Instruction for Session Chairs

Session Chairs are responsible for:

  • Introducing each presentation
  • Instruct the audience to evaluate the presentation using the provided QR code
  • Moderating the question period (including eliciting questions)
  • Enforcing time limitations

Before the Session starts

  1. Please be present in the parallel session at least 10-15 minutes before the start of the session.
  2. Verify that your presenters are present and ensure that you can pronounce the name.
  3. Please request all the presenters to upload their presentation in the prepared laptop.
  4. Verify that the equipment to be used for the presentation is operational; each room will have a data projector, one screen, a laptop, a pointer, a wireless mic, and a wireless hand mic for Q&A.
  5. A volunteer has been assigned to each session, and will introduce him-or her-self to you 10-15 minutes before the session begins. This person can be helpful for tracking down AV assistance, the program/conference chairs, etc. if necessary. Also the volunteer will handle the wireless mic for Q&A.

During the Session

  1. At the beginning, introduce yourself, and your affiliation, and explain the time duration rules.
  2. Introduce the speaker, topic, and authors of the paper being presented.
  3. Presenters have been assigned a maximum of 15 minutes; they have been encouraged to present for 10 minutes, allowing the remaining for a Q&A session.
  4. The Q&A session should be held at the end of each talk and not at the end of the session as a larger Q&A for all papers. This will enable questions to be asked in context.
  5. Presenters must not go over the maximum time limit. They should be warned at the 8th minute and 10th They may continue to speak for the entire allotted time, but this practice unfortunately defeats the purpose of presenting at a conference. If necessary, at the maximum time duration, a session chair should go to the mic and thank the presenter or stand and clap in appreciation for the work (which should politely conclude that presentation).
  6. Please bring the session to order on time; even if the room is partially filled, it is unfair to the first author to wait for a larger audience, and cut into that presentation’s time allotment.
  7. Do not change the order (time) of the presentations, as the audience may shift around the parallel sessions to attend the specific session.
  8. If the room fills up such that people stand around the periphery, but there are still seats in the audience, please encourage people to move to the front, pointing out where the vacant seats are located.
  9. Session chairs are responsible for moderating the question period, and should have a question or two to ask each presenter in the event that questions are slow to emerge from the audience.
  10. If you are a presenter in your session, ask co-chair to give you the appropriate time warnings.
  11. If a speaker fails to attend: Do not skip the presentation and commence the next presentation. Attendees schedule their talks and might miss a presentation they planned on attending. We suggest opening the floor up for discussion with prior presenters or having a break. Start the next talk at its scheduled time.
  12. Please give an instruction to the audience to scan the QR code using a smart phone and rate each presentation . The QR code is printed and patched on the wall (inside and outside the room).
  13. Thank the presenters and the audience for their attention and conclude the session.

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