Moderator Duties and Guidelines

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Days Before Your Session

Review the session info you received by email on January 24 to find your name, session details (date, time, room number) and contact information for your session presenters.
Review the Attendee Info page for additional information on venue location, parking, etc.
Familiarize yourself with your session’s presenters and topics
Touch base with your presenters via email, phone, or Zoom and make sure they have the info they need. Presenters have been informed of the date and time of their presentation, but please confirm those details with them.
Draft one or two questions about each presentation. You’ll use these, if needed, to encourage discussion from the audience during Q&A.

Arrive at your session room at least 10 minutes early to meet with your Room Technician and to make sure all the presenters have arrived.
The Technician will assist presenters with loading their presentation files on the podium laptop. They will also manage the Zoom webcast and questions/comments from the virtual attendees.
Inform the Technician about any missing presenters, audio/video issues, or concerns about the room temperature. They will contact the appropriate event staff, as needed, for additional assistance.

Start the session at the scheduled time.
Welcome attendees.
Remind attendees to turn cell phones to silent mode, and submit the online form to receive PDH credit. A URL and QR code will be provided.
Point out the nearest fire exits, and encourage any late arrivals to find seats.
Introduce each presenter by their Name, Title and Organization only. Please do not read their bios; instead, you may refer the audience to the Symposium website for this info.

Keep track of time. Each session is scheduled for 75 minutes.
Keep each presenter within their allotted time. With some exceptions, sessions have three (3) presenters who should speak for no more than 20 minutes each plus ~5 minutes for Q&A immediately following their presentation.
Alert presenters with time cues at 10-, 5- and 0-minutes remaining. Cue sheets to hold up will be provided for you at the podium.
Encourage and moderate discussion from the in-person and virtual audience. Virtual attendees will post their questions/comments in Zoom. Check with the Technician for any virtual responses; the Technician will read them aloud.
Virtual attendees may be unable to hear questions from the in-person attendees. Ask presenters to repeat the questions in their responses.
When all presenters have finished speaking, encourage additional audience discussion for any remaining time in the session.

End on time, or early when there’s no more discussion from the audience or presenters.
Remind all attendees to submit the online form to receive PDH credit.
Thank the presenters and audience for coming.
Return your Cue sheets to the podium.