Doing Science: Chairing sessions (original) (raw)

Chairing sessions is not about smartly stealing thunder; it is about making the speakers, the attendees and the co-chairs look smart. Effective chairing includes the practicalities of introducing your co-chairs, the speakers/presenters and yourself, keeping time, and facilitating discussion. The actual challenge is to: engage the audience's interest; create a sense of coherence throughout the diversity of presentations and speakers; ease the speakers' job of establishing their credibility with the audience; create a constructive, respectful and professional atmosphere for discussion; and wrap up in a way that leaves everyone feeling good about the session. Successful chairing leaves the presenters and audience feeling that the session was worth the time they invested in it. With all these aims in mind, herein, we address the challenge of chairing a session (thematic poster session, oral presentation and poster discussion) [1], and provide practical tips to overcome difficult situations and even turn them into advantages. Chairing thematic poster sessions Decide how much time you want to assign to poster viewing and when to start a poster walk Statement of Interest None declared.