Session Chair and Moderator Instructions

Responsibilities and Guidelines

Session Chair Responsibilities

  • Training before LPSC
  • Attendance at a morning meeting on the day of the assigned session
  • Session and presenter introductions
  • Advancing slides for remote presenters (in-person session chairs only)
  • Moderation of in-person and Zoom webinar questions and answers (with the assistance of a moderator)
  • Session timekeeping
  • Session closure

Moderator Responsibilities

  • Assisting session chairs with the management of Zoom webinar questions and answers during the oral session

Session chairs and moderators must contact each other before LPSC to discuss the management of tasks. In particular, the management of in-person and Zoom webinar questions should be arranged.

Before the Oral Session (Session Chairs)

  • All session chairs are required to watch a training video and participate in a virtual Q&A session. More information about the video and Q&A session will be communicated via email.
  • All session chairs are required to attend a morning meeting on the day of their assigned session.
    • Day of assigned session (March 13–17), 7:30 a.m.–8:00 a.m. CDT
    • 7:15 a.m. CDT Breakfast
    • 7:30 a.m. CDT Meeting start
    • In-person location: Alden Bridge and Creekside Park rooms (conference venue)
    • Virtual connection information will be emailed before the conference.
  • Contact the co-chair and moderator for your session, introduce yourself, and coordinate session management tasks, including setting session ground rules, introducing presenters, monitoring and moderating in-person and Zoom webinar Q&A, and time management.
  • If a speaker contacts you about a cancellation, email Walter Kiefer ([email protected]) and [email protected] immediately.
  • Do not allow presenters to change the order of presentations as listed in the program. Attendees rely on the posted program schedule.
  • Familiarize yourself with presentation titles and speakers’ names to avoid mispronunciations. Before the conference, session chairs will receive a link from Houston Meeting Info to download pronunciation guides for speakers who have provided them.
  • Remote session chairs should plan to join their sessions at least 20 minutes before the start.
  • In-person chairs should introduce themselves to the audio/visual technicians assigned to the session room. Make arrangements for signaling the A/V technicians to cut off a speaker’s microphone for those occasions when speakers exceed their time limit.

Before the Oral Session (Moderators)

  • All moderators are required to watch a training video and participate in a virtual Q&A session. More information about the video and Q&A session will be communicated via email.
  • All moderators are required to attend a morning meeting on the day of their assigned session. More information about these meetings will be available soon.
    • Day of assigned session (March 13–17), 7:30 a.m.–8:00 a.m. CDT
    • 7:15 a.m. CDT: Breakfast
    • 7:30 a.m. CDT: Meeting start
    • In-person location: Alden Bridge and Creekside Park rooms (conference venue)
    • Virtual connection information will be emailed before the conference.
  • Contact the chairs for your session, introduce yourself, and coordinate Zoom webinar Q&A management tasks.
  • Remote moderators should plan to join their sessions at least 20 minutes before the start.

Oral Session Introduction (Session Chairs)

  • Kick off the oral session with an introduction of both session chairs, the moderator, the ground rules for the oral session, and an overview of the session timeline.
  • Work with the AV technician in the room if computer or AV issues arise. If a remote speaker has difficulty connecting to the webinar, alert the AV technician.

Oral Session Format

Oral sessions will include in-person and remote presentations with panel-style Q&A.

  • All presentations have a hard cutoff time at 10 minutes.
  • In-person presenters will advance their presentation slides using the remote slide advancer (clicker) provided in the oral session room.
  • One of the session chairs in the room will advance slides for remote presenters.
  • Remote presenters will not display their own slides.
  • Remote presenter slides will be displayed from the session room with accompanying audio. The remote presenter’s video will not be displayed.
  • One Windows laptop will be available at the session chair/moderator table to connect to the Zoom webinar and track online Q&A. Session chairs are also allowed to use their own devices with the conference venue Wi-Fi connection.
Oral Session Timeline (full session, 190 minutes)
Session introduction/virtual participants join
(1st presentation begins after 5-minute session introduction)
5 minutes
4 in-person or remote presentations 10 minutes each
Panel Q&A 20 minutes
4 in-person or remote presentations 10 minutes each
Panel Q&A 20 minutes
4 in-person or remote presentations 10 minutes each
Panel Q&A 20 minutes
Session closure 5 minutes
Oral Session Timeline (half session, 95 minutes)
Session introduction/virtual participants join
(1st presentation begins after 5-minute session introduction)
5 minutes
6 in-person or remote presentations 10 minutes each
Panel Q&A 25 minutes
Transition to next session/session closure 5 minutes
Oral Presentation Timeline
Presentation duration 10 minutes
Timing alert/warning At the 8-minute mark
Panel Q&A Reference the oral session timeline

Remote session chairs and moderators: Although you are not responsible for sharing your screen, you are required to test your connection, webcam, and audio in the Zoom webinar platform. Test session information will be available at a later date.