I recently spoke at the Festival of Biologics 2021 conference in Basel (in-person, just in time!), and was lucky enough to be offered the chance to chair a session of talks. As this was the first time I’d ever been asked to do this, I asked Charlotte for some hints to make things go more smoothly. I found her advice very useful, so I thought I’d share it here for other first-time “chairers”!
1 – Prepare your introductions ahead of the conference.
Before each talk you will need to introduce the upcoming speaker. Ideally these introductions want to be snappy (so you don’t eat into their time!) and about the same length for each speaker. I tried to stick to a consistent formula: mention the speaker’s highest degree/institution, a brief sentence about their career path, the speaker’s current role/workplace, and introduce the talk title.
2 – Prepare post-talk questions ahead of the conference.
This might seem challenging before you’ve heard the talk itself, but often I found I could cross-reference a talk title with recent publications from the speaker’s research group/company, providing a “route in” to some more specific questions. In cases where there was no obvious literature I prepared a general question about how the work fits into the field at large/will influence future developments. Of course, questions usually come to mind during the talk itself, but it’s nice to feel prepared in case faced with a silent audience!
3 – Strategise keeping to time.
One of the most challenging aspects of chairing is cutting off a speaker if they are running over. If possible, meet the speakers just before the session begins to introduce yourself and reiterate the expected talk:Q&A time split. You can also agree a “time warning” signal with the speaker in advance. If they show no signs of concluding, you can quietly stand up and move to the side of the stage when time is getting especially tight. If the speaker is still mid-flow, you will have to politely step in and invite the audience to show their appreciation for the talk. Don’t be afraid to move on without Q&A if the speaker is out of time, especially if the conference has several concurrent sessions and people are moving between them to catch talks of interest.
4 – Know how you’re going to handle technical issues.
Even the best-planned events can have technical difficulties, particularly in this new era of hybrid events. We had two instances of this in our track: one where a prerecorded video would not display properly on the screen and one where a remote attendee could not share their slides. The logistics of the day are not the chair’s responsibility, but you should be prepared in case something goes wrong. If a problem takes a long time to address, it may become necessary to reschedule the talk to later in the conference (e.g. the end of the session) and to restart the session with the next presenter at their alloted time. Again, this is crucial at multi-track conferences, otherwise you’ll be entirely out-of-step with the rest of the programme.
5 – Sound engaging!
Finally, the energy you bring to chairing sets the tone for the session of talks. An engaged chair can lift a session and make it a more fun experience for everyone. Putting in the work to do (1) and (2) ahead of the event is key to having the confidence to throw a bit of personality into the role.
