AGU 2000 Fall Meeting
Oral Session Chairperson's Guidelines

  1. Please check the program and addendum for any changes or updates to your session.

  2. You may use any reasonable means to stop a speaker who has exceeded the assigned time allotment.
    *** The session must stay on schedule so that individuals who are presenting a paper or individuals who wish to hear a specific talk may do so without concerns of time.

  3. If a paper has been withdrawn or the speaker does not appear, you may either call for discussion of previous papers in that session or call a recess. Please record any no-show authors on the Chairperson's Evaluation Form.

  4. Familiarize yourself in advance with the pronunciation of the speakers' names and state the author's affiliation when introducing speakers. This information is published in the Eos abstract volume and the at-meeting program.

  5. You may need to interrupt speakers in order to ask them to speak more audibly, slowly, or clearly; face the audience; or briefly explain the message of an illegible slide or transparency.

  6. The chairperson, not the speakers, conducts the discussion by recognizing participants on the floor. Make sure that during discussions, participants identify themselves and speak audibly so the audience can hear the questions as well as the replies.

  7. If a paper draws no questions from the floor, you are encouraged to ask questions in an attempt to stimulate discussion, if time allows. On the other hand, some papers elicit more than the usual number of comments, so judge accordingly.

  8. To maintain the schedule it may be necessary to defer lengthy discussions to the end of the session or to suggest that the discussion be continued in private, once the session has ended.

  9. No new presentations may be added to the session.