Presenter Information

Culturally Appropriate Openings

Some presenters have asked about culturally appropriate openings to their presentations. It’s important to say that you shouldn’t feel obliged to do anything. The opening of the conference has been designed in partnership with Māori representatives to ensure that appropriate protocols are followed and delegates are properly welcomed following the ao Māori principles. The best thing you can do is make sure you turn up to the welcome on the Wednesday night, followed by Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins’ keynote on “Indigenising the University”.

For those of you who don’t have knowledge of te reo Māori (Māori language) but do want to try to appropriately open your presentation, you could simply start with ‘Kia ora koutou katoa’ or ‘Tēna koutou katoa’ before continuing in English. These phrases are simple greetings to groups of more than 2 people, with the second one slightly more formal than the first.

If you are more ambitious, you could try adding Ko [your name] toku ingoa’ (my name is [your name]) and maybe after that, Ko [job title] ahau’ (I am [job title]).

If you really want to be adventurous you could extend to including your full pepeha (introduction including your ancestral home, connections with land, river, mountain etc). Our advice would be (again to those with no experience) that it might be better to do this only if you have time to properly learn about the role of pepeha, which is culturally very important, and spend some time refining and practicing it before trying it out in public.

Lastly, pronunciation is very important in te reo. If you use the Māori Dictionary to learn the meaning of words (including those above) click on the speaker icon to hear the pronunciation. Spend some time getting the vowel sounds right for simple phrases rather than learning longer ones. Even a heartfelt and correctly pronounced ‘Kia ora!’ will go a long way.

Talks

Oral presentation (25 minutes total, comprising: 15 minute talk + 10 minute Q&A)

Sparks session (25 minutes total, comprising discussion, interaction, demonstration)

Presentation format is widescreen (16:9 Landscape). (It is the responsibility of the presenter to ensure that the slides are all in order and built into the PowerPoint presentation)

Bring your presentation on a USB drive for easy transfer. An onsite technician/unicrew will be available to assist.

Each concurrent session room will have a designated laptop. Please load your presentation in the allocated conference room during the break before your concurrent session block begins.

Presenters wishing to present off their own laptops are required to bring all relevant adaptors and cables.

All concurrent session rooms will be set up in theatre style with chairs only.
Every room includes a lectern fitted with a microphone.
Microphones:
- Princes A, Princes B, Regatta A, Gallery 3: Equipped with one handheld or lapel microphone. If there are multiple presenters, they will share this microphone.
- Gallery 2 and Regatta BC: These smaller rooms do not have microphones due to their compact size.

All presenters will have access to a clicker to control their slides.

Wireless internet is available throughout the conference venue.
Presenters can use the in-room laptops to incorporate online elements into their sessions, such as live polling, streaming videos (e.g. YouTube), or accessing web-based content. (If videos are to be played via You tube within the presentation, these videos will need to be downloaded and embedded into the presentation, to alleviate any disruptions with Ads and buffering).

Posters

The poster session will be held on 31^st October 2025 during lunch time. Poster authors are required to stand next to their poster during this session.

Please click here to download the full list of accepted poster presentations.

Poster Boards are available for set up from 30^th October 8am at Princes Ballroom Pre-function Area of at Pullman Hotel. Assigned paper numbers will be displayed on these boards.

Authors should use the allocated poster board spot within the poster area. Once you’ve found your spot, please use the provided Velcro stickers to display your poster on the board. The velcro stickers can be collected from the registration desk.

If you have any questions, the staff at the registration desk will be happy to assist.

All posters are required to be set up in place before lunch time on 30 October 2025 and removed before the last session of the conference on 31 October 2025.

Portrait format:

A0 size – 841 width x 1189 length mm. (33.1 x 46.8 inches)

Authors are required to print and transport posters at their own cost and arrangement in advance of the conference.

Local printers may be able to assist:

Copy & Print

Phone: 09 573 0098

Fax: 09 277 9010

Email: info@copies.co.nz

Blue Star

General queries

Phone: 09 477 4567

Website: www.bluestargroup.co.nz