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General Information
The conference committee would like to thank the people that have agreed to act as session chairs at the
2014 First Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference. Session chairs play an important role in
ensuring the conference runs smoothly and that the technical presentations are a valuable experience
for both speakers and attendees.
Preparations for the 2014 FYEE Conference are progressing along.
To review the program
click on the Session link on the left menu.
We are now at the point where we are making a general call for
session chairs. We need chairs for a variety of sessions,
if you are interestered in chairing any session, send an email to
budny@pitt.edu with the session you wish to chair.
For a list of the FYEE 2014 session chairs click here. If there is no session chair
listed for a session, that means we need a chair. So pick one and contact us.
Technical sessions are 90 or 105 minutes long. Interactive workshop sessions
are allocated the entire time, with the format determined by the nature of the session.
All of the sessions within the same time slot will maintain the same starting time
for papers as shown in the table below. This is to enable "session hopping" where
papers of interest are in different sessions, but are not presented at the same
time.
If there is a "no-show" author in a session, the moderator will conduct an open
forum on the theme of the session between the presenters and the audience during
this empty time slot. Papers will NOT be moved up in sessions. If the last paper
is a "no-show" the session will end early.
90-minute paper sessions will consist of four (4) presentations. Each paper will be allotted 15 minutes
for the presentation and questions. The moderator will use part of
each of the 15-minute segments for introductions and instructions. See
Information on the Presentation Schedule.
The primary responsibilities of session chairs are to:
- Help develop a title for the session that describes the focus of each paper
- Read the papers in advance of the session
- Contact the authors in the session to make sure you know which author will be presenting
and how to pronounce their names
- Introduce the session and make any FYEE announcements that are needed.
- Manage time during the session - hold each presentation to its time limit,
- Briefly introduce each speaker and paper.
- Manage audience questions, and ensure that presentations occur within their predefined
time slots.
- Manage the end of session open discussion period
In order to help you prepare for your responsibilities as a session chair, here
are some additional details and suggestions:
- Please be at your session room 15 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time.
This will allow time to meet the speakers, collect their bios for introductions,
discuss session procedures, and preload all of the electronic presentations onto
the computer in the session room. On the table at the front of your session room
should be a packet of information, including a detailed schedule and list of papers,
session instructions, a list of announcements, and a session evaluation form.
- Each session room will have an LCD projector connected
to a computer. Authors using PowerPoint presentations have been asked to bring their
file on a CD and/or memory stick so that it can be loaded onto the session room
computer. There will be a assistant to help with technical problems.
- In each session, each presenter is allotted 15 minutes for the talk, plus
for questions. This will allow you time for introductions at the beginning of each
paper in the session. If the speaker talks for less than the allotted time, the
extra time can be used for audience questions. To help speakers stay on schedule,
we suggest that you provide a prearranged cue for presenters when they have 5 minutes
left and when they have 2 minutes left. If a speaker runs beyond the total scheduled
time slot, it may be necessary for you to stand up and cut off the presentation.
- Be prepared to help speakers manage the question period following each presentation.
Keep track of the available time and limit questions, if necessary. You may need
to reminder speakers to repeat the question, so everyone can hear it, or even to
ask the first question or two if the audience is not very responsive.
- In a few cases, no paper is scheduled for the final slot in a session. Additionally,
there will probably be a few "no-shows" during the conference. In such cases, you
must still follow the announced presentation schedule and not increase the time
for each presentation or move presentations forward.
- Please
find your session listing and verify the time and room. Author contact information
is listed in the footnotes at the bottom of the first page in each paper, so you
may wish to email the authors, introduce yourself as session chair, and ask the
presenting authors to prepare a short bio that you can use for introductions. You
also may wish to remind them of the time limits and encourage them to rehearse their
talks.
Again, thanks for your assistance with FYEE 2014. If you have any questions, please
contact any member of the program committee.
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