Chair of sessions

The chair should confirm at least 10 minutes before the session commences that all speakers and discussants have arrived. You may rearrange the order of the session presentation to ensure that time is not wasted waiting for a speaker, though if possible each speaker should be kept within the half of the session for which they were scheduled. Please make sure you know the name, place of work and title for the speakers and discussants before the session starts. Make sure that speakers have loaded their presentations onto the computer prior to the start of the session.

Briefly introduce the name of the speaker, where they come from and the title of the paper. Each presenter and discussant has a maximum of 10 minutes. You will be provided with cards that show “3 minutes remaining”, “1 minute remaining” and “time is up”. In a four-paper session, the first two papers, the commentary on them, and further general discussion after the commentary should be completed by 45 minutes into the session. Please do not allow your sessions to overrun. Sessions should not be extended into the breaks. A polite statement is: “If you want to talk further please find the person during the breaks.” Please remind attendees not to Tweet findings.

Speakers

Before the first session of the day on which you are presenting, upload your presentations onto the computer in the allocated room. Label your presentation with your last name, followed by an abbreviated title. Make sure you arrive at least 10 minutes before the session starts and introduce yourself to the chair. Please be considerate of your colleagues and stick to the time limit for the presentation (10 minutes). When the chair indicates your time is up, finish the sentence you have started and close your presentation. After the discussant’s comments, you will have 2-3 minutes to respond.

Discussants

Please confirm the session in which you are a discussant when you arrive at the conference, as occasionally there may be last-minute changes to assignments and times. Make sure you arrive at least 10 minutes before the session starts to introduce yourself to the chair and presenters and to check your comments and upload any slides you may wish to use.

The main role of the discussant is to identify comparative or contrasting themes in the two presentations, provide constructive comments and raise questions to open the discussion. Comments should be helpful to authors in improving papers before they are submitted to journals and will enhance the quality of the discussion. Please aim to deliver comments in a friendly and supportive way, especially when commenting on the work of early career researchers. Take time before the session to make sure your comments will take a total of no longer than 10 minutes.

To all conference participants: Session format

Each session is divided into parts. Please refer to the program grid for the structure and times of your session. The programme is full, please respect your colleagues and ensure you stay to time. In the morning, check with the conference notice board for last-minute changes to the programme.