Is there an environmental topic you’d like to see included in this year’s conference? Can you recruit 5-6 of your colleagues to present on various aspects of that topic?

Then consider creating and chairing a session at the IPEC Conference.

The assistance of session chairs contributes greatly to the success of this event each year!

Instructions for Session Chairs

confernce-room-870x579Chairs will be provided with a full list of all presentations to be made in their session. This list will contain complete contact information for the primary author/presenter. Changes in the session prior to the conference will be communicated to Chairs by e-mail as quickly as possible after they occur.

All talks are scheduled for a total of 20 minutes (followed by 5 minutes of Q & A).

Information such as session room assignments and specific presentation times in each session is available in the conference agenda and will also be available in the Book of Abstracts distributed at conference check-in.

Chairs should be prepared to give a brief introduction to the subject matter just prior to the time for the first scheduled talk. Chairs should also request a brief bio from each session speaker for use in introducing presentations during the session.

Please contact each speaker by e-mail prior to the conference dates to find out when they are arriving and where they are staying. Arrival dates and hotel registrations will help you confirm that all speakers are present before a session is scheduled to begin. Sources to confirm this information include the conference sign-in sheets and the conference hotel registration desk. Conference on-site administrators will also work with you to determine which of your speakers have arrived for a given session, etc.

We will have assistants copy powerpoint presentations from the laptops in the session rooms to be linked post-conference to the website posting of the conference agenda. We will link a copy of a full manuscript in lieu of the powerpoint presentation if an author submits a manuscript to us for this purpose. We do not require a hardcopy of a manuscript if an author desires to submit one for posting – only an electronic copy e-mailed to Steve Hall or mailed in on a flash drive to the address below. Information concerning this was sent to all authors in their letters of acceptance. See IPEC Manuscript Layout Instructions for more information. (Note: Manuscripts are not peer-reviewed).

The conference will support Powerpoint Presentations only, and will provide a computer and projector in each session room.  We have asked that presenters not include videos imbedded in their presentations. Please remind each of your speakers to bring their presentations on a USB Flash (PEN) Drive only and to arrive at their assigned session room with their Flash Drive 15 to 20 minutes before the session begins in order to load their presentation onto the computer in the room. There will be an assistant in each session room to provide assistance if necessary in this loading procedure. The assistant will remain in the session room during the session to assist the chair as necessary.

We want to facilitate participants moving from session to session as much as possible in order to be able to hear the papers in which they are most interested.  This requires that each session adhere strictly to the schedule for presentations. If a session should begin to run behind time, the Chair should try to get back on schedule by limiting questions and suggesting that questions be asked after the close of the session.  If a session is running fast, pause the program until the appropriate time for the next paper to be presented.

If a speaker does not show, the Chair should announce an extra break and restart when the next paper is scheduled to begin. Maintaining the printed schedule for session presentations has drawn many favorable comments from participants during our past conferences and we feel that this is an important task for each session chair.

As public speaking abilities and habits vary widely, please remind your speakers to “speak out” while presenting in order that all participants may easily hear their presentations. The meeting rooms at these functions are generally small enough that a microphone is not necessary if speakers will simply speak clearly and loudly enough for all to hear.

For more information, contact Steve Hall, IPEC Presentations Manager, The University of Tulsa at Stephen-hall@utulsa.edu.

Steve Hall
The University of Tulsa – CESE
Henneke Bldg., Main Floor
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
Email: Stephen-hall@utulsa.edu