The following describes the details and specifics for managing sessions at the 2013 CEC/ICMC. These guidelines encompass policies set forth by both conferences as well as editorial policies enforced for publication of the proceedings.
Guidelines for All Sessions
All sessions require a report from the session chairperson using the form available from the publication office. Session Chair Reports are due immediately following the chaired session and no later than Friday, June 21, 12:00 noon in the Publications Office. This report will make note of any presentations that were not shown, since lack of presentation will disqualify a manuscript from consideration in the proceedings. The report may also provide details about the presentations shown, who the presenters were, and information about the audience, and so on.
If you fail to drop off the session chair report by noon on Friday, June 21, please email (scanned copy) or fax your report to [001] 303-499-2599.
Plan to arrive in the room 10 minutes before the session starts. Speakers should also be arriving at this time.
Oral Session Guidelines
Prior to the session start:
- Take a roll-call of all speakers. Learn pronunciation of the names of presenters.
- Familiarize yourself with lighting controls, your AV assistant, and the general layout of the room (viewing angles, doors, noise, etc).
- Talks should be pre-loaded by conference staff. Verify that talks are there.
- PowerPoint tip: F5 will start the presentation, ESC exits.
- Acrobat tip: Ctrl – L will enter full-screen mode, ESC exits.
Moderating the Session:
- Announce the title of the session.
- Introduce yourself as the chairperson (each session has 2 chairs).
- Explain the ground rules:
- Invited oral = 25 min (warn at 23) + 5 min for questions.
- Contributed oral = 12 min (warn at 10) + 3 min for questions.
- Be polite but firm when enforcing these ground rules: Stand, ask the speaker to conclude. Keep control of the session time!
- At your discretion, talks may encroach into question time, but then you should defer questions to private discussion.
- Introduce each speaker and each presentation.
- You may alternate duties with your co-chair.
- Facilitate the use of equipment, e.g. the placement of microphones so the voice is heard clearly regardless of the direction that the speaker’s head is facing (anticipate that some speakers will turn their head from screen to audience and back), the use of the laser pointer, how to display slides in full-screen modes, how to advance slides, etc.
- Monitor noise, audience, etc. Adjust the environment as appropriate and within reason.
- Arbitrate discussions as appropriate.
- Stick to the program schedule!
Concluding the Session
- Announce the conclusion of the session.
- Complete and return the Sessions Chair report.
- Account for all equipment — Do not let anyone walk away with the laser pointer!
Poster Session Guidelines
- Walk the session multiple times. Note that in some cases, an author may need to attend to more than one poster, and thus might not be present during your first survey.
- Complete and return the Session Chair Report. Record posters that have been mounted and are attended by a presenter, posters mounted but have no attendant, and posters that are missing entirely (No-Show column). Please take note of the policies that follow when completing this form. Estimate audience size.
- Poster policy #1: If a poster is placed on the poster board but an author is not available for the entirety of the session, this is not considered as having been presented. Please make a note on the session Chair Report in the No-Show column.
- Poster policy #2: Posters that simply consist of a posted copy of the manuscript (even if enlarged) are not considered to be poster presentations. Please mark the poster as a No-Show.in the Session Chair Report.
Guidelines for Initiation of the Peer Review Process
Session chairs are also key to the peer review process.
- Each session chair will be assigned as default referee of the papers in the session. Session chairs have the option of accepting this default role, OR they may identify, contact, and confirm another referee for the paper according to the guidelines below.
- It is perfectly acceptable for a session chair to assign the papers to himself or herself provided there is no conflict of interest (as for co-authors and referees with the same affiliation). There are many session chairs that prefer to review all the papers in their sessions. If you choose to accept your role as default reviewer, please notify the publication office by the deadline below.
- In seeking other referees, each chair should find 1 reviewer for each paper they do not wish to referee themselves. Publication guidelines recommend that chairs not try to divide the referee assignment work in any other way. Please use the reviewer template to submit your referee information to the publication office by the deadline below.
- DEADLINE: Indication that you accept your role as default referee, or submission of a list of referees with their email addresses and the papers they are to review, must be turned into the publication room or be emailed, by 5 PM, Anchorage, Alaska time on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Sessions chairs that do not provide a response will become the reviewers for these papers by default.
- Reviewer Instructions will be made available on or shortly before May 10, 2013.
- If circumstances arise and you cannot fulfill your responsibilities, you have the obligation to notify the conference organizers.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Rose Wickwire by email or phone at [001] 303-499-2299.
