Chairing Sessions

Chairing a session at a conference involves more than reading biographical sketches out loud or interrupting speakers when their time is up. An effective chairperson creates a sense of coherence throughout the (sometimes diverse) presentations. He or she brings the speakers closer to the audience by introducing them warmly, ensures that everything runs smoothly, and wraps up the session in a way that leaves everyone feeling good about it.

Accordingly, chairing a session is not something you improvise. Rather, it is something you prepare for carefully — as carefully as a presentation. How can you introduce speakers in a sincere and interesting way if you have never met them? How can you pronounce their names correctly if you have not asked for their preferred pronunciation? By being prepared, welcoming, and enthusiastic, you make a session more engaging.

Chairing a session is not about looking smart: It is about making everyone else look smart — both the speakers and the attendees. Be firm when you need to, but always be constructive, respectful, and professional. When speaking, be visible, but discreetly so. Place yourself on one side rather than center stage. If the speaker is standing on one side, place yourself on the opposite side. Establish eye contact with whoever you are talking to (primarily the audience). When not speaking, be invisible if you can: Sit down or stand at the back of the room while speakers are presenting. If you are standing to manage questions and answers, move out of the way when speakers are answering questions. Most importantly, look at whoever is speaking, whether that person is an attendee asking a question or a speaker answering one.

As a chairperson, you must introduce the session before you introduce the first speaker. Let the audience know what the session is about, how it relates to or differs from other sessions at the conference, and how it is going to take place. By introducing the session, you are providing the audience with a global view that will help them assimilate the details. By making the audience feel welcome, you also incline them favorably toward the speakers.

Normally, the various speakers at a session have been grouped for a reason — namely that the topics they address fit within the same theme. This theme may be reflected in the title of the session (although not all sessions have a title), and it may or may not be clear to the audience. As a chairperson, start by letting the audience know about the session's theme. Ideally, preview the session's presentations; in other words, announce all of them upfront, in the right sequence. At this point, however, it is not necessary to mention the speakers' names or the exact titles of the presentations. Instead, show the internal logic of the session by announcing the topics. Here is an example:

Before or after announcing the theme and previewing the presentations, show how the session fits into the overall conference by relating it to other sessions. That is, show how the session continues, or departs from, themes already covered in previous sessions so the audience can form a global view of both the session and the conference as a whole. You might say something like this:

This morning, we heard about polymer rheology in general and about . . . In this first afternoon session, we are focusing on the rheology of one specific type of polymer processing, namely extrusion.

At some point in your introduction, let the audience know how the session is going to take place. Typically, the audience wants to know how long the session will be; whether there will be a break and, if so, at what time; how many speakers there will be; how you plan to take questions (that is, after each presentation or at the end of the session); etc. You may also remind attendees to turn off their mobile phones, fill out evaluation forms for each speaker, and so on. Reassuring the audience about such practical details will help them give their undivided attention to the speakers.

Introducing a speaker is much more than reading his or her name and the title of his or her presentation out loud from a piece of paper. Typically, this information is shown on the speaker's first slide (projected on the screen at that moment), and attendees can read it for themselves. Therefore, your introduction will be more useful to the audience if you add something about both the speaker and the topic that they cannot read on the screen.

Conferences are networking opportunities: They are about meeting people as much as they are about learning about the latest developments. As a chairperson, you can help the networking process by introducing speakers usefully. Do say the speaker's name out loud, if only to show the audience how it is pronounced, but do not stop there. Place the speaker in context; for example, say which institution he or she comes from (and, within this institution, perhaps which or whose research group), which degrees he or she holds from which universities, or what his or her research interests are. Here is an example:

Our next speaker is Markus Grossgrabenstein. Markus is originally from Germany. He graduated two years ago as a mechanical engineer from Heidelberg University, and he is now conducting research on combustion-generated nanoparticles in Albert Wang's group at Stanford University.

Depending on the context, it may be appropriate (and appreciated) to say something more personal about the speaker, especially if you know him or her personally. You might mention an anecdote that reflects positively on the speaker, shows him or her in a different light, or is amusing without being disrespectful. Such anecdotes, if kept short and good-humored, help break the ice and create a connection between the audience and the speaker. In fact, speakers are usually willing to provide interesting personal details or stories if you press them gently. For example, you might say this:

If you are introducing someone well-known or, more generally, if you expect applause at the mention of the person's name, consider saying the name last, not first, to avoid interference. In addition to doing this for speakers, you might do so for laureates or nominees, as in the following example:

When introducing speakers, it is often difficult to choose the appropriate level of formality. Should you refer to Susan Johnson as Dr. Johnson, as Susan, or even as Sue? The answer depends on many factors, including the conference tradition (what do other chairpeople do?), the atmosphere you are trying to create in your own session (formal or informal), and the relationship you have with the speakers. One defendable option is to refer to speakers in front of the audience in the same way you would address them in private. For example, if you know Susan Johnson well and normally address her as Sue, it is natural to refer to her in that way. Still, say her full name first, possibly with her title ("Our next speaker is Dr. Susan Johnson") before going on ("Sue and I both graduated from the University of Sydney . . . "). If you are unsure what to do, being more formal is usually safer than being less formal.

