21st Biennial Conference on
Chemical Education

University Of North Texas, Denton, TX
1-5 August 2010

"A New Decade For Opportunity"

Abstract submission is from November 21, 2009
to February 12, 2010.

Duties of the Presider of a Symposium

As the presider of a symposium, you are responsible for the following:

1. Picking up your presider packet of information when you do your check-in registration on campus.
2. Visiting the room the symposium is scheduled to be in ahead of time and checking it out to see that it has all of the equipment you requested for the symposium.Arriving early at your scheduled room on the day of the symposium and checking all of the presentation equipment.
3. Greeting the presenters as they arrive. Introduce yourself and introduce the presenters to each other (if they do not already know each other).
4. Starting and ending the symposium on time.
5. Keeping the speakers within their time limit, for having the speakers start their talk on time as published in the 21^st BCCE program book, and for announcing any speakers who have cancelled at the last minute. You may not change the order of the presentation of speakers. At the end of each presentation, you moderate a short 2-4 minute discussion session (if there are 2-4 minutes until the next person talks). This involves, selecting individuals who wish to ask the speaker questions. As a presider, you may not start a paper early if the previous speaker finishes early or if the previous speaker has cancelled. Usually, there is a short 10 minute break scheduled every two hours or so.
6. Counting the number of people who are attending the symposium. Do this head count two or three times during the morning and two or three times during the afternoon.

Please note that usually, the organizer or the presider present a brief introduction and closing.

If anything goes wrong that needs to be fixed, you can contact one of the 21^st BCCE workers or technicians. If anything goes wrong that is not going to be fixed or if an immediate decision needs to be made - for example the power goes out, there is a tornado warning, there is a stampede, etc. you need to make a wise decision about what to do.

Click to downlaod a PDF of Duties of the Presider of a Symposium.

Symposia questions? Contact

Join the 21st BCCE listserv to obtain information and deadlines relating to the conference.
The 21st BCCE is sponsored by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society.
Symposia questions? Contact