Moderator Guidelines

Thank you for agreeing to serve as a session moderator.

If there are schedule changes after you have checked in, an updated schedule will be brought to the meeting room and placed on the speaker’s podium before the session begins. If there are announcements to be made, those will be brought to you or placed on the podium before your session begins.

Rules of engagement:

• 1. Arrive at the meeting room at least 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the session. Introduce yourself to the Student Volunteer. They are there to assist you.
• 2. Please direct any concerns regarding the meeting room to Lori Strong, the Meetings Director or to the Registration desk. She can contact the venue about temperature adjustments, need for extra chairs, etc.
• 3. The underlying theme is: STAY ON TIME!
• 4. Stand up @ 12 min; go towards the speaker @ 14 min; pull them off the stage @ 15 min. Tell the speakers that you will go through these stages.
• 5. Over 10% of our membership are hearing impaired. Speakers must use the microphone to speak. Tell the speakers and attendees that this is a requirement.
• 6. Run your session on real time, not elapsed time (In other words, all Contributed Paper sessions include 15 minute talks that start precisely on the quarter hour. Symposia may be different, pay attention to the schedule.)
• The clock starts ticking even if the PowerPoint presentation is sputtering and the presenter is lamenting, "It worked last night on my computer." Remember, people are dashing between sessions, and all sessions should be running on the same schedule.
• 7. The time of the talk includes the moderator's introduction; this does not add time to their talk time!
• NOTE: If the presenter is in a student competition, please include this information in your introduction to make sure everyone knows the presenter is a student competitor. Keep the introduction simple.
• Example Introduction: “Our first talk, Title of talk, will be presented by Name of Presenter from Name of University or Institution. Name of Presenter is competing in the Name of Student Award Competition (if applicable).”
• 8. If a talk ends early or if a talk is canceled, DO NOT go ahead and introduce the next talk. Take a break, or take questions for the previous speakers, then start again with the next scheduled talk. Do not move a paper scheduled later in the session in order to end the session early.
• 9. The speaker needs to leave time for questions; if not, NO questions are allowed.
• 10. If there is time for questions, and the audience does not ask a question, be prepared to ask one yourself. This often kick-starts audience questions.
• 12. Please keep track of no-show presentations in your session (these are speakers who have failed to notify us of their cancellation 24 hours prior to the start of the meeting.) If there are other notes you wish to make on the schedule about your session, please do so. Return any comments to the registration desk.
• 13. Recognize and respond (by contacting the JMIH Safety Officer) to conduct that violates the JMIH Code of Conduct.
• 14. Be respectful of speakers and do your best to enforce professionalism in audience members - no favoritism and no harsh commentary.