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 both during oral and at poster sessions! Chairpersons and their technical assistants should be watchful that these rules are adhered to.
Assistance
A technical assistant will be present in the lecture room 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/MacBook 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/MacBook, must both connect these to the VGA Panel with the positions A – C near 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. The chairperson must verify that the switch connecting the Notebook Stations with the beamer is switched to the correct number before the corresponding contribution is presented.
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 (Position D). 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.
Poster Sessions
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.