Presenter FAQs
Q: Where and when will the conference take place?
A: The 2025 CSDC Conference will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center from Monday, October 6 to Wednesday, October 8. Please review the Hotels & Travel page as well as the attendee schedule or the exhibitor schedule before making your travel plans to the event.
Q: What are the different presentation formats at the 2025 CSDC Conference?
The different presentation formats are discussed on the Why Present? page.
Q: What are the critical deadlines for presenters?
A: The Why Present? page has a helpful timeline of the critical deadlines for presenters.
Q: Will recordings of sessions be made available? Will any sessions be recorded?
A: There are no current plans to produce session recordings nor to make these recordings available to participants. However, CSDC staff (and/or CSDC’s contractors) may take photographs, videos, and/or audio recordings of select sessions. Please view the conference policies for more on the collection and usage of this media and share your plans with registration@csdcconference.org.
Q: Are presenters required to be in-person for this year's conference?
A: Yes, all presenters are required to be in-person. CSDC is not offering any virtual presentation options this year.
Q: If my proposal is accepted, what's the next step?
A: You will receive an email notification if your proposal is accepted by the date posted in the timeline on the Why Present? page. Shortly after receiving the notification, you must confirm your session within the presenter portal. Please note that failing to confirm your session will result in its cancellation.
Please note: If you have several presenters, each presenter needs to confirm their participation and upload their headshot and bio by the appointed deadline through their unique presenter portal.
Please upload a high quality, 300px wide by 400px tall photo. (Note: if the dimensions are bigger than this the photo will be automatically cropped.) Resolution: 150 dpi (high quality) Accepted formats: JPG (jpg & jpeg), GIF (gif), PNG (png) Size limit: 10 MB.
Please make a special effort to check the spelling in the title and description of your proposal. In addition, all acronyms must be spelled out on first reference — for example "The California Department of Education (CDE)" can then be listed as just "CDE" in all following references.
Q: Is there required pre-conference training?
A: Yes, all presenters are required to attend one of two pre-conference presenter trainings scheduled this fall. (Please see the Why Present? page for training dates/times.)
These trainings will include:
- An overview of who is registered for the 2025 CSDC Conference and likely to attend your session
- CSDC’s suggestions for participant engagement
- What to anticipate from this year’s schedule and other event logistics
- The training also allows the CSDC event team to answer your questions ahead of time. Additional questions can be emailed to presenters@csdcconference.org.
- A recording of the training is available on the presenter portal.
Q: What costs are covered by CSDC for presenters?
A: Approved presenters are offered a discounted presenter registration rate when their presentation is accepted. Presenter registration rates include all of the perks included in a full CSDC attendee registration.
Q: What is the discounted presenter registration rate?
A: All presenters must be registered for the conference but are offered a discounted rate of $579 for full registration–see what’s included. Approved presenters can register at the discounted presenter rate. If you have already registered at a regular attendee rate, please contact our team so we can refund the appropriate amount. For any registration questions, please reach out to registration@csdcconference.org.
Note: To access conference sessions and events onsite, participants must wear a conference badge and lanyard clearly visible to security, event staff, and/or volunteers. You must register ahead of time and check-in onsite to receive a badge.
Q: Do I have to register to attend the conference if I’ll be attending only for my session?
A: If you are not planning to attend the entire conference, you must still register as a presenter at no charge by selecting the “Presenter - Session Admission Only” option on the Registration Items page. “Presenters - Session Admission Only” cannot participate in programming or the exhibit hall.
Note: To access conference sessions and events onsite, participants must wear a conference badge and lanyard clearly visible to security, event staff, and/or volunteers. You must register ahead of time and check-in onsite to receive a badge.
Exhibitors: If you have not registered and you are presenting, please contact support@csdcconference.org.
Please note: You are responsible for providing your own laptop, adapters, and handout materials (if any). Please email presenters@csdcconference.org if you have any questions. There will be AV support staff on-site to assist you as needed.
Q: How will my presentation room be set up?
- Breakout rooms are set as theater or classroom.
- Workshop rooms are set as banquet rounds.
- Learning Labs are set as banquet rounds.
- Each room has a:
- Projector with HDMI input *
- Screen
- One podium mic
- One lapel mic
- Speakers (connect via 3.5mm output**)
- Power
- Wifi access for attendees and a separate network for presenters
- Presenter table with two chairs
- Podium
* If your laptop does not have an HDMI output, you may need to purchase and bring your own video adapter.
** If your laptop does not have a 3.5mm output, you may need to purchase and bring your own audio adapter.
Please note: You are responsible for providing your own laptop, adapters, and handout materials (if any).
Q: I need a local area printer to print materials for me to bring to the conference. Do you have any you recommend?
A: Yes, we recommend a few different options that service the Palm Springs area:
- Westamerica Communications | Lake Forest, CA | Jim Nazario (jnazario@mywestamerica.com) | 949-462-3600
- DPI Direct | Poway, CA | Sam Mousavi (sam@dpidirect.com) | 858-874-7750
We recommend reaching out ahead of time to make sure that the print shop can assist you ahead of the conference.
Q: Is there a slide deck template I can use?
A: To aid in providing clear, consistent communication to all conference attendees, CSDC creates a short deck of announcement slides that we ask presenters to include in their presentation slide deck. The slides provide important logistical information about the conference such as the access to continuing education units, wifi password, and event details. Announcement slides will be made available via the presenter portal closer to the event. A template is not provided for the 2025 CSDC Conference – please feel welcome to use your own.
Q: How can attendees evaluate my session?
A: Attendees can evaluate your session through the program search or through the QR Code eval request slide provided for your session. All submitted attendee feedback will be immediately accessible to presenters through the presenter portal as soon as it is submitted from the session’s end point onwards. You can log-in at any time to review those after your session has taken place.
CSDC has created an announcement slide customized for each session with a QR code that will take attendees directly to your session’s custom evaluation form. The slides folder is linked on the presenter portal.
Q: Will there be a chance to give presenter feedback?
A: Yes, a portion of the attendee and the exhibitor evals is geared towards presenter input. Please look for one of those evaluations after the conference to share your presenter experience.
