PRSC 2024 Guidance for Chairs

The conference is an opportunity for PG research students to share their work in progress with others in a friendly and supportive atmosphere and benefit from feedback that helps them improve their work.

When is the training session for Chairs?

• This is an online session taking place on July 1st, 2:00pm - 2:45pm

• Join Zoom meeting
  https://mdx-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96156699560? pwd=dGN4RDNObmZZbFgxVW45ZTJweTV4Zz09
  Meeting ID: 961 5669 9560
  Passcode: 898920

  What is my role as chair?

• Each parallel session will typically last 90 min. The sessions usually consist of 3-4 presentations. Each presentation lasts about 15 min and is followed by a 5 min Q&A.
• Each presentation (both in-person on the first day and online on the second day) will be chaired by a team, made up of a PGR student and a member of staff as co-chairs.
• This is an opportunity for PGR students to gain much valued experience in chairing conference sessions and therefore academic staff are encouraged to take on more of a mentoring role.
• The chairs are responsible for: leading the session, handling introductions, timekeeping, facilitating Q&A, and closing the session, as is typical in a conference setting.
• Training for chairs will be provided on 1st July 2024, 2:00pm - 2:45pm on Zoom. More information is available at https://mdx-postgraduate.libcal.com/event/4221157
• If you have questions regarding volunteering to chair a session, please contact us at summerconference@mdx.ac.uk

Day 1 - Instructions for chairs for in-person day at Hendon

• On the first day of the conference (3rd July) sessions will be held in person in assigned classrooms at the Hendon campus. The main meeting point will be in the College Building Quad.
• Check in at the welcome and registration desk in the morning when you arrive.
• Go to your assigned room 5-10 min before the start of a session to greet the speakers and to assist them to set up for their presentation. Conference staff and technical assistance will be available on the day should you need any special assistance.
• Ask each presenter to copy their slides to the desktop of the computer before the session starts. This will give each presenter the chance to check their slides and also help minimise the time needed to switch presenters during the actual session. * Before each presentation, very briefly welcome and introduce the presenter.
• During the presentation, your role is to help with timekeeping. Your chair’s pack will contain signs (5 min left, stop) that you can use to keep the presenters on time. Each presenter has 15 min to present and 5 min for Q&A.
• At the end of the 15 min presentation, thank the presenter and open up the floor for questions. Your role is to indicate who is to ask the next question and to make sure the Q&A does not run over time.
• If the audience has no questions for the presenter at the end of the talk, as chairs please be ready to ask a question after each presentation. You can pick up on interesting points mentioned in the presentation or ask about their motivations or future plans.
• If there are too many questions, please keep an eye on the time to ensure every presenter has a chance to present. You can always suggest that the audience approaches the presenter in the break to ask their questions. * At the end of the session thank every presenter and the audience.
• Timekeeping is a key responsibility. Please make sure the session ends on time so that the overall conference schedule is not delayed and no-one is disadvantaged.
• Conference staff and technical assistance will be available on the day, but you are expected to provide simple guidance to the presenters, such as how to copy their slides on the desktop or how to use a clicker.

