Hybrid Abstract Presenters

Mostly No. Posters are displayed electronically at the conference venue and via the platform online.

For Spring 2025 as a test case
If you would like to also print and bring a physical poster (Up to A0 portrait) please reply as early as possible to abstracts@bgs.org.uk. You will still need to upload a digital copy. 

Hybrid meetings see around half of attendees online. They can't engage with poster presenters standing next to their work. 

The in-person audience are also keen to socialise and make up for lost time so having an accompanying video to your poster allows you to summarise your work, as you might have done at the meeting, one on one, pre-pandemic. It also means you don't have to keep repeating yourself.
You can also browse other examples of submitted videos in the poster platform for inspiration in style and content. They are not mandatory, so you can upload your poster without one, but they are strongly encouraged.

Preparing an ePoster

Electronic posters at a BGS hybrid or virtual can be any orientation. If you are bringing a physical poster for Spring 2025 portrait orientation is required. Please prepare your poster as a high quality PDF (300dpi).

When designing the poster page, size (i.e. A4, A3, A0, etc) is less important but please scale them to A4 where possible. They will be viewed on attendees' computers so will display on a variety of different devices, but PDF viewers can allow people to navigate and zoom in as needed.

For Spring 2025 - If bringing a physical printed poster to put up to A0 is accommodated in Portrait orientation.

Some articles here on how to create a better poster design and communicate information: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/06/24/theres-movement-better-scientific-posters-are-they-really-better

Video: How to create a better research poster in less time 

Templates can be found here: https://osf.io/ef53g/

Congratulations on having your abstract accepted. We’d prefer your file to be in .mp4 format and loaded into a video hosting site - either Vimeo or YouTube. See https://www.bgs.org.uk/videoguide for advice

To create a Vimeo account

Vimeo accounts are free to create and information on uploading your file can be found here

To pre-record your talk there are several different options available.

Recording a narrated presentation via PowerPoint

In PowerPoint you can record yourself with audio, and camera, with the timings of your slides. See here for help.

In Teams or Zoom, or any other video calling platform, it is usually possible to record yourself by starting a meeting, without inviting anyone to join and recording your shared screen content. This will only permit audio narration alongside your slides. Below is a guide on how to do this in Teams.

If you have any questions please reach conferences@bgs.org.uk

Recording a narrated presentation via Microsoft Teams video call

This guide will explain how to record a narrated presentation via Microsoft Teams, from the video call function. The video call function can be used to screen share and record your desktop and any content displayed on your desktop, such as PowerPoint slides.

Overview

• Start a video call meeting in Teams

• Start a recording of your presentation / present your content

• Access and download a recording

• Share your recording with BGS - Upload your recording directly to BGS

• Start a video call meeting in Teams

1. Open Microsoft Teams from a browser or the app. Please see further guidance on the following help page;

From a browser, only Google Chrome or the latest version of Microsoft Edge will allow screen sharing. Mac users may be prompted to change privacy settings to screen share, and window sharing isn’t available for Linux users.

2. Click on the meet now option from your Teams calendar to start a video call (please click on the following link for further guidance;

3. You will now see an option to join now. Before you join, select devices to check that your preferred device settings are selected for audio and video input. Also check the audio icon indicates audio is on (a line through the icon means it is off).You can choose to turn off your video by double clicking on the video icon. This will mean your webcam will not show your image. If you leave your video on, your image will appear in the bottom right-hand corner during your recording. If you turn it off, it will show your initials or your saved profile picture.

4. Click on join now when you are ready to start.

Start a recording of your presentation

It is strongly advised to complete the following steps with a test recording of a few minutes duration to check you are happy with the recorded view of your content and the sound quality.

If you make a significant mistake, start the narration of a particular segment / slide from the beginning again, whilst keeping the recording going. Make a note of when it happened. It is possible to trim the start and end of a recording and also cut out an unwanted segment / slide narration. It is not possible to easily cut out many minor mistakes in a flow of uninterrupted speech. If you make many mistakes, the easiest thing to do is to start a new recording.

1. Navigate to your desktop and open your PowerPoint slides or other content you wish to narrate over (for example an image, a Word document, a website in your browser).

2. Navigate back to the Teams video call you have started.

3. Select more options/ start recording from the call menu bar. As explained above, if you are a guest, you will need to have arranged a call with a non-guest to record on your behalf.

4. In the call menu bar now choose to screen share your desktop (please click on the following link for further guidance;

Choose from the listed options to share:

• your desktop (useful if you want to share views of multiple items you are accessing – browser windows, your desktop, and files etc,.)

• a browser window only (useful for sharing a view on one item you are accessing – a browser window, a file you have open etc,.)

• a PowerPoint file only

It is preferable to share a view of a PowerPoint file that is open on your desktop. If you share and display a PowerPoint file in Teams, the image may be slightly compressed or framed by additional content in Teams.

