Session Chair Guidelines
Please review the Speaker Guidelines for complete instructions on entering the session via Whova (THIS IS A CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS)
Full Research Papers will have 15 minutes for the actual presentation and 5 minutes for
Questions & Answers (Q&A), for a total of 20 minutes.
Short Research Papers will have 8 minutes for the actual presentation and 4 minutes for
Questions & Answers (Q&A), for a total of 12 minutes.
Keynote Presentations will have up to 30 minutes for the presentation and up to 10 minutes for questions.
Session chairs are asked to strictly enforce these time limits to ensure that all presentations in the sessions have equal time. However, if there are technical problems, please be a bit lenient.
There will be 2 Conference Zoom Co-hosts in the session to manage the technical tasks of unmuting, spotlighting, etc. THIS IS A CHANGE FROM PRIOR COMMUNICATIONS. The role of the session chair is to briefly introduce the speakers, facilitate transitions and
moderate the Session Q&A. The author presentations can be kept very short. The name(s) listed as speakers in the Whova session will do the presentation.
All session chairs and presenters should show up in the Whova Zoom room 10 minutes before their session is scheduled, if there is not another session in progress, to check that they understand how to share presentations in Zoom and to coordinate transitions.
The protocol will be: Session chair ask speaker to turn on video and unmute. Zoom host “spotlights” speaker. Session Chair then asks speaker to “share-screen” and deliver presentation. When finished direct speaker to STOP SHARING screen.
Whova has a special Session Q&A feature which we will ask attendees to use (rather than Zoom Chat) as it will remain permanent and accessible after the conference. As Chair, if you are facilitating directly in Zoom you may wish to open Whova on a mobile app to be able to view the Session Q&A.
If you wish (especially if manageable number of attendees in session), you may also direct participants to “raise hand” in Zoom. You can then unmute (or direct Zoom host to unmute) so participant can verbally ask question.
Each session will also have a Zoom host and a Whova volunteer who will help with any Zoom issues and who will help you as session chair keep an eye on the Session Q&A. The Zoom host can alert you to questions raised, so that you can concentrate on the presenters.
Transitions between presentations should be coordinated to keep the session on time. One
way to ensure timely transitions is to swap presentations/shared screens during the Q&A
period at the end of each presentation, thereby allowing the next presenter to be ready when
the preceding Q&A is over. Zoom hosts will assist if needed. In no case will a presentation
go beyond its allotted time. Any presenters going over time limits will have Q&A periods
curtailed or even eliminated at the end of the affected presentations. You should, however, be
a bit flexible if technical problems occur (but not if the presentation itself is too long).