SIGCSE TS 2021 Session Chair Guidelines

We are actively recruiting volunteers to be session chairs for the 2021 Technical Symposium! If you are interested, please fill out your availability here: http://sigcse2021.org/sessionchair

General Session Chair Responsibilities

These general guidelines apply regardless of the track of the session you are chairing.

  • Before the session, connect with the presenters via email or through Pathable and ensure that you know:
    • pronunciation of speaker name(s)
    • speaker’s affiliation(s)
    • speaker’s title(s)
    • speaker’s pronouns
    • if the speaker is a student who will be graduating soon
  • Arrive at your session 15-20 minutes ahead of the start time to meet all the speakers and touch base on how the session will run.
  • Start the session on time by introducing yourself and the entire session.
  • Introduce each speaker using their proper name. Ensure that introductions are consistent for all speakers in the sessions using common titles and language.
  • Keep time and provide appropriate warnings before the start of the question and answer period.
  • When the speaker is done, say “Let’s thank our speaker” and applaud.
  • If you need to cut of a question or discussion, suggest that the discussion resumes after the session is over.
  • Cut off any questions that are belligerent or insulting. Please let the Program or Symposium Chairs know about the issue.
  • Come prepared with a question for each speaker! You can discuss this with your speakers.

Many of these items are from Emery Berger’s blog post “A Guide for Session Chairs”, which provides more details about useful session chair information.

Being a Session Chair in Pathable/Zoom

In a lot of ways, being a session chair in a virtual environment is very similar to being a session chair in person as far as your role! You will be starting the session, introducing speakers, keeping time, and moderating the Q&A. However, how some of this happens is obviously a little different, but we are here to help!

Here are some key points for being a session chair in Pathable using Zoom:

  • We will be providing training for all session chairs in early March, so you will get a chance to see exactly how things work and ask questions of our production team!
  • Pathable has a guide on how to be a session chair / speaker in their system, which has a lot of good information - https://support.pathable.com/hc/en-us/categories/360004922371-Speaker-User-Guides
  • Pathable embeds the Zoom window for webinars (which is most of our technical sessions) in the browser window of the user. Thus, normal Zoom features for users (such as chat and Q&A) will not be available in Zoom. However, every session in Pathable has its own chat and Q&A area, along with a place for all the pre-recorded videos for that session.

Making Your Session Inclusive

SIGCSE conferences are becoming increasingly diverse, with attendees from all over the world who represent varied gender, racial, ethnic, disability, and other identities. As a session chair, there are steps you can take to ensure that the session for which you are responsible is as inclusive as possible for attendees. The following guidelines complement Emory Berger’s Guide for Session Chairs towards promoting increased knowledge sharing and engagement of all our community members. These guidelines are derived in part from the Accessible Conference Guide.

  • In advance of the session please ask presenters to review the SIGCSE TS 2021 Presenter Information for your track, including the links to the SIG ACCESS Accessible Presentation Guide.
  • In preparation for introducing the presenter, ask the author what pronouns they use, to avoid misgendering.
  • If the presenter is not speaking directly into the microphone or is muted, briefly halt the presentation to help correct them.
  • If there is an interpreter or captioner present, explain to presenters that they should speak with a normal tone and pace, unless asked to slow down by the interpreter.
  • A presenter with a visual impairment may request assistance to advance slides. Please coordinate with our Accessibility Liaison if necessary.
  • Discuss accessibility issues with the speakers before the session.

If you have any questions about accessibility, please feel free to reach out to this year’s Accessibility Liaison: Mohsen Dorodchi - accessibility@sigcse2020.org.

Track-Specific Details

Each track will operate slightly differetly from each other. For more information on each track, see the SIGCSE TS 2021 Presenter Information for a given track.

Technical Sessions (Papers)

Each paper session is comprised of five paper presentations, with each author being allocated 20 minutes total for their presentation plus Q&A. While we have recommneded to authors to use 5 minutes for a quick overview of their work and then 15 minutes for Q&A, they have the flexibility of adjusting that time to work best for their presentation.

As a session chair for a paper technical session, your job will entail:

  • Acting as the primary host for the Zoom meeting (all presenters will automatically be co-hosts in Zoom, so you do not have to manage this)
  • Being responsbile for starting the session on time
  • Introducing each presenter (see information above about best practices for this)
  • Keeping time and giving warnings - 20 minutes per presenter is a hard stop, but you can discuss with each presenter how they want to spend their time
  • Moderating questions and answers through Zoom Q&A or Chat

You are not responsible for:

  • Technical support - We will have staff available to help if needed and you will have information about how to reach out
  • Managing any files or videos - Our production staff will have everything pre-loaded into Pathable before the session starts

Special Sessions / Panels

Special sessions and panels will, for the most part, manage their own sessions. However, we will need session chairs to be available to help with some key logistical duites:

  • Acting as the primary host for the Zoom meeting (all presenters will automatically be co-hosts in Zoom, so you do not have to manage this)
  • Being responsbile for starting the session on time
  • Introducing each presenter (see information above about best practices for this)
  • Keeping time and giving warnings - special sessions and panels have the entire 105 minute block to use as they wish, but they do need to end on time

You are not responsible for:

  • Technical support - We will have staff available to help if needed and you will have information about how to reach out
  • Managing any files or videos - Our production staff will have everything pre-loaded into Pathable before the session starts

Thank you for chairing a session at SIGCSE TS 2021!