Chairing a Scientific meeting: Rob Taylor Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research, Newcastle University

PREPARATION Be there early! Meet and introduce yourself to people presenting in a session you are chairing Get their names right! Liase with technical support –Have the presentations been loaded properly and checked? –Is all the technology working (audio and visual)? Laser pointer? –PC/Mac compatibility

AUTHORITY and CONFIDENCE You are in charge! –role of co-chair? Think and plan about what you are going to say If necessary, ask for quiet at the beginning of a session –Mobile phones off or on silent –Housekeeping (fire exits, fire alarm drill etc…..) Introductions are important –Speaker biography, area of research interest etc….

TIMING Make sure you stick to the schedule! At the beginning of session, remind the speakers how long they have to talk Allow time for questions If a speaker appears to be running out of time, remind them how long they have left and invite them to begin bringing their talk to a conclusion –Listen to the presentation, be aware if likely to run over time –Don’t be afraid to ask them to stop if they don’t respond to your prompts

TIME for QUESTIONS………. Thank the speaker for their talk, invite questions from the floor May need to give some time for questions – write down one or two of your own as you listen to the talk Ask members of the audience to use available microphones – don’t be afraid to repeat the question for the speaker if difficult to hear Deal with inappropriate questions…… –Protect the speaker –Don’t let private discussion/conversation go on too long, bring attention back to the whole audience