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I am preparing slides for a conference.

And I struggled (a bit) for what to put on the title page.

I know the paper title is a must, maybe the conference name, place, date.

How about authors and affiliation?

Should I put all the authors name on the title page?

Or only the presenter?

How about if they are from different institute?

Should I put all the institute names on the first page?

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    Google slides for the previous editions of the conference, imitate what you like.
    – user102
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:15
  • I get very grumpy comments if I forget to include the logos of the institutions that are funding the research (if they find out, that is).
    – Peter Bloem
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 17:16

3 Answers 3

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I usually include:

  • Title of talk

  • Name of presenter (me)

  • Names of coauthors

  • Date

  • Name of conference

  • Title of conference session (if applicable)

  • City of conference

  • My institution's name

  • Maybe my institution's logo

I don't include the coauthors' affiliations.

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  • Why would you need the Conference Date/Name/City/Session Name? Surely everyone at the conference is already aware of all these things? Do your conference slides go online afterwards?
    – Frames Catherine White
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 6:13
  • @LyndonWhite: You're right that it's redundant, but it seems to be traditional. Slides don't usually go online by default, but sometimes people do post them or share them privately, in which case this is useful information to have attached. Practically, it helps you check that you have loaded the correct slides, and I think maybe it also lets the audience feel subconsciously that this is a very special talk created just for them (although in fact it fact it probably isn't).
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 13:25
  • good points, I'ld not thought of them. Prehaps they should be added to the answer. Or maybe I should ask another question that you can answer with that?
    – Frames Catherine White
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 13:42
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Should I put all the authors name on the title page?

Yes, of course, unless there are tens of authors (common in particle physics: I dunno how they handle it... maybe with a group photograph). You can then highlight the speaker's name.

Should I put all the institute names on the first page?

Frequently, one puts institutes' logos instead.

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    In particle physics, they handle it by listing the author as "[presenter-name] on behalf of the [group-name] collaboration" or at least by including the collaboration's logo very prominently. A photograph might be included, but when this is done it usually appears at the very end of the talk.
    – David Z
    Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 1:54
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To answer from a slightly different perspective: As somebody watching the presentation, I would like to see the following:

  • A title (if possible, one that reflects what you're actually going to talk about, rather than what you thought you would be talking about a year ago when you submitted the abstract ;-))
  • The authors' names and affiliations. Make it clear who is speaking, in case I don't know you personally.
  • An email address for queries (put it at the end as well, but if it's at both ends there's a stronger chance that it'll remain up for long enough to note it down)

Try to resist the urge to turn it into a dense mass of extraneous information and logos. Do not include the following unless you have to:

  • The name or city of the conference
  • The date
  • Funders' logos

If I am at a conference I know where I am. Unless it's been a very long and tiring conference I probably know the date as well. These things may be useful metadata for archival purposes, but it isn't needed by the audience - so put them in small grey text somewhere on the slide, invisible (or at least not attention-grabbing) from a distance.

Similarly, if I'm watching your presentation I probably care about the research, and maybe who did it - not who funded it. Don't include funders logos on the title page unless required to do so; instead, put them on an acknowledgements slide at the end, with anybody else that you owe acknowledgements to.

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    Please include the place and date. The audience does not care about them, but people who find your slides later by Google will appreciate if they can easily find out who presented it, where, and when.
    – Jukka Suomela
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 15:58
  • @JukkaSuomela hence what I said - include it, but small and not standing out. It's there as metadata for later, but doesn't distract at the event.
    – Flyto
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:00
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    Why is the title optional?
    – Dave Clarke
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:03
  • @DaveClarke Is it useful information, to somebody who is sitting in the hall watching the presentation? Hmm, I guess it might determine whether that's the right time to get coffee. And it is more essential from an archival perspective. I'll remove the "optional" label from that.
    – Flyto
    Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:08

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