GUIDELINES FOR CHAIRS – YOUR COOKBOOK!
The role as chair for a session is probably the most important role for the success of the session.
That is why we invited you and why we always have two chairs for each session.
Immediately before your session
- Introduce yourself to the speakers and the EMS2025 crew member.
- Familiarize yourself with the AV tools and introduce the speakers to AV tools
- Make sure that the speakers are informed about the method you will use to notify them when their time is running out.
The EMS2025 congress team will make sure that speakers’ presentations handed in at the Speaker Ready Room are uploaded on the congress PC in the session room. Presentations from a personal laptop are not possible.
During the session
- Introduce yourselves as chairs and set the scene.
- Shortly introduce the speakers at the beginning of the session (names and affiliation) – refer to speaker information given in the Meet our Faculty list – https://www.emscongress2025.org/program/meet-our-faculty/
- Encourage the audience to use social media during the session and remind them to use the hashtag #EMS2025
- Allocate time for questions from the audience and explain the procedures for questions and answers to the audience.
- Be prepared to start the dialogue.
- Terminate presentations that overrun.
Question and Answer procedure
- Before the session you as chairs should identify and appoint two well-known persons in the audience and encourage them to ask questions. This is to ensure interactivity with the audience.
- In most rooms, a handheld microphone will be available. A member of the EMS2025 congress team will help bring the handheld microphone to the person asking questions. The audience can also send in questions using the congress mobile web. You as a chair will receive a link where you can see all questions submitted for the room you are chairing.
- Please ask the questioners to introduce themselves (name and country) before asking their question.
Closure
- All sessions should end on time or a few minutes before time.
- Before ending the session, you should as chair summarize the session and lessons learned, referring to key points from each speaker.
- End by thanking the speakers and the audience for their active participation.
Problem Resolution
Despite good planning, issues or challenges will occur during a congress session. The speakers and the audience will expect you, as chairs, to resolve the issues. If you need help to solve a problem during the session, please contact the EMS2025 crew member in the room.
