• About
• Home
• Electric Dreams
• Key 2013 Dates
• Sponsors
• Committee
• Contact Details
• Program
• Program
• Handbook &
  Proceedings
• Keynote Speakers
• Keynote Abstracts
• The Great Debate
• Posters
• Workshops
• Social Events
• Registration
• Call for Papers
• Registration Fees
• Register Now
• Instructions
• For Posters
• For Chairs
• Webinar: 12 November
• Location
• Maps
• Venue
• Wifi & Printing
• Accommodation
• Visiting Sydney
• ascilite
• ascilite Website
• AJET

CHAIRPERSON / FACILITATOR DUTIES

Thank you for agreeing to chair sessions at the ascilite 2013 Conference. We are very grateful for your contribution in making this conference a success.  In the guidelines that follow we have put together some points for chairing  sessions.

Before the Presentation

• Identity and introduce yourself to the presenters. Ask if they have a question they would like to be asked.
• Check that their presentation slides are available on the computer and emphasise the importance of a smooth transition between speakers.
• Personal laptops should only be used if the presentation involves specialist software. Most types of presentation software are installed on the supplied computers.
• If you have technical problems, there is a technican available who will be able to help.
• Please do not change the order of the presentations.

Introductions

• You should start by introducing yourself and the block of papers that will be presented in this session.
• Next you should introduce the first speaker(s) to the audience along with the paper title.  It is important that you welcome the speakers and introduce each in turn by announcing their name and affiliation and introducing their topic. Also make it known whether the presentation is a full or concise paper.
• Please make your introduction brief. There is no need to read the abstract which appears in the conference proceedings, however, you should have familiarised yourself with the abstract and the general content of the paper beforehand. This is available online and will help you to facilitate questions. You then hand over the floor to the speaker.

Time Keeping

• This is probably the most important role of a chairperson/facilitator.  You need to keep the presentations and sessions running to time as this is critical to the success of the event. The flow of the conference hinges on time keeping.
• A FULL PAPER IS 20 MINUTES PRESENTATION WITH 5 MINUTES FOR QUESTIONS.
  THIS LEAVES 5 MINUTES FOR A TRANSITION BETWEEN SPEAKERS.
• A CONCISE PAPER IS 12 MINUTES WITH 3 MINUTES FOR QUESTIONS.
  THIS LEAVE 5 MINUTES FOR THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SPEAKERS.
• Please keep an eye on the time on your watch or phone. You have cards to signal “5 minutes’ left,” “1 minute” left and “please stop now.” It is important that you tell the speakers that you will be using this system before the session starts. Remind them that they have been given a certain amount of time and need to abide by this to be fair to all speakers in the session. When the time is up, there will be a bell on the table that you can ring to signal that time is up.

Questions and Thank You

• When the speaker has concluded, thank them and then open the floor for questions.  Ask that the audience address the speaker by introducing themselves first and then ask the question. 
• If the questions appear to be going over time, a nice way of wrapping it up and keeping the event on track is to say something like, “This topic has definitely sparked much interest/debate. However, we need to move on with the next speaker.  So I suggest that the discussion be continued over the next break.”  Normally this does the trick.
• As the chair, be prepared to have the first question up your sleeve as sometimes there are no questions from the floor.  Ask an open question of the speaker: you can preface this by saying, “I’m sure that other delegates would be interested to know what is the single most important implication of your work?”
• All sessions are to start and stop on time.  In the case of concise papers, once the session has started those present are encouraged to stay until the session is complete. This point will be made to all conference delegates during housekeeping.

Need Help

• If you need help or for some reason you cannot chair a session, then please contact Renee at the Registration Desk.
  If cases of emergency, you can contact Renee on her mobile phone, which will be provided to you at the conference.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN