INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASHRAE SEMINAR CHAIRS

PowerPoint Presentation of Seminar Instructions

Your selection to serve as Chair of an ASHRAE Program Session carries with it certain responsibilities. This checklist is designed to assist you in carrying out these responsibilities both before and during the meeting. Use the suggestions whenever possible and elaborate on them whenever you deem it necessary. (If you have any suggestions for improving this checklist, please direct them to the ASHRAE Program Committee Liaison.)

Before submitting your seminar proposal, collect this information:

1. Speaker list with all contact information and title of their presentation.
2. Know the order of your speaker presentations.
3. Have an abstract of each speaker's presentation for your information in organizing the seminar.
4. Collect biographical information from your speakers in order to introduce them at the seminar.

To submit a seminar on-line, go to the bottom of these instructions to the link for the On-Line Program Submittal Form.

1. KNOW YOUR SPEAKERS.
   
   Author Information Forms and other related information were sent to you before the meeting, directly from the speakers. Discuss the presentation of each author at the Speakers' Briefing, suggesting improvements for continuity between speeches. No material may be distributed at a Seminar without prior approval of the ASHRAE Program Committee. NOTE: ASHRAE DOES NOT PUBLISH ANY SEMINAR PAPERS.

    

2. ATTEND THE SPEAKERS' BRIEFING.
   
   This is scheduled in the Speakers' Lounge one hour before your session., so that everyone participating in your session can get acquainted and work out any last-minute details.
   
   

   Remind each speaker that he/she should meet you in the Speakers' Lounge an hour before your program. Remind each speaker that slides and/or overheads will be checked for commercialism in the Speakers' Lounge by an ASHRAE Program Committee member. No slides or overheads will be allowed to be shown without this review.

   Determine from each speaker sufficient information so that you can do justice to your introduction of the speakers.

   Check with each author so that you can establish an approximate timetable, as this is most important to the success of sessions with multiple presentations.

   Finalize the head table arrangement. Authors may all be introduced at the beginning of the session and then move into the audience, or they may elect to remain at the head table.

3. CHECK ON AVAILABILITY OF EQUIPMENT NEEDED.
   
   

   Monitors will be assigned to your session and will attend the Speakers' Briefing. These monitors will assist you and the authors. Get acquainted. Make any arrangements that will make the presentation run smoothly.

   Have the authors check their graphics presentation to ensure the proper sequence. Also, prearrange a signal (such as waving a pencil) for slide changing to avoid a break in the speaker's continuity, if remote control is not available.

   Please pay particular attention to the following:

4. 1. Slides: Each author's slides should be run through to check the order, focus, and the projector's distance from the screen before the session starts. (This means that you, the speakers, and the monitors should be in the meeting room at least 15 to 20 minutes before the scheduled time.)
   2. Projectors: Are they connected to live outlets? Who will operate? When?
   3. Lights: Where are they? Who will regulate them? When?
   4. Microphones: Properly located? Working?
   5. Pointer: Available?
   6. Chalkboard/Flip Chart: Chalk/marker? Eraser?
   7. Are nameplates, session signs, and flags correctly placed? (Monitors are responsible for these items.)
   8. You are responsible for the smooth operation of the session. Should any problems arise, do not panic. Call for the ASHRAE Program Committee Liaison, and you will get assistance in resolving the problems.

   All equipment requested by the deadline set by the Meetings Manager should be available.

5. PRESIDE AT THE SESSION.
   
   
   1. The ASHRAE Program Committee Liaison will start the Session, then you will preside as Chair.
   2. Rehearse what you will do and say.
   3. Encourage the audience to move to the front and center of the meeting room.
   4. Make announcements as requested.
   5. Introduce the speakers. The speaker has spent many hours preparing and probably has traveled hundreds of miles for this moment. Pronounce his/her name correctly. Check each speaker's biographical facts, get them in logical order, and present them in a way that will instill audience respect for the speaker's background and experience.
      
      

      Remember that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th speakers are just as important as the first. Don't let the last ones down just because they are scheduled later in the program.

      Do your best to make each speaker feel important and appreciated.

      Be brief (no more than a minute or two) and friendly. You are introducing a peer to his or her peers.

      Clearly state the subject of the presentation to be made; why it was chosen for presentation, and its relevance to the session and the audience.

   6. What "Not" to Say

      1. Don't apologize for the weather, the accommodations, the room size or the size of the audience. If attendance is sparse, welcome the group as intimate and invite them to move into the front seats where they can see and hear better.
      2. If the audience is so large that some are left standing, don't criticize the lack of seating facilities. Suggest instead that the exits be kept clear and that the monitor contact the Host Sessions Chair so that the hotel staff can set up more chairs. If time is too short for such an arrangement, be happy to have a sellout crowd and tell them so.
      3. If you are asked to make an announcement, don't wait until the end of the session. Read it to the audience before you introduce the first speaker.

      Remember, you are the host whose graciousness will go far toward making your Session a success.

   7. Encourage discussion.
      
      

      Have discussers clearly identify themselves with name and affiliation. This is important to the group because it qualifies the person and his/her statements.

   8. 1. Prepared oral comments from the audience should then be called for, followed by extemporaneous discussion.
      2. Ask questions or make comments yourself if necessary to start discussion. Advance preparation is necessary in order not to make these comments appear artificial. Keep the session moving.
      3. If it appears that the discussion will run over the allocated time, interrupt to indicate that further discussion will be allowed after the final presentation of the session, if time permits. The Chair should request that attendees wishing to make a comment must identify themselves.
      4. Be alert for commercial inserts into discussions. If they occur, call the discussers' attention to the fact that they are not allowed.
      5. In the case of comments from the floor that do not discuss technical aspects of the paper, the Chair should announce that the comments are not appropriate.
      
      
      
   9. Begin and end on time. If an author cannot present his/her paper, follow item "f" above.
   10. Thank the authors and mean it.
   11. Monitors:
       
       

       Two (2) Monitors are assigned to each session. The Monitors are the Session Chair's assistants; brief them well. Monitors will have a briefing and should be at the meeting room about 15 minutes before the session begins. Monitors are responsible for the following:

   12. 1. The placement of signs at the entrance of the meeting rooms, the placement of speakers' name cards on the head table at symposia, and the return of the signs and cards to the Speakers' Lounge at the conclusion of the session.
       2. Announce the name of the session (e.g. Seminar 3) in the foyer or registration area. Indicate that the session is about to start. Repeat the announcement several times.
       3. Remain in evidence (within hailing distance) of the Session Chair at all times and near projector or light switch.

NOTE: The meeting rooms are set up shortly before the session starts with the following equipment: Projector, screen, blackboard/flip chart, eraser, chalk/marker, pointer, water, lighted speaker's stand, and loudspeaker. In case you notice any omissions, please call to the attention of the Session's Chair, the ASHRAE Program Committee Liaison, or the Meeting Program Administrator in the Speakers' Lounge.

Click here to go to the On-Line Program Submittal Form.

Version 1.3
Revised Date: 01/24/2000