Session Chair Guidelines

The SETAC Europe 33rd Annual Meeting will be organised as a fully-fledged physical meeting in Dublin, Ireland featuring virtual components for remote participants.  

The role of Session Chairs at SETAC Europe annual meetings is important to the success of the sessions. Please note the following guidelines to ensure smooth operations of the annual meeting in general and your session(s) in particular. 

Review the programme of your session to check for withdrawals and subsequent changes. Note that the hard copy programme materials were printed on 12 April, an up-to-date overview of all sessions is available here. 

Platform Sessions

  • All sessions will be live-streamed via Zoom. Recordings will be posted about one week after the live stream and remain available until three months after the meeting. The presentation will be streamed via the laptop at the lectern. A laptop at the head table will be foreseen to chat with virtual participants.
  • Co-chairs are asked to agree beforehand on who will be coordinating the in-person part vs. moderating Q&A with the virtual audience.

Before the session starts

  • Be in the session room at least 20 minutes before your session starts to welcome the presenters and check your information on the presenter’s affiliation and name pronunciation. Presenters have been instructed to arrive 20 minutes beforehand and introduce themselves to you.
  • Presenters have been instructed to upload presentation slides ahead of the meeting. Volunteers are available in every session room for assistance and will check that presentation files open. If a presenter requests to upload slides or any last-minute changes, instruct them to go to the Speaker-Ready Room (Liffey Boardroom 3). It is not possible to upload slides directly to the lectern laptop or to swap computers.
  • Volunteers will start the Zoom connection and set everything up but will keep it on mute until the session starts.

At the start of the session

  • Unmute the Zoom microphone on the presenter’s laptop (lectern) just before the session starts in the top Zoom meeting controls.
  • One of the session chairs should welcome the audience and speakers, and provide a 3-minute introduction summarising the theme and objectives of the session. If desired, you can upload intro slides in the Speaker-Ready Room. Please keep to the scheduled time for this introduction.
  • Introduce the speakers, their affiliation, and the title.

During the session

  • Keep the sessions on schedule with respect to the following presenters and the audience. Each platform slot consists of 15 minutes, with 12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for Questions & Answers. Do not hesitate to cut off a speaker if he/she exceeds the scheduled 15-minute time slot (if you receive complaints from speakers, please direct them to the SETAC staff). It is VERY important that all sessions stay on time to allow the audience to move from one session to the other without missing any part of the next presentation. NOTE: Presentation length in Special Sessions (track 8) may vary.
  • Under no circumstances shall a session chair change the published order or timing of the programme. Also, if there is a cancelled (presentation TBD) or “no-show” presentation, try to start a discussion.
  • The session room volunteers have been instructed on how to operate the lights, sound and projectors, and can contact a technician or the SETAC staff if a problem arises.
  • Chair the question period and restrict questions to the time slot. Intervene if questions become unprofessional. Ensure that questions are clear so they can be heard by the virtual audience and in the recording: instruct the audience to use microphones for questions or – alternatively – ask the presenters to repeat the question using their microphone. The session room volunteer will assist to operate the microphone. Be prepared to initiate a discussion if there are no questions from the audience.
  • Ensure that one session chair moderates the chat discussion with the virtual audience. This co-chair is also the spokesperson of the virtual audience for the in-person event (for example, asking questions or passing on comments to the presenter).
  • Conclude your session by briefly acknowledging the speakers and audience.

Poster spotlights

  • IF your Platform session includes a poster spotlight, please note the following:
  • Poster Spotlights are meant to be a very short (3-4 slides maximum) presentation of posters. The purpose of the spotlights is to stimulate the audience to view the poster and to discuss the research with the presenter during the breaks or poster social in the exhibition area, where the poster is displayed on the same day. This format does not allow discussions after each poster spotlight.
  • Please take good care that the individual poster spotlight presenters keep to the scheduled time, i.e., 4 minutes per presentation. In case of a no-show or cancelled spotlight, you can either conclude your session earlier or use the time for extra discussion.

Poster Sessions

  • Presenters will put up their posters between 8:00 and 8:45. All posters are in the poster area in the exhibition hall. The authors have received instructions on where to put up their poster and volunteers will be available to assist. Your presence as a session chair is not needed during the poster set-up.
  • Visit the poster presenters during the break and poster socials: acknowledge your contributors and initiate a discussion if feasible.
  • Poster presenters have also been asked to upload a pdf of their poster for the remote participants.

Poster Corners

If you are leading a poster corner discussion, please note the following:

  • Poster corner discussions are scheduled from 18:00–18:45 IST from Monday – Wednesday. Check the virtual meeting platform for the exact location of your poster corner discussion.
  • The discussion sessions take place around a digital screen where up to six presenters pitch their posters with either a pdf of their poster or a slide series. This session will neither be recorded not live-streamed.
  • Be prepared to give a brief introduction to the shared topic of the posters displayed in the poster corner.
  • Initiate, stimulate and facilitate the discussion between the authors and the audience, either by a brief Q/A slot after every talk or an extensive Q/A session at the end, if time allows.

SETAC Globe

Session chairs are strongly encouraged to spotlight the key discussions and lessons learned in SETAC’s home journal, the Globe. This is a magazine-style news outlet and not a scientific journal, the summary should focus on the relevance of the session and important discussions and conclusions. Have a look at the guidelines.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future meetings, please provide your feedback to europe-meeting@setac.org.

Many thanks for your contributions to making this a successful meeting!