Session Chair Instructions and Conference Duties

—-> Please bookmark this page as it is not available to general public. <—-

Introduction

The following describes the details and specifics for managing sessions at the 2021 conference. These guidelines encompass policies set forth by both conferences as well as editorial policies enforced for publication of the proceedings.

  • All CEC/ICMC 2021 sessions will have two Session Chairs. 
  • Session Chairs are responsible for reviewer recommendations.
  • Oral sessions are held via Zoom, accessed through Whova.
    • Zoom sessions are managed by Zoom Hosts/Technicians (conference management).
    • Authors are asked to upload their recorded presentations prior to the conference. Some authors may present live.
    • Recordings will be played during their assigned presentation time by Zoom technicians. Recordings will not be available prior to the session.
    • Oral Zoom session recordings are converted and uploaded into Whova.
  • Poster sessions are held via SpatialChat.
    • Each poster session will be its own room within SpatialChat. Each room will have up to 6 posters. Some poster sessions are split into two rooms (A and B). Within the rooms, authors are asked upload their poster image files into a designated location. Authors are asked to be available during the assigned poster session time. 

Session Chairs for ORAL SESSIONS have several responsibilities.

Prior to the session start:

  • Please read over all abstracts in your session before the day of the session. Abstracts can be viewed via the Program Detail found at bottom of the Technical Program & Agenda page or will be available via Whova.
  • If a recording was submitted, you will see a camera icon to the left of the presentation ID & title.
  • Scan over the Q&A screens in Whova, make note of questions for the Q&A time after each presentation.
  • Please join the Zoom session 15 minutes prior to the session start.  Session chairs will be made co-hosts.
    • To join the Zoom session, login to Whova, go to the Agenda, find the session you are chairing and click the session title or View Details button. 
  • The Zoom technician provides some quick training about the operation the Zoom session.
  • Check with the Zoom technician how long recordings are (if submitted by authors).  
  • The Zoom technician opens the meeting. Attendees will join and are muted by default upon entry.
  • Click here for more information on how sessions are run. 

Beginning of and during sessions:

  • The Zoom technician starts the recording of the session.
  • Announce the title of the session. If applicable, introduce sponsorship material or housekeeping notes (provided by conference management).
  • Introduce yourselves.
  • Explain the ground rules:
    • Invited orals
      • 30 min (25 min + 5 min for questions)
      • 25 min (20-22 min + 3-5 min for questions) 
      • 20 min (15-17 min + 3-5 min for questions)
      • 15 min (12 min + 3 min for questions)
    • Contributed orals = 15 min (12 min + 3 min for questions)
    • Q&A follows after each presentation unless the presentation time is the length of the allocated time slot.
  • Be polite but firm when enforcing these guidelines. You may need to interrupt the speaker to conclude. Keep control of the session time!
  • Introduce the presenting author of each presentation.
  • Scan over the Q&A screens in Whova during the presentation. 
  • At your discretion, talks may encroach into question time, but then you should defer questions to private discussion.
  • Watch for raised hands within Zoom.
  • The two chairs can alternate this task.
  • Close the session, thank all speakers and attendees.
  • The Zoom host/technician stops the recording.
  • Please submit session feedback here.

POSTER SESSIONS do not require introduction of the authors or of the presentations.

  • Please try and attend one of two SpatialChat welcome and training sessions scheduled on Sunday, July 18, 2021. 
  • Please read over all abstracts in your session before the day of the session. Abstracts can be viewed via the Program Detail found at bottom of the Technical Program & Agenda page or will be available via Whova.
  • Scan over the Q&A screens in Whova.
  • Authors are asked to join SpatialChat 15 minutes early.
  • One of the authors must be present at most, if not all, times with the poster presentation.
  • Visit the poster session often or stay throughout the duration of the session. 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, so you may have to return later. 
  • Please visit each poster presenter and if you find that the author does not have any visitors, please approach the author and discuss the work.
  • Track poster presentations/attendance.  Please submit poster session feedback here.
  • Poster policy #1: If a poster is not placed into SpatialChat or a poster author is not available for some 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 paper (even if enlarged) are not considered to be poster presentations. Please inform Centennial Conferences of such instances.
  • Click here for more information on SpatialChat and chairing a poster session. 

Guidelines for Initiation of the Peer Review Process

Session chairs are also key to the peer review process.

  • Each session chair is asked to identify and confirm reviewers to the papers submitted in their assigned session.
  • A list with titles of submitted papers will be sent to Session Chairs on Monday, August 16, 2021
  • It is perfectly acceptable for a session chair to assign the papers to him- 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 Centennial Conferences by Monday, August 22, 2021.
  • In seeking reviewers, each chair should find 1 reviewer for each paper they do not wish to review themselves. Publication guidelines recommend that chairs not try to divide the referee assignment work in any other way unless there is a conflict of interest.
  • DEADLINE: Please submit your list of reviewers with their email addresses and the papers they are to review to Centennial Conferences by Monday, August 22, 2021.  

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Centennial Conferences by email.