For chairs

The Zoom ‘host’ role will be passed from chair to chair – please don’t forget to make the next chair the host (you can do this well before the next session begins, even during your own).

Recording

We plan to have one recording per shift (just leave it running) but if someone asks for it to be paused, please do so (and un-pause as soon as they have confirmed it can be put back on). The request will be removed from any published recording so they do not have to ask discreetly or secretively. If you realise that it has been left off from previously, please simply resume the recording.

Muting people

Background noise is a menace for neurodivergents in particular; if you can see a participant is not muted (and has no reason to be unmuted) please simply mute them without any announcement. The default settings allow people to unmute themselves but hopefully you won’t need to do anything drastic (such as warning the presenter, muting everyone, then letting the presenter return). If you do, please do so with confidence!

Timing

Timing is the key job of the chair. We encourage chairs strongly to be very literal about time. You will probably need to verbally interrupt speakers with ‘X minutes to go’ warnings as they are unlikely to be watching the chat. Please be confident in curtailing even the liveliest discussion and note that there are frequent breaks if people wish to continue then (this is far preferable to running the session into the break).

We also strongly encourage chairs to be present a few minutes before the session starts (ie during the break) to check they have speakers, test screen-sharing and so on.

Please note not all talks have the same time allocation: there are lightning talks (5 minutes of presenting, 5 minutes for discussion), 15-minute talks (with 15 for discussion) and roundtable discussions (one hour). The timings on EasyChair should make this clear.

Introductions

We are not expecting chairs to give introductions beyond announcing the session, reminding people to stay muted when not speaking and then announcing the speakers and their talk.

Absent speakers, poor connections

We expect people will be arriving in time for particular talks so rearranging speakers on the fly may become necessary – please do so if someone has not arrived by their set time or offer it if someone says they will need a few minutes to get their computer/connection sorted out.

Troublemakers

There is a very small chance someone will come simply to cause mischief. If you think this is the case, please give them one clear warning and then remove them from the meeting. This cannot (in practice) be revoked and will ban them from whichever room they are currently in (but not all of them). Please let the Shift Commanders know their name.