Present

• Oral sessions will be 90 minutes in length and will take place daily at the following times:
• Monday (24 June) – 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM CDT
• Tuesday/Wednesday (25-26 June) – 8:30 AM – 6:30 PM CDT
• Thursday (27 June) – 10:00 AM – 1:15 PM CDT
• Oral sessions will be in-person only.

Steps for Chairing a Successful Oral Session

1. Register

• You must be registered to chair a session at WaterSciCon24.

Register

2. Get Ready to Chair

• Session chairs play an important role in making sure that session attendees feel safe, welcomed, and included.
• Help ensure that sessions reflect diversity, inclusion, and excellence in science.
• Select one primary chair to introduce and moderate the session, with co-chairs as backups.  
• Reach out to the presenting authors in your session to outline how you will moderate the session. Session chairs can obtain a presenter report via Participant’s Corner, accessible from the User Portal.
  • Review how the session will run and identify a general discussion topic based on the session. You can view the session schedule in the online program.
  • All presenters are instructed to include time for Q&A at the end of their presentation.
  • Prepare to discuss the larger science questions around presentations or to explore future needs and challenges. Think about questions or discussion points to raise if there are no questions for presenters from the audience.
• Practice pronouncing all presenter names and affiliations.
• Be aware that all oral sessions will be recorded (slides and audio only). The recording will be available for attendees to view in the online meeting platform and mobile app, usually within 72 hours.

3. Promote Your Session

• We welcome social media use at WaterSciCon, including live tweeting. Use includes all public settings such as receptions and scientific settings such as oral, poster and all forms for presentations, sessions, lectures, plenaries, and town halls. For more information, click here.

4. Fill Empty Slots

• Check the online program for withdrawn presentations. If a presenter withdraws from an oral session, chairs can request a replacement from the accompanying in-person poster session by contacting the Scientific Program Team.
• This can only be done to and from accompanying sessions.
• This can only be done with the presenter's explicit consent.
• New abstracts cannot be added.
• You can obtain a presenter report via Participant’s Corner, accessible from the User Portal.
• After receiving consent, include the following in your note to the Scientific Program Team:
  • Details of the withdrawn abstract.
  • Details of the abstract that will be moved into the oral presentation slot.
  • The email or message where the presenter gave consent to be moved.

Contact Scientific Program Team

5. Check Your Logistics

• At least one session chair must be present in person in the session room.
• Each session room will be equipped with a PC presentation computer and a speaker timer.
• Speakers or chairs cannot connect their laptops to computer projectors or load their presentation onto the podium computer.
  • Speakers have been instructed to load their presentation online in advance or onsite in the Speaker Ready Room (Meeting Room 9).
  • If you have any introductory slides that you wish to show, you must take these to the Speaker Ready Room at least 24 hours, or as soon as possible, prior to the session.

6. Arrive at Your Session Early

• Arrive at your session 20 minutes before it starts to familiarize yourself with the room setup and to meet with presenters.
• Technical support will be available.
• Allow the looping walk-in slides to run while attendees are arriving.
• Each oral session is equipped with a PC presentation computer. All available uploaded presentations for the session will be saved on the PC for the session.

7. Chair Your Session

• Give short welcome/introductory remarks that acknowledge the audience and encourage participation. Due to safety regulations, please advise the audience not to sit in the aisles or block aisles or doorways.
• Introduce presenters and keep speakers on time. Ensure that all speakers are treated equally and have their fully allotted time.
• If needed, interrupt speakers to ask them to speak more audibly, slowly, or clearly.
• If a presenter is a no-show, do not begin the next paper until its scheduled time. Use the time for discussion/Q&A.
• Moderate Q&A with the audience following each presentation. Keep the session on schedule and do not allow Q&A to go over time.
  • There will be a mic in the audience so that attendees can ask questions.
  • Please ensure questions are asked at the floor microphones or repeat any audience questions through a microphone before allowing them to be answered. This gives everyone in the room and those watching on-demand a chance to hear the question that was asked.
  • Time permitting, facilitate discussion if there are no questions from the audience.
• Treat all presenters and attendees with respect. Be aware of aggressive questioning that borders on bullying or harassment, especially if directed towards students or early career scientists. Please speak up and intervene. Reach out to a WaterSciCon staff person for assistance or report Code of Conduct concerns to [email protected]. For more information about Safe WaterSciCon, please click here.
• End the session at the scheduled time. If there is active discussion, encourage attendees to continue discussion outside of the session room.

