How to Cite a Presentation in APA Format

If your paper or essay is citing information or material from a presentation, you should first confirm whether you have access to the presentation materials. American Psychological Association, or APA, style uses different citation formats for accessible presentation notes or slides and a poster or paper presentation in conference format.

Retrievable Information

If you have access to official notes or information that accompanies a presentation or lecture, you can cite those notes in your reference list. The format for this type of citation is:

Presentation Author Lastname, First Initial(s). (Presentation Year). Presentation title: Subtitle if applicable [Format]. Retrieved from URL.

For example:

Bennet, C. (2000). Buddhism: After Siddhartha [Lecture notes]. Retrieved from http://www.oocities.org/clintonbennett/Lectures/Buddha2.html.

Presented Material

If you do not have access to an official piece of information that accompanies a presentation, reference it instead as a proceeding at a conference. This format is used:

Presentation Author Lastname, First Initial(s). (Year). Title of presentation: Subtitle if necessary. Presentation type presented at the meeting of Organization, Presentation Location.

For example:

Bonuel, C. (2015). Theories of a person: People two? Paper presented at the meeting of Fourth Wave Academics, Philadelphia, PA.

In-Text Citation

When referencing information in a presentation in the body of your text, use an in-text citation. This is a parenthetical that includes the author's last name and the presentation year. For example:

(Bennet, 2000) (Bonuel, 2015)