Sample of Guidelines for Symposium and Oral Session Chairs

1. Please be in your assigned room at least 10 minutes before your session starts. The papers will be pre
loaded into the laptops by the assigned student assistant. Check whether all the presenters are there and
if their powerpoint presentations are ready.
2. Before the session begins, you should have an agreed system of keeping time with your paper present
ers. We will be providing you with time cards (e.g., 5 or 2 minutes left.) that you can use. Please make s
ure your presenters understand that you will ensure that time schedules are strictly followed.
3. Remember each speaker will have only 20 minutes to present. This should leave 10 minutes for open
forum after all speakers.
4. Please start the session on time. Call on the audience and announce that the session is about to begin
. Then announce the title of the session, so that those who are in the wrong room can move before the ta
lks begin.
5. In the interest of time, all presenters will be introduced only by their name and institutional affiliation. Pl
ease make sure you have this information before the session begins. You may choose whether to introdu
ce all speakers at the beginning, or individually as each one begins to speak.
6. Please make sure each speaker keeps within the time allotted. In order to do so, you might want to sit
in front of the speaker so you can easily signal the amount of time left. Give each one fair warning when t
here is 5 minutes and 2 minutes are left. Once the 20 minutes is up, you may firmly but politely tell the sp
eaker that his/her time is up (i.e., I am sorry but your time is up, we will need to go on to the next present
ation).
7. After all speakers in your session are done with their presentations, you should open the floor to questi
ons. Please consider the following in managing the open forum:
7.1. Give clear instructions to audience to briefly introduce themselves, identify who their question is addr
essed to, and to keep their questions brief. Please call the attention of anyone who takes to much time a
sking his/her question.
7.2. If you wish to, you might want to rephrase or restate questions that you think might be difficult to und
erstand. But always check if your restatement expresses the actual query of the audience member.
7.3. Please make sure the presenter is also brief in answering the question, to allow for more questions a
nd answers. If you think the question is inappropriate (e.g., the person asking is badgering the presenter
or is hostile or for whatever reason), you may opt not to refer the question to the presenter.
7.4. Try to get as many different people ask their questions. Please avoid having one person hogging the
open forum.
8. Please keep track of the time. End the session promptly at the designated time. At the sessions close
, please thank the presenters and the audience, and inform them of the next session scheduled (please r
efer to the souvenir program). The convention secretariat might also request you to make some additiona
l announcements.