Guidelines for Session Chairs
BEFORE THE CONFERENCE:
- Please familiarize yourself with the program, session and speakers.
- Please prepare some backup questions.
AT THE CONFERENCE: BEFORE THE SESSION STARTS
If your session has a Q&A component, please arrive at your session hall at least 10-15 minutes before the session start time to meet with an IT technician and receive an iPad.
Approximately two minutes before the start of each session, please ask people to take their seats, encouraging them to sit towards the front and center. You should announce each speaker and supervise discussion from the head table using the microphone provided.
One minute before the first scheduled presentation:
- You and your co-chair (if there are two chairs) should introduce yourselves by name and affiliation.
- Announce the title of the session.
- Ask people to set their mobile devices to silent and request that they do not take photos of the presentation slides or record the session.
DURING THE SESSION:
As the session chair, you are responsible for the time management of the presentations within your session hall:
- Please introduce the speaker and presentation title as indicated in the Conference App which will have the most up-to-date program details.
- Please ensure that the speakers display their disclosure slides for 30 seconds
- Please follow the schedule closely.
- It is essential to adhere to the scheduled start and end times of each talk. This is so that people can move from one room to another and find the talks as announced in the program.
- Please announce a two-minute warning so that a speaker can time the end of their presentation and not overrun.
- If the presenter is speaking too quickly and cannot be easily understood, please ask them to slow down.
- Please ensure that the speaker uses the microphone.
- If there is a long or complicated question from the audience and/or if the speaker does not understand the question, please summarize the question for the speaker or ask for clarification.
- Notify the in-hall AV Technician immediately of AV equipment problems.
- Expect the unexpected!
- If a speaker fails to attend the session, move to the next speaker.
If the session gets ahead of schedule, do one or more of the following:
- Solicit questions from the audience and lead a discussion.
- If you finish before the allotted time, you may let the session out early.
SESSIONS WITH Q&A
- Explain to attendees that they first find the session in the interactive program on the App and click on the ‘’Ask the Speaker’’ button. Then they type their question, and click the green arrow to submit
- Explain to attendees in the hall, they also have the option to approach the microphone to ask their questions.