WSFR Graduate Student Symposium
Guidelines
for Moderators
(Modified from the 2002 Dakota & Nebraska AFS Chapters Joint
Meeting)
Thank you
for agreeing to be a session moderator at the Graduate Student Symposium. Your
contribution
will be an important part of making the symposium a success. As a moderator,
you
are
responsible for ensuring that (1) speakers' presentations are loaded in the
proper folder on the
computer
desktop, (2) the session and speakers are introduced to the audience, (3) each
presentation
of your session starts and ends on time, and (4) the audience interacts with
the
speakers.
The following guidelines will help make moderating easy and enjoyable.
Before
the Session
1. Plan to
arrive at the seminar room at least 10 min before the session begins to meet
the
presenters
and load their presentations. Save their presentations on the desktop in the
folder for
their session.
2. Make
sure your watch shows the correct time.
3. Make
sure that you have received the following: correct pronunciation of the
speaker’s
name,
affiliation, address and presentation title.
4. Read
the Guidelines for Oral Presentations that was sent to you and your speakers,
and
make sure
that you can respond to questions from the speakers.
5. Remind
speakers that they should limit their presentation to 11-12 minutes and allow
3-4
minutes
for questions.
6. Tell
the speakers that at 10 minutes you will hold up the “10” sign, at 12 minutes
you will
hold up
the “12” sign, and you will stand at 14 minutes to signal that the presenter
must
finish
their sentence and leave the stage.
7. If
there is time for questions, the audience may be hesitant to begin asking.
Prepare for
this by
developing a question or two to “prime the pump” for audience questions and
dialogue.
During
the Session
1. It is
very important that the session start on time. If you feel the need to
introduce
yourself
and make a few introductory comments, this must be done either just before the
start of
the session or just before introducing the first speaker. You should be able to
introduce
yourself and the session theme in less than one minute.
2. Start
each presentation on time and introduce the speaker.
3. Speaker
introductions should be brief (< 15 seconds). The introduction should only
include
the speaker’s name, major professor, and title of the presentation.
4. Signal
to each speaker how much time has elapsed, as detailed above (# 6 in
"Before the
Session").
5. Keep
track of the time used for questions and stop when appropriate. Do not cut into
the
next
speaker’s time. Be firm and move speaker off by the arm at 15 min, even if
there
was no
time for questions.
6. Lead
the audience in applause at the conclusion of the questions.