The Mundanities of Conference Talks
Or: what your session chair should have told you.
When I was starting out as a Ph.D. student, I always appreciated it when the session chair reached out in advance of the conference to share practical information and ask some basic questions, such as a preprint PDF, how to pronounce my name, specific questions to ask about the work, and so on. Since that time, I always send such an email to my authors when I serve as a session chair myself.
Recently, however, I have noticed that this practice of session chairs reaching out to authors is becoming a rarity. Furthermore, with the restrictions to scientific travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, I am finding a new “lost generation” of students who were never given basic teachings about how to present a scientific paper at a conference. In short, I am writing this post to tell you — someone who is about to give a talk at an upcoming conference — some practical things that your session chair should have told you, but did not. (And yes, this post does have the flavor of an old man yelling at the clouds…)
The things I will tell you next have little to do with your scientific content — there are other guides for this — and more to do with practicalities. First of all, there are things you can do to help your session chair:
- The chair is expected to ask you at least one reasonably insightful question if no one else steps up to the microphone. You can help them by sharing your article in advance. You could even tell them your favorite questions about the work.
- Make sure that you teach the session chair how to pronounce your name (and, optionally, that of your co-authors). This will help them avoid looking foolish when they introduce you during the session. (Some people refuse to do this; don’t worry, the joke’s on them.)
- Check your technology; both the projection as well as your audio and microphone settings. No session chair wants their session disrupted by technical difficulties. (Thanks to Devin Lange for this one.)
The remainder of my points mostly deal with keeping time. After all, it is the job of the session chair to ensure that the session flows smoothly and on time, so make sure that you arrive, stay, answer questions, and leave on time.
Arrive in time
It is customary that you show up at least 15–20 minutes before the session starts. Note that this is not 15 minutes before your talk starts, but before the session starts. The reason is to ensure that the session chair (a) knows that you are in the room and that they don’t need to mount a search, and (b) can pronounce your name correctly. It will also let you (c) check that your laptop connects to the projector in the room and that the audio works.
I have seen session chairs almost tear their hair out because one of their authors is missing, only to have that missing person calmly rise from the audience when their slot is announced. Don’t cause your chair premature hair loss; let me know before the session begins that you are in the room and ready to give your talk.
Stay on time
Please work hard to stay within your allotted talk duration. Yes, you shouldn’t go too long, but you should also make sure that your presentation is not considerably shorter than the allocated time. You are aiming for the “Goldilocks length”: not too long, not too short, just right. Your session chair will likely be using increasingly less subtle means of telling you when the end of your talk slot approaches. If you find them standing next to you on the podium, this may be a sign that it is time to stop talking.
Remember that some conferences have concurrent sessions, so people may want to “session-hop”; leave one session to catch a specific paper at a specific time in a different session. If the talks across the sessions are out of sync, this is difficult to do. Stay on time.
Answer questions on time
You should aim to keep your answers to questions short and to the point. The reason for this — keeping to your time slot — is the same as above. Remember that there are many authors in the session who want to answer questions, and potentially many questioners who want to ask their questions after yours. Finally, no one likes long-winded, abstract, and rambling answers (or long-winded questions) — more often than not, it is better to take such discussions off-line after the session in a less high-pressure setting.
Leave (the podium) on time
By this I mean, you should aim to vacate the speaker podium when your time is up, especially if you find yourself answering long-winded questions that run the risk of encroaching into the next talk slot. When your time is running out, you can start unplugging and packing up your computer while at the same time listening to the question and answering it. This gives the next speaker the chance to get ready for their talk.
Stay (in the room) the whole time
Just don’t up and leave the room at the end of your talk. Many times, there are people in the audience who caught your talk and want to talk to you, perhaps to give you some new insight, to understand your work better, or even to suggest future collaboration on a topic related to your talk. Such opportunities are lost if you leave the room prematurely.
Besides, leaving before the end of the session is not very courteous to the other speakers in the same session. The least you can do is to stay until the end and then hang around the front of the room for a little while so that people can find you. (Thanks to Steven Houben for this last addition.)
I hope that these basic practical tips will make your next conference presentation go smoothly. If you follow them, your session chair will thank you for it. Good luck!
