Make yourself familiar with the Information for Speakers and contact presenters prior to the session to become acquainted. You can check with the registration desk whether or not your speakers have arrived for the conference. It would also be useful to acquire a few words about each speaker in order to introduce them.

Please acquaint yourself with the room and facilities, checking that all presentations for your session are available before the session starts, that the AV equipment is working, and that each presenter is satisfied that their presentation is ready to go. Ensure that there is water for the presenters.

At the start of the session it is traditional to introduce yourself, the session, its subject matter, and each presenter in turn. Confirm the format of the session so that both speakers and audience know what to expect. Let speakers know that there will be questions after each presentation and that the time available will depend on how long they speak for. Ask for mobile phones to be put to silent mode; ask speakers to turn theirs off completely.

Keep time of each presentation, informing each speaker when they have 5 minutes left / 2 minutes left / time up, possibly using timing or cue cards. Make sure that you have calculated before the session at which time each presentation should end and a new one start.

Please make sure that all of the questioners speak to a microphone (some of the Interest Group sessions are in smaller rooms in which the use of microphone is not necessary). You should identify the roving mike person(s) to ensure that he/she has time to reach those in the audience asking questions.

If the session is being broadcast and recorded, inform the audience of this at the start of the session. Please note that in these sessions there may be questions coming in from remote participants as well. There is a dedicated person in the room who will follow the comments presented in the Adobe Connect meeting room and will raise his/her hand during Q&A if there are questions that deserve to be asked. It might be a good idea to have a chat with him/her before the session.

Invite and manage questions. It might be useful to have questioners introduce themselves and their affiliation. Have at least one question for each speaker yourself if none is forthcoming from the audience. Don’t be shy about cutting off a long question or answer – encourage those involved to follow it up over coffee.

Remember to thank the speakers and the audience. Do not delete the presentations from the desktop of the presentation computer, as these may be needed for the conference repository.

24×7 and Repository Rants chairs

The slides are not set to transition automatically (unless speakers have done that themselves). Your key responsibilities are to keep presenters to time and to ensure efficient transitions. Do not hesitate to stop speakers after 7 minutes, there is not enough spare time in the session to allow run-ons. It is important that the transitions between speakers are quick – get the speakers to sit at the front and be ready to move quickly. If time permits take questions after a block of presentations or at the end.

See also: Information for the Speakers