paper is in. They can read what they have or present it through slides, but there is not a formal submission and review of the paper.

Q: How long should my presentation be?
A: This will depend on whether there are 3 or 4 papers being presented. If there are 3 papers being presented during the session, each will have 20 minutes. If there are 4 papers, then each will have 15 minutes. That is the total amount of time, regardless if there are 1 or 2 presenters for a given paper. Questions will be held to the end or can be asked and responded to in the chat.

Q: Should I include a slide deck as part of my presentation?
A: It is not required and should be considered only if it is helpful. For many, it can be helpful to organize the argument being presented. But it is not required.

Q: If I use visuals, are there any recommendations to consider?
A: Yes, here are some considerations

• Avoid too much text on a screen.
• Make your text readable; at least 16 point and closer to 20 if presenting in person.
• Quotes may be an exception but also don’t leave the audience to read the quote if it is essential to the points you are making.
• Make visuals relevant to the slide; it should be clear why visuals are on a slide.
• Be careful with using video or audio. These can eat up minutes of a presentation (especially if there are technical difficulties–there are almost always technical difficulties) without much return for your actual argument. It can be better to use a few sentences of description than video/audio sometimes.
• Avoid making slides too busy with too much going on. Aim for 1-2 central ideas per slide that are highlights of what you’re say, not exactly what you’re saying.
• For a 15-20 minute presentation, consider that you may have too many slides if you have more than 10 content slides (e.g. besides title and final slide).

Q: Can I record my presentation and play that instead of presenting in time?
A: Not at this time. We can see using some video in your presentation; however, we still see this as a synchronous space for community and the exchange of ideas.

Q: Will the sessions of the conference be recorded?
A: At this time, we do not have the infrastructure to support recording, storing, and making such recordings accessible to everyone.