Guidelines for Chairpersons
Speakers/authors may be nominated by the appropriate convener(s) or asked by the meeting organizer to act as chairperson of a particular sub-session of a scientific session. In order for the meeting organizer to maintain the quality of the scientific programmes, it is essential that the chairpersons carry out their functions properly. Below please find a brief description of these functions:
Recording
It is prohibited to take photos of and/or to copy electronically any scientific material during all sessions! Chairpersons and their technical assistants should be watchful that these rules are adhered to.
Orals
Assistance
A technical assistant will be present in the lecture room (not present in PSD rooms) and several at the facility desks in the poster areas. These assistants will help the chairperson and speakers, accept and show slides if necessary, help in setting up the speakers' notebooks/MacBooks or posters or installing the presentation files on the lecture room notebook.
Conducting the Session
The chairperson is responsible for conducting the session. S/he is expected to open and close the session on time and to ensure that the speakers of the session are present and that they are able to make their presentations without disruption. All times allocated for presentations include also the time for discussions and change over! A 15 min. oral presentation, e.g., should be 12 min. actual presentation + 3 min. discussion.
Verification of Presenting Authors and Handling of No Shows
Before each presentation the chairperson should verify that the person to speak is listed in the programme as one of the authors. If this is not the case and the person to speak is not sufficiently acquainted with the work in order to answer questions, only the title of the paper should be read. If none of the co-authors is present, both for oral presentations as well as poster presentations (author in attendance or even the set-up of the poster), these no shows have to be recorded. For oral no shows, the lecture rooms assistant compiles a list. For poster no shows, the assistants from the facility desks will check the boards between 12:00–14:00.
Time Schedule
In view of the many parallel sessions, the time schedule of the session should be strictly kept. Any disruption is extremely annoying for those wishing to attend only selected presentations. Therefore, if a gap should occur in the time schedule and no stand-by paper is available to fill in, discussions on the previous talks or short oral introductions of poster papers, if not foreseen in the programme, should be stimulated.
Notebook Presentations
The set up of presentations is organized in the respective lecture rooms rather than through a centralized slide center. Authors who wish to give a presentation using their own notebook must connect these to the VGA Panel at the speaker's desk in the order of presentation and test their programmes before their actual session starts. Please avoid set ups or pull downs of notebooks during the session. Authors who wish to give a presentation by using just their own data medium (USB Flash Drive, DVD, CD) should use the lecture room notebook. The chairperson should verify that such a presentation can be given.
Programme Changes
Any programme changes received after the programme book has been compiled ready for print will be included in the "Daily Programme": this revised session programme is shown outside of the corresponding lecture room well before the session starts. The Chairperson will receive her/his copy from the assistant, and s/he is kindly asked to return it after the session. Any last minute modifications should be noted in these programmes by the chairperson.
PICOs
Presenting Interactive COntent (PICO) is a new concept to combine the advantages of short oral presentations with watching the presentations afterwards again on touch screens, to hold discussions with the author and colleagues, and to network. PICO sessions take place in the form of a PICO Spot, a combination of an audience together with a number of touch screen displays. The PICO session starts with two minute presentations of all authors. An additional third minute is reserved for the change from one author to the next one. Chairpersons are asked to ensure that the rather tight schedule is kept. An assistant will be available at the PICO Spot. After all authors presented the essence of their work in two minutes the Chairperson invites the audience to move to the touch screens. The attendees can watch all presentations of a PICO session on all screens. Chairpersons should encourage the attendees to share screens to view the presentations of interest (ratio screen to presentations is 1:3). The touch screens offer a button to call the respective author to that numbered screen. These calls are shown on an information screen inside the PICO Spot and the calls are announced by the assistant. In case an author is called to more than one screen at the same time the Chairperson together with the assistant should organize a meeting of the interested attendees at one screen by announcing one screen as the current screen for that presentation.
Poster Summaries and Discussion (PSD)
In addition to time reserved within an oral session to present Poster Summaries, we have set aside specific lecture rooms to host so-called Poster Summaries and Discussion (PSD) sessions which are dedicated to the oral summary of poster papers. Please check the corresponding programme if your session has scheduled such an event! The chairperson is responsible for conducting the session. S/he is expected to open and close the session on time and to ensure that the poster presenters of the respective PSD session are present and that they are able to make their presentations (1-2 slides) without disruption.
Posters
Chairpersons of poster sessions should gather and guide the audience from poster to poster in the order of their appearance, and they should invite the authors to present their posters for some minutes and stimulate discussions afterwards.