Speaker's Guide

The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics hosts over 1,000 talks per year and our tradition is to record them all. Our purpose to publish the recordings online is to foster scientific communication, education, and outreach. We greatly appreciate speakers for their participation at KITP and for sharing their talks in this effort. 

Although we hope to record and post every talk at KITP, speakers may opt-out of recording if they wish. Speakers may also request edits, or an embargo, on the recording of their talk. To opt-out or to make these requests, please contact us.

A KITP staff member will arrive 15 minutes prior to a talk's scheduled start time to assist speakers with setting up their presentation and checking audio. If you need immediate assistance with setting up between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, or to test out our equipment, please call 805-893-7340.

 


Terms of Use: 

Speakers own their own talks. The position of KITP is that ownership and copyright of all online material – including slides, text, audio, video, and podcasts – belongs to the author. The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics provides open access dissemination of these materials in the KITP Online Talks archive at online.kitp.ucsb.edu and registration through EZID with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), but does not claim ownership. Any person citing these materials for scholarly purposes should provide an appropriate scholarly reference using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) associated with the recorded talk. Any person wishing to make any other use of these materials, or wishing to redistribute them in any form for any purpose, must contact the author for permission. In particular, any commercial use of this material is forbidden without express permission of the author. (Learn more.)


Presenting at Kohn Hall: 

If you will be presenting in-person, you may present by connecting your laptop to a projector to present your slides, or by using the blackboard. Each room is equipped with a projector for presenting natively through HDMI or VGA. We also provide USB-C, Mini DisplayPort, and Lightning adapters for devices with those interfaces. Our projectors will auto format to display the correct resolution and aspect ratios of your slides. However, please be mindful that your slides do not contain material along the edges or far corners of the slides. 

We ask that you please wear the provided wireless microphone throughout your talk and to continue wearing the microphone during the Q&A session or discussion following your presentation. The microphone is essential for the remote audience and for our audio recordings. Please keep your cell phone away from the microphone pack, turn off your cell phone, or set it in airplane mode to prevent audio interference during your talk.

Remote participants will interact via Zoom and will be moderated in the room, with a projected display of remote participants video on a secondary screen, and their audio streamed to the in-room PA or audio receivers. Questions from the in-person audience will also be moderated by a coordinator or designated moderator. 

 

Presenting on Zoom: 

If you will be presenting your talk remotely, please register to receive your unique link to join the meetings in Zoom. Once you have registered, you may join your own talk (and all program sessions) by clicking the Click Here to Join link in your registration confirmation email. You may also join by entering the provided meeting ID and passcode at https://zoom.us/join.

Although we are happy to post your talk publicly and accommodate some guests, the live version of your talk on Zoom is not entirely open to the public. Not only do sessions have space limitations, but we must also be mindful to prevent unaffiliated general public "crashers" with ill intent from joining KITP on Zoom. Please keep the Zoom meeting ID, passcode, and your unique join URL off public platforms, social media, and contact your conference coordinators if you would like to invite guests to your talk.

We recommend downloading Zoom prior to your talk. The Zoom application can be downloaded at: zoom.us/download. Check that you have the latest version of Zoom installed.

KITP staff will be in the Zoom meeting room 15 minutes before the session is scheduled to begin, if you'd like to test your presentation, microphone, or webcam at that time.

The session chair will monitor the participant list for questions during your talk, so you don’t have to. The session chair will chime in, when appropriate, to let you know that there is a question or comment. The session chair will also moderate the discussion following your talk.

Before you begin presenting, make sure that your Zoom controls are set to display your video and play your audio. 

  • Unmute: Mute or unmute your own microphone.
  • Start Video: Start or stop sharing your own video.
  • Share your screen and presentation by selecting the Share Screen button in the meeting controls bar.

Remote participants will interact with questions and for discussions through Zoom. In-person participants will also interact via Zoom and will join the meeting together in a room at Kohn Hall. A moderator will assist with addressing raised hands and managing the Chat in Zoom.

 

Sharing presentation materials: 

Please submit your presentation slides for us to post alongside your talk at your earliest convenience. To help us provide better accessibility, we'd like to encourage you to upload your slides in advance of your talk, so that attendees may access presentation materials outside of viewing Zoom or the projector screen. We accept almost every file format – including PDF, PowerPoint, Keynote, LibreOffice, and Google Slides, as well as video file formats. More information on how to submit your slides can be found in your orientation packet.

 


Rooms:

All three seminar rooms are equipped for recording talks, and all talks set on the weekly schedule are recorded.

  • The Kavli Auditorium (room 1003), located first on the left side of the hall at the main entrance in Kohn Hall, is a large space which can be adapted for lectures, seminars, conferences, and larger events. The Kavli Auditorium contains a lecture-style double blackboard and projection screen(s).
  • The Small Seminar Room (room 1003A), located behind the MSR, is a smaller space well suited for discussion-centric talks and meetings. The SSR contains a blackboard and projection screen.
  • The Simons Amphitheater (room 1403), located to the left of the west entrance to Kohn Hall, is an ideal space for seminars, blackboard talks, and discussions. The Simons Amphitheater contains a blackboard, one main projection screen, and two other projection screens.

To arrange recording for a talk that has not been added to the Talks Schedule, please contact the KITP Help Desk at your earliest convenience. If you would like to give a talk, please check with the coordinators of your program. To inquire about using the Kavli Auditorium, Small Seminar Room, or Simons Amphitheater for informal program talks, please contact the Program Manager.

 

Accessibility:

KITP virtual events have automated closed captioning available. Events at Kohn Hall are held in rooms equipped with a hearing loop system and we can provide assisted listening devices upon request.

Contact the KITP Help Desk with accessibility questions or to make accommodation arrangements.