Instructions for Session Chairs

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

Pre-Talk

• Please be present 15 mins before your session starts
  • The in-person presenters have been advised to meet you 10 mins before the session.
  • The remote presenters (if any) are advised to join discord channel 10 mins before the session to do a final sound/screen share check.
    • This will ensure we do not lose on time with in-person to remote talk modality switches.
• There will be 2 volunteers in each room
  • Please make sure you are aware of who they are, if you cannot find them please contact the Volunteer chairs.
  • They have been asked to be present 15 mins before the session
    • To assist presenters for your session, to test slides on the projector screen and do microphone checks
  • One video volunteer will handle all aspects of recording, streaming and speaker sound fine tunings
  • They will be at the tech/sound board
  • The non-video volunteer will assist you for non-tech related activities
  • Eg. they can escalate the AV issues to video chairs, when video volunteer cannot resolve it

During Talks

• Perform usual duties of time keeping (and avoiding fist fights, if possible).
• You are the exclusive person who can communicate with the remote presenters through the microphone.
• In case of sound issues with remote presenters, please use discord text IM feature to communicate with the remote presenter.

Q&A

• Q&A from in-person audience is handled as usual via voice using the in-room microphones.
• Each room has at least 2 microphones
  • One microphone for the speaker
  • At least one microphone for session chair and audience
• Please ensure that people speak into the mic for it to be captured for recordings and streaming
  • Microphone etiquettes apply
• Questions from virtual audience is handled via Discord (text only, no voice).
  • Each talk has a dedicated discussion thread named with the talk name.
  • They are clubbed in the events forum channel (eg. hatra or live, under “Q&A” category)
  • The audience will post their questions in that respective discussion thread.
  • Please read out loud these questions to the presenter and the in-person attendees.
• It is recommended to use your own device and monitor discord questions.
  • Discord has a web interface and you need not install it on your computer
  • You could alternatively use the laptop used by the video volunteer for emergency purposes.