Information for Session Chairs

As a session chair, you are expected to be the orchestrator between volunteers, presenters (virtual and in-person) and the audience (virtual and in-person).

Pre-Talk

• Please be present in the room at least 15 minutes before the start of the session.

  • In-person presenters are advised to meet you 15 minutes before the start of the session.

  • Remote presenters (if any) are advised to join the relevant Discord channel at least 10 minutes before the start of the session to do a final technical check. This will ensure a more seamless switch from in-person to remote presenters, and vice versa.

• There will be 2 volunteers in each room.

  • Please make sure you are aware of who they are. If you are unable to locate them, please contact the student volunteer chairs.

  • Volunteers have been asked to be present 15 mins before the start of the session, to assist presenters with AV testing, and general logistics.

  • There will be one dedicated AV volunteer at the tech/sound board, for assistance with AV activities such as testing slides, microphones, etc.

  • The non-AV volunteer will assist you with non-technical activities, including escalation to video chairs in case of emergencies.

During Talks

• Ensure the session is progressing according to schedule. It may be helpful to indicate remaining time to the speaker.

• You are the only person who can communicate with remote presenters through the microphone.

• In case of audio issues with remote presenters, please use the Discord text IM feature to communicate with the presenter.

Q&A

• Q&A from in-person audience is handled as expected using the in-room microphones.

• Each room has at least 2 microphones: a lapel microphone for the speaker, and at least one handheld microphone for the session chair and audience.

• Please ensure that speakers and audience members are always speaking into the microphone, to ensure that the audio is captured for the live-stream and recording. Microphone etiquette applies.

• Questions from virtual audience are handled via Discord (text only, no voice).

  • Each talk will have a dedicated discussion thread with the talk title as the subject.

  • They can be found under the Q&A category on the discord server, in the relevant track (e.g. plmw, or icfp).

  • The audience may post questions in the relevant discussion thread.

  • Please read these questions out loud over the microphone, to the presenter and in-person attendees.

• We recommend using your own device to monitor Discord questions.

  • Discord has a web interface, and you should not need to install it on your computer.

  • Once you have joined the server, please navigate to the forum channel for your track under Q&A. For example, if you are a session chair for CPP, please navigate to the cpp forum channel. You may have to browse all channels and add your track if you are unable to see it at first.

  • Under the relevant forum, open the post with the same title as the first talk in your session. You should be able to utilize the search feature. As the session proceeds, monitor the post relevant to the ongoing talk.