Present your content

1. If you are presenting only slides, navigate to your PowerPoint slides on your desktop and open slide show view.

2. You can now present your slides and narrate over the content. Your voice and the slide show view of your slides will be recorded, as well as either your image in the right-hand corner or your initials / profile picture.

3. To stop sharing, navigate back to the meeting tool bar in Teams and select stop sharing.

4. To stop recording, navigate back to the meeting tool bar and select stop recording.

As soon as you select record, you will be recording everything you are sharing. Please ensure you have checked there is nothing you have open / displayed that you do not want in a recording.

Access and download a recording

You will receive an email notification to your associated Office 365 Outlook email account with a link to your recording when ready. You will then be able to view your recording online in Microsoft Stream (an application available as part of your Office 365 suite, please see further guidance at the following help page; Microsoft Stream). You will also see a copy in the associated chat for the meeting in Teams.

Guests who have had content recorded on their behalf can see the recording in the meeting chat too, but will need the person who recorded to download / share the content from Stream on their behalf.

Click on the link in the email to open the recording in Stream. Select download your content from more actions in the menu bar beneath the recording.

Share your recording with the BGS

You can notify the BGS that you have completed this by adding the URL to your poster on the platform site.
If you are presenting a President's Round or platform presentation you will be emailed to share your slides with us in advance of the meeting, and to attend live to present your work.

Email conferences@bgs.org.uk for any help.

(Adapted from https://howto.hyms.ac.uk/knowledge-base/recording-a-narrated-presentation-via-microsoft-teams)

No we won't issue a certificate for presenting posters. We will not issue certificates of presentation on top of the CPD attendance certificate.
There will be a stable link on the BGS site to cite your abstract/poster in the future. Posters remain accessible in the BGS site, viewable by all users and, for those with a website account, open to comments. This can be used in your portfolio or appraisal as evidence.

Those presented at the three day Spring and Autumn meetings will be published in a supplement to Age and Ageing post meeting.

We do send a formal notification by email of presentation if the submitting author attended the meeting, and a poster was shared in our website.

We have discussed this with our Trainees Council committee and Education and Training Committee and have confirmed that this evidence is sufficient. If there are confirmed instances of this evidence not being accepted, please share with us so that we can demonstrate this and act upon it as required.

Our website makes it easy to upload your poster yourself, along with a an accompanying talk and reconfirming your abstract details (Title, content, authors etc)

If you have not registered for the conference, or your co-authors haven’t, the first step is to register via the BGS Site. 

When registered and logged into the BGS website, you can visit the poster section.

Questions and comments will appear in below your posters. Please ensure you are logged into the platform in advance of the meeting so you can answer questions or comments about your poster, research, and findings.

Please use this platform to engage with the in person and online attendees at the meeting, as well as the wider BGS community who can see your research. 

Yes. At least one author of the poster or platform needs to register for the meeting. Traditionally posters are viewed on Thursday but in the hybrid and virtual world, they can be accessed from much earlier and we encourage early registration.

Your abstract has been through a rigorous adjudication process as we received it and we will not make any alterations to it for updated results, additional content or similar errors. For fundamental changes please reach abstracts@bgs.org.uk 

You are free to upload updates to your poster, or your video recording as you wish

Those abstracts presented at the BGS Spring and Autumn Meetings (the 3 day national conferences) will be published in an online supplement to our journal, Age and Ageing.
This process can take 6 to 8 weeks, but in some cases several months after the meeting. Notifications will be sent when this is published. 
The supplement can be cited in your appraisal or portfolio.
For other BGS conferences, abstracts are not published in our journal. The BGS website will host posters which will remain accessible and the URL stable for your to cite.

We encourage submissions from those at the start of their career. This includes medical, nurse and AHP students as well as Foundation Year, IMT and Clinical Fellows.

Spring and Autumn National Conferences (3-Day conferences)
There are several cash prizes at the BGS Spring and Autumn national conferences awarded to the best platform and best posters. There are also prizes for work submitted by Nurses and AHPs ( the Eva Huggins Prize of £200.00) GPs in training (£200.00) and Doctoral Researchers ( The Richard Dodds Memorial prize, a framed certificate and the chance to present your work at a subsequent Autumn or Spring  BGS conference in the Research session.)

Special Interest Group conferences
At BGS Special Interest Group conferences there are prizes for the best platform presentation and best poster. The prize is a complimentary registration for a national BGS Spring or Autumn conference (equivalent to £180 - £270). This should be taken up within one year. You will be invited to present your work here in the poster presented elsewhere section:rizes

Devolved Nation Meetings and England Region Local Meetings
At BGS Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England Region meetings there are prizes for the best platform presentation and best poster. The prize is a complimentary registration for a national BGS Spring or Autumn conference (equivalent to £180 - £270). This should be taken up within one year. You will be invited to present your work here in the poster presented elsewhere section.

_{*Those at consultant level or equivalent are not eligible for prizes}