Finally, besides introducing the speaker, introduce the topic of the talk. Doing so requires more than just saying the title of the talk out loud. Rather, you must connect this topic to other topics in your session — just like you connect this session to other sessions at the conference. Consider the following example.

Thank you again, Ana, for this eye-opening toxicological study. Now that we know how toxic combustion-generated nanoparticles can be, the question we all have in our head is, "What do we do about them?" This is a question that the next presentation is going to try to answer. Our next speaker is . . .

As session chairperson, you are responsible for managing time. To avoid stealing time from the audience, you must ensure that the session ends on schedule. To this end, and to avoid stealing time from other speakers, you must ensure that each speaker stays within the agreed-upon time limit — for both the presentation itself and the question and answer period.

Keeping speakers within their time limit is no easy task. Most speakers plan to include too much information and, when reminded of how little time they have left, they try to say everything as quickly as possible instead of being selective. To help prevent this from happening, be gentle but firm. Just before the session, remind speakers of their time limit and agree with them on time signals. For example, to indicate when they have two minutes left, you might raise your hand with two fingers up from the back of the room. This visual signal is less disruptive to the audience than an auditory signal, such as saying out loud "two minutes left." When the speaker's time is up, indicate this by standing up. If a speaker tries to continue, press him or her to finish, for example by saying "Can you please come to your conclusion?" If all else fails, interrupt the speaker, such as by saying "Your time is up; I must ask you to stop." Interrupting someone is an unpleasant — but important — task. Do it respectfully, but do it.

If the session is falling behind schedule for any reason, you unfortunately have few options to remedy the situation. Asking speakers to speak for less than the time they prepared for is unrealistic and will be experienced as unfair. If necessary, reduce the time foreseen for questions and answers, and encourage the audience to delay any questions for private conversations with the speakers. You might also reduce your introductions of the speakers by eliminating nonessential details. Sometimes, but not always, you also have the option to shorten any breaks.

When planning the time of your session, keep in mind not only the presentations themselves and the questions and answers, but also the time you need to introduce the session and the speakers and to wrap up the session. These durations may be short, but they are nonzero: Added up, they definitely impact the overall length of your session.

As chairperson, you can handle questions and answers more or less authoritatively. You can designate who may ask a question and when, repeat or rephrase questions as needed, and so on. You can also let the speaker manage the questions himself or herself. The choice depends on your own preference and on the speaker's capacity to manage the situation; it may even be different for different speakers in the same session. No matter which option you choose, however, you remain responsible for three primary tasks: encouraging questions, managing time, and tackling any issues.

At the end of the presentation, let the audience applaud first (give the signal by applauding yourself). Then, if there is time, encourage the audience to ask questions. Do not assume too quickly that there are no questions: After listening passively for a while, attendees may need a few moments to think of a question — and to build the courage to ask the first question. Instead of saying something such as "Well, since there are no questions, let's move on," gently press the audience for questions. Show that you mean it: Leave a silence for them to think, or use humor (perhaps with a cheerful "Ah, come on now: Who is courageous enough to ask the first question?"). In contrast, resist the temptation to ask the first question yourself. Even if you mean to set an example for the audience, you will actually be keeping the focus on the speaker's area instead of shifting it to the audience.

Once the question and answer process is launched, you might get many questions — too many for the time allotted. Keep track of time, and announce the end of the period in advance, such as by saying "We have time for two more questions" or simply "Last question." If some attendees did not get a chance to ask their questions, encourage them to talk to the speaker after the session. As the speaker is gathering his or her belongings and going back to his or her seat, feel free to thank him or her with a nice word and a second round of applause: "Thank you again, Vân Anh, for this enlightening presentation."

Even if you let a speaker handle questions mostly on his or her own, you are responsible for the process as a whole. If anything goes wrong, be ready to intervene. For example, if there is little time for questions and the first attendee asks five questions at once, say something such as "We need to give other attendees a chance to ask questions, too," and encourage the speaker to answer only one of this person's questions at this point. Similarly, if attendees end up starting a speech of their own under the guise of asking questions, feel free to interrupt, asking them "So, what exactly is your question?"

After the last presentation, wrap up the session with a pattern similar to the one used to introduce it. Just as you previewed the presentations, recap them; for example, restate the main message of each presentation, or draw overall conclusions from the session as a whole. Once again connect the session to the rest of conference, in part by announcing upcoming sessions ("If you are interested in polymer extrusion, then do not miss Wednesday's session on . . . "). Provide the final pieces of practical information to the audience, such as where to submit the filled-out evaluation sheets or where the coffee break will take place. End on a positive note, with a sentence such as "Enjoy your lunch" or "I hope to see many of you at our awards ceremony tonight."