Chairperson Guidelines

Below are some guidelines on how to manage sessions during APCCMI 2025, including overseeing conflicts of interest and facilitating the use of polls to engage the audience during presentations.

The following guidelines are to help you prepare for your role during the congress and comprises best practices for creating an engaging and smooth session.

1. Connect with the Session Faculty

Please be sure to establish contact with speakers and co-chair (if applicable) before the congress. It is best to coordinate the session in advance with all speakers in the session you are chairing/moderating to ensure no overlaps in the content. The Secretariat will assist you in establishing contact.

2. Arrive 15 Minutes Before the Session

It is essential that you arrive 15 minutes before your session begins to greet and welcome the speakers. An AV technician and a coordinator will be in every session room to provide assistance if required. Before the session starts, ensure that all speakers are in the room and/or connected online. If someone is missing, please alert the technician or coordinator.

3. Introducing the Session

• At the start of the session, introduce yourself and the session title first. Then ask attendees to silence their mobile phones and let them know that taking pictures is prohibited.
• Introduce each speaker with a sentence or two (name, affiliation, talk title and any other relevant information). Please be prepared to introduce all speakers in the session even if there is a co- chair in case your counterpart is unable to show up at the last minute, is late or has technical problems joining.

4. What to do when a presenter is missing or having technical issues

• If a speaker or presenter is missing or late during the session, start the next scheduled presentation. If the missing or late presenter shows up, you can add him/her to the end of the session.
• If an online speaker experiences significant technical problems, please introduce the next presentation and come back to this speaker later.
• In both cases, please explain to the audience that the missing presenter will be rescheduled into the concluding presentation timeslot.

5. Sticking to time

• Time management is very important. You must manage presentation times during your session. It may be necessary to politely interrupt the speakers if their presentation exceeds the allocated time and insist on keeping the timeline to allow all speakers to present their data and to allow for questions and/or discussion.
• You can mention that the author could be contacted with any Q&A that was not able to be addressed in the session.
• Important: Talk and discussion duration differ according to the session type. Please carefully check the session details for the correct amount of time.

6. Moderating questions

• Audience members may form a line onsite at a microphone to ask questions.
• Questions should be clear and succinct. Do not hesitate to kindly interrupt a member of the audience if their question becomes a statement.

7. Concluding the session

After the discussion, formally close the session by thanking the presenters and the audience for their attention.

8. General tips

• Keep in mind: the chairperson sets the tone for the session, so make eye contact with the audience and try to engage them with lively commentary. Keep questions and answers focused, but feel free to add in the conversation your own expertise on the subject.
• Pay attention to presentations that include some potential bias. When possible, offer a different point of view to keep the presentation balanced.
• To ensure a harmonious environment and avoid causing any unwanted inconvenience, be sensitive to the different cultural backgrounds of speakers and audience when moderating the session and the discussion.
• In the rare case that an inappropriate statement is made by a presenter or audience member, please notify a member of the Host Committee or Scientific Committee.