• The poster hall (Hall A) will be open for poster viewing Tuesday (25 June) and Wednesday (26 June) from 8:00 A.M. – 6:30 P.M. CDT and on Thursday (27 June) from 8:00 A.M. – 4:15 P.M. CDT. Dedicated poster sessions are scheduled from 1:00 – 3:00 P.M. CDT on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 2:15 - 4:15 P.M. on Thursday.

• It is not possible to present or chair online in an in-person poster session.

Steps for Chairing a Successful Poster Session

1. Register

• You must register to chair a session at WaterSciCon24.
• Please register at least 36 hours in advance of your session.

Register

2. Get Ready to Chair

• Session chairs play an important role in making sure that session attendees feel safe, welcomed, and included.
• Help ensure that sessions reflect diversity, inclusion, and excellence in science.
• Reach out to the presenting authors in your session. Session chairs can obtain a presenter report via Participant’s Corner, accessible from the User Portal.

3. Promote Your Session

• We welcome social media use at WaterSciCon, including live tweeting. Use includes all public settings such as receptions and scientific settings such as oral, poster and all forms for presentations, sessions, lectures, plenaries, and town halls. For more information, click here.

4. Arrive Early

• Arrive before your poster session is scheduled to begin.
• Presenters can set up their posters beginning at 08:00 AM CDT on Monday, 24 June for the most exposure. Posters can remain up all week until 5:00 PM CDT on Thursday, 27 June.
• Help authors having trouble with layout or set-up.
• Make sure authors’ poster boards are numbered correctly and that presenters' posters are hung correctly.
• WaterSciCon staff will be available to help at the Poster Assistance Desk, where presenters can obtain push pins.
• Note any empty poster boards. (You will be asked to complete a post-session evaluation survey and can report any “no-show” presentations.)

5. Chair Your Session

• Encourage participation and respect all presenters and attendees.
• Introduce attendees to authors and facilitate discussion.
• Perform “crowd control” in the aisles if needed.
• Be aware of aggressive questioning that borders on bullying or harassment, especially if directed towards students or early career scientists. Please speak up and intervene.
• Reach out to a WaterSciCon staff person for assistance or report Code of Conduct concerns to [email protected]. For more information about Safe WaterSciCon, please click here.
• Remind authors to remove their posters by Friday at 5:00 CDT. Any posters remaining at that time will be recycled.

Dimensions

• Maximum Poster Dimensions: 45” x 45” (3.75 feet by 3.75 feet). Please do not exceed these maximum dimensions.
• Each presenter will share an 8’W x 4’H poster board side.

Font Recommendations

• Paragraph/captions — 24 points (0.9 centimeters high) minimum
• Headers — 36 points (1.2 centimeters high) minimum
• Use different colors and textures/symbols for each line or bar.
• Use a serif font (e.g., Times) for main text.
• Use a non-serif font (e.g., Arial or Helvetica) for headers and labels.

Organizational Best Practices

• Organize the poster so it is clear, orderly, and self-explanatory.
• Group similar ideas together.
• Label elements as I, II, III; or 1, 2, 3; or A, B, C.
• Avoid clutter (e.g., too much text).
• Include key details such as background, results, and conclusion.
• Put the title and number of your paper at the top of the poster board.
• Highlight authors’ names and contact information.

Important Details

• Do not laminate your poster so that it can be recycled.
• Make sure diagrams or charts can be read from 2 meters away.
• Allow for a 2.54-centimeter (1-inch) border.