Guidelines for Oral Session Chairs
Thank you for serving as chair of a BotryScleroMoni 2025 session. The quality and tenor of the session will be impacted by your work!
Below you find a set of guidelines for how to run your session. Please have in mind that it is essential to respect the time schedule in order to keep the overall conference on schedule and allow for a constructive discussion between the audience and the presenters.
Before the session starts
Go to the conference room 10-15 minutes before the session starts. There are technicians in the conference room. They will help with microphones and switching between presentations. In each session a dedicated member of the local organizing committee will be present to help the session chairs better communicate potential problems with the technicians or the organizers of the conference.
Each session has an assigned co-chair; it is suggested to the chair to communicate with the co-chair prior to the session for the co-chair’s duties.
Presentations
- Presentations are installed on the computers in the presentation room in advance of the session.
- Presenters should not use their own PCs.
- Some presenters may have been replaced after the last version of the program was published. If this is the case, make sure you have the name and the affiliation of the new presenter.
- Technicians will switch presentation files when a new presenter enters the stage.
- Presentations are installed on the computers in the presentation room in advance of the session.
- Presenters should not use their own PCs.
- Some presenters may have been replaced after the last version of the program was published. If this is the case, make sure you have the name and the affiliation of the new presenter.
- Technicians will switch presentation files when a new presenter enters the stage.
Introducing the session
Introduce yourself as Session Chair and give your affiliation. As each session has been assigned a co-chair to assist the works of the Chair, it is suggested that the Chair introduces the co-chair for time minimization reasons.
Introducing the presenters
Introduce the presenters by name, affiliation, and title of the paper. Further introduction is left to the presenter to keep most of the allocate time for the actual presentation and the Q/A.
Time limitations
- Keynote and Invited oral presentations should be 23-25 minutes with 5-7 additional minutes for questions and for the changeover to next presenter.
- Regular oral presentations should be 12 minutes with 3 additional minutes for questions and for the changeover to next presenter.
- Inform the presenters before the session about:
- The time limitation.
- The method you will use to notify them when they are approaching the time limit.
- How you will interrupt them if they have reached the end of their allowed time.
- Keynote and Invited oral presentations should be 23-25 minutes with 5-7 additional minutes for questions and for the changeover to next presenter.
- Regular oral presentations should be 12 minutes with 3 additional minutes for questions and for the changeover to next presenter.
- Inform the presenters before the session about:
- The time limitation.
- The method you will use to notify them when they are approaching the time limit.
- How you will interrupt them if they have reached the end of their allowed time.
Please make sure that the program time schedule is strictly enforced.
Questions and answers
- There should be 3 minutes for questions and answers for regular oral presentations and 5-7 minutes for the Keynote/invited presentations (more if presentation is finished early).
- Prepare at least one general question ready for each presenter, in case the audience doesn’t have any.
- If all time has expired, it is acceptable to ask the audience to discuss issues with the presenter after the end of the session (in the break).
Finishing a session
- Inform the audience that the session has finished and thank them for attending.
- If you have the last session before lunch or coffee break, please make the audience aware of when the next session starts.
- Should there be issues that the Scientific or Organizing Committee should know about, please inform the organizers. This could potentially be:
- Issues with some of the papers presented.
- Practical issues related to the room you chaired in.
Technical Support
Should you require any support or further information and assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us: botryscleromoni@gmail.com