DAY 2 - Instructions for chairs for the online day

• The second day of the conference (4th July) will be help entirely online on Zoom.
• It is best to access Zoom through the software downloaded to your computer. Mdx computers should already have this installed.
• The zoom room allocated for the presentation is available on the programme guide.
• Log on to your assigned room 5-10 min before the start of a session to greet the speakers and to assist them to set up for their presentation. Conference staff and technical assistance will be available on the day but you are expected to manage the zoom room as chair. As chair you will have either Host or Co-host rights on Zoom.
• Ask each presenter to test sharing their slides before the session starts. This will give each presenter the chance to check their slides and sort out any technical issues in advance. Presenters can click on ‘Share’ at the bottom of the screen to start their slides. This feature will be enabled for each Zoom room, but if not, you can click on ‘Host tools” at the bottom of the screen and tick “allow all participants to share screen’.
• Before each presentation, very briefly welcome and introduce the presenter.
• Please ask the audience the mute their mic and put on their cameras. Presenters often like to see who they are talking to!
• Tell the audience that they can put questions in the chat during the talk. The presenters will not be able to monitor the chat while they present, so it is your job as the chair to do that. Note some of the questions from the chat that you can ask during the Q&A part.
• During the presentation, your role is to help with timekeeping. Agree with the presenters how you will assist them with their timekeeping, e.g. alerting them 5 min before the end of their talk. Each presenter has 15 min to present and 5 min for Q&A.
• At the end of the 15 min presentation, thank the presenter and open up the floor for questions.
• If the chat has been active during the presentation, pick out some key questions to ask the presenter.
• Alternatively, you can ask the audience to ask questions by raising their hand and using their voice. The raise hand feature is availably by clicking on “react’ and clicking ‘Raise hand’ on the bottom menu. Your role is to indicate who is to ask the next question and to make sure the Q&A does not run over time. Call each person by name, only one person talking at a time.
• If the audience has no questions for the presenter at the end of the talk, as chairs please be ready to ask the first question after each presentation. You can pick up on interesting points mentioned in the presentation or ask about their motivations or future plans.
• If there are too many questions, please keep an eye on the time to ensure every presenter has a chance to present. You can always suggest that the audience approaches the presenter in the break to ask their questions.
• At the end of the session thank every presenter and the audience.
• Timekeeping is a key responsibility. Please make sure the session ends on time so that the overall conference schedule is not delayed and no-one is disadvantaged.

What to do if a presenter does not show up?

• Each session is scheduled to host 3-4 presentations. If a presenter is not present, then you should a) proceed to the next presenter, b) alert the conference team ASAP so we can investigate the issue immediately.

  There will be members of the conference team near the rooms, so we suggest one of the chairs goes to find them quickly.

• After everyone presented, invite the audience to ask additional questions from any of the presenters in the session or use the time for extra networking. Please note that there may be last-minute substitutions on the day.What to do if my co-chair does not show up?

What to do if there are technical problems on the first day of the conference (3rd July)?

• Try to resolve the issue in the room. For example, help presenters copy their slides to the desktop, show them how to use the clicker, check their slides are working as intended.
• If you need technical help, you can phone the AV team on 0208 411 5810
• Members of the conference team will also be available to provide assistance or contact AV for you

What to do if my co-chair does not show up?

• In the event that a chair is unable to attend, we ask the other member of the chair team for that session to take on the chair's responsibilities. If given enough notice, we will arrange for a substitution.

  What should we do in case of any technical problem on Zoom on the second day of the conference (4th July)?

  Attend the training sessions for Chairs to ensure that you are familiar with the protocol.

• Familiarise yourself with Zoom. Download the app to your computer, check that you know how to share screen, mute sound and enable your video.

• If you encounter any unexpected issues with Zoom during a session, please contact us at summerconference@mdx.ac.uk or Monica Millan at 020 8411 3017

  When is the training session for Chairs?

  This is on online session taking place on 1st July, 2:00 - 2:45pm

• Join Zoom meeting
  https://mdx-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96156699560? pwd=dGN4RDNObmZZbFgxVW45ZTJweTV4Zz09
  Meeting ID: 961 5669 9560
  Passcode: 898920

  Postgraduate Researchers' Summer Conference 2024 Chairs: Dr Agi Ryder, Dr Tuan Le, and Prof Eleonore Kofman

Poster Presentation Guidelines

• Title
• Author(s)
• Type of contribution: (a) individual paper; (b) poster; (c) self-organised symposium; (d) performance; (e) video screening with commentary
• Names of supervisory team
• Degree start date
• Stage of research (e.g. registration/stage 1 review, transferred/stage 2 review, writing up if applicable)
• Department
• Indicate that the abstract has been reviewed and approved by your supervisory team
• Indicate whether you wish to participate (a) on campus or (b) virtually (reasons for virtual presentation should be provided). Virtual presentation must be agreed by your supervisor and the conference chairs.
• 5 keywords/subject areas

• How your research responds to the conference theme
• Introduction to provide a rationale for your research
• Aim(s) of your research
• Research methods used or planned
• Current or expected findings and contribution"