Guidelines for Chairpersons

For all sessions, Chairpersons are asked to (a) maintain the scheduled timekeeping and (b) foster active discussion. At the beginning of your session, please ensure that all the presentations are uploaded, introduce yourself to the group, and remind them of the timings. You will have three coloured cards with 5 minutes (white), 2 minutes (yellow) and STOP (red) written on them so that you can give the presenters a clear indication of the time left. Each room will also have a student host and you can ask him/her to facilitate the session and help with uploading the presentations and staying within the allocated time.

Chairing Oral Presentation Sessions
Generally, the oral sessions have 4 papers in a 90-minute session, allowing for maximum of 15 minutes per presentation followed by a 7-minute discussion guided by the Chairperson for each paper.

● Chairing Interactive Poster Sessions
Your role is very important in making the poster sessions a vibrant opportunity for exchanging research. As Chairperson, please firstly explain how the session will run, as the format may be unfamiliar to some delegates. Most sessions will have 7 to 10 presenters. The session will start with each presenter making an oral presentation (may be with slides) of up to 3 minutes. The rest of the time is devoted to more in-depth discussions around the graphic displays between the presenters and the audience, as a whole group or in small groups.

● Chairing Symposia
Your role is to manage the smooth flow of the symposium. Introduce the presenters and discussant, and check everyone knows the timing. In a symposium with four paper presentations, each presenter has 20 minutes for his/her own paper presentation. This will be followed by 20 minutes by the discussant. The remaining time is allocated to discussion, guided and managed by the Chairperson