Session Team
What do we do?
Get in touch with Tim Couper (TBD: secret telephone number, unknown nick on IRC, no photos available, who is the session chair manager.
The primary duty of the session chair is to make sure that the speakers start, and more importantly, stop on time. It is not fair to other speakers or to delegates if the conference has fallen behind the timetable.
If you'd like to help, but don't want to over-commit, feel free to volunteer to chair a limited number of talks. Every little helps!
So the way that this works is that the session chair controls the room for one session at a time. This includes:
- Synchronising your watch!
- Making sure that there are glasses and water for the speaker and session chair (the venue staff should have done this).
- Making sure the speaker starts and finishes on time. We will have yellow/red cards to help with this.
Sessions must finish five minutes before the start of the next slot, to allow time for swapping streams.
- Helping the next speaker with plugging into the projector and/or nodding sympathetically if it doesn't work!
- Putting the mic on the presenter, even if they don't want amplification in a small room, all the talks will be recorded.
- Make sure the mic is on.
- Helping the speaker take questions and answers (many will be fine doing this alone, but you need to ensure that questioners are rotated fairly).
- Make sure the speaker repeats the question before answering it
- Make sure the mic is off for breaks, lunchtimes, and at the end of the day (to preserve battery)
Most talks are within a half an hour or one hour slot, and the last five to ten minutes of the talk should be reserved for audience participation.
We have a tight schedule, therefore we suggest that the next speaker is setting up with the projector (if needed) during question time.
Please sign up on the VolunteersByActivity page.
Idea: Maybe we should print out this list, or something derived from it, as a checklist for session chairs. Plus a copy of the timetable so they can be sure how long their session is.