Thank you for agreeing to moderate a session at the 3rd National Surface Transportation Weather Symposium (3rd NSTWS), July 25-27, 2007. This document contains details regarding your role and responsibilities as a session moderator for the event. Each speaker will receive a similar document to ensure that the moderators and speakers have a mutual understanding regarding each others’ expectations at the symposium.
Please review this document carefully prior to engaging your session speakers. If you have any questions regarding your role and responsibilities or you need assistance in contacting your speakers, please contact Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, at frank.estis@noaa.gov, or by phone at 301-427-2056, ext 27.
Registration
Moderators will need to register for the 3rd NSTWS. You may register on-line.
Click
here.
Moderator’s
Role
The moderator’s role is to orchestrate the speakers’ performances
to produce a energetic, interesting and informative session. This involves
not only playing the role of master of ceremonies during the session,
but also coordinating and guiding the speakers in their preparation for
the event. Most sessions feature a panel of four or five presenters in
a 90-minute time period, so it is important to help each speaker to keep
their presentation to 15 minutes or less to allow time at the end of the
session for questions and answers.
Moderator’s
Responsibilities
Session
Moderators will be responsible for the following:
- Prepare a stage-setting
introduction for the session.
- What is the session intended to accomplish?
- What are the background issues, needs, requirements that make this subject important to the audience?
- Are there ongoing activities that the speakers may not cover because they are outside there area of responsibility, but should be quickly listed as part of an overview for the benefit of the audience?
- Conduct a conference call with your speakers prior to the symposium
- Inform all speakers that they must be registered for the symposium to participate in the session
- Collect a short speaker biography for each speaker for your use at the symposium
- Verify with Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, the order of your speakers
- Verify your introductions and review presentations topics to avoid duplication
- Instruct the speakers on the electronic timer that will provide a clear signal to the speakers that they are within two minutes of their allotted time
- Request that each speaker make arrangements for his or her own replacement should they be unable to participate in the session at the last minute - be sure to collect the replacement’s name and contact information and forward the information to Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, at frank.estis@noaa.gov, or by phone at 301-427-2056, ext 27, as soon as you have it available.
- Hold all questions until after all panel members have spoken. Prepare one or two questions to ask in case the audience needs prompting
- Arrange to meet onsite 30 minutes prior to your session to address last minute changes, etc.
- Keep speaker presentations in the same order as they appear in the program
- At beginning of session, remind attendees to turn off cell phones
Session Equipment, Room, & Materials
Equipment
For each session, the symposium sponsors will provide all projection and audio equipment required for the presentations.Rooms
All sessions will take place in the main meeting room with chairs and tables in classroom arrangement, a table for the moderator and speakers on a riser at the front of the room, and a podium.Materials
Tent cards and water for the moderator and speakers will be available in the room.
Contacting
Speakers
Your speakers’
email addresses and pertinent contact information has been provided in
the email accompanying this document.
It is advisable you contact the speakers prior to the symposium to:
- review the structure and content of the session, confirm what he or she plans to present so that you can request necessary adjustments to create a coherent session and — most importantly — avoid duplication, and
- reiterate all responsibilities and issue any requests.
The best way in ensure a smooth session is to set up a conference call with your speakers before the meeting, and maintain regular correspondence via email up to the symposium. Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, will be happy to help maintain this communication, as well as assist in coordinating the conference call. If you need assistance, please let him know if you need help ASAP.
Collecting
Presentations
Moderators are requested
to help with collecting all session presentations prior to the symposium
by having speakers provide their presentations to Ken Barnett, OFCM, Audio
Visual Coordinator, kenneth.barnett@noaa.gov, by 12:00 a.m. EDT on July
22, 2007, via the OFCM ftp site.
FTP directions will
be emailed to presenters. All files will need to be transferred to the
ftp site. (Movies. Please also upload all movies, they are NOT embedded
in the file. If you don’t upload the movies they will not run during
the conference.)
If, when onsite, moderators find they have had a speaker replaced or a
speaker has significantly revised his or her presentation since the original
presentation was provided, moderators are asked to direct the speaker
immediately to Ken Barnett, OFCM, Audio Visual Coordinator, for upload
of the presentation on-site. Any presentations provided on site must be
provided on a CD or memory stick.
When helping speakers prepare their presentations, please have them use the following file naming convention in saving the presentations electronically. Speakers should name their presentation following this format: s for session, session number, dash, two digit presentation number, and their last name. Example: s2-04barnett.ppt (which tells us, Mr. Barnett is the fourth speaker in session two.)
Movies. If they plan to have movies in their presentation, please also name them following the same format, adding any helpful information after the last name.
Example: s2-04barnett-volcano.avi.
Meeting Onsite
Speakers will be asked
to meet in the main meeting room 30 minutes prior to the start of the
session. Please ensure all speakers provide their presentations to Ken
Barnett, OFCM, Audio Visual Coordinator, well before the session start
time. At this time, you should also review the time available for each
speaker. Instruct the speakers on the electronic timer that will provide
a clear signal to the speakers that they are within two minutes of their
allotted time, the laser pointer, and slide advancer device.
At the Session
You
should start the session on time and make any “announcements”.
Introduce each speaker with his or her brief biographical note. Make sure
you can properly pronounce the speaker’s name and any affiliations
that you read out. Bring each talk to a firm ending if it begins to go
overtime. Audience members appreciate being rewarded for their attention
by being afforded an opportunity for questions and answers during the
last 20–30 minutes of the session. Prepare one or two questions
in case the audience needs prompting.
End of Session
Please thank the speakers
and the audience for their participation.
Attention:
Adjourn the session no later than the time shown in the program. If there
is a very spirited discussion, you may officially close the session but
invite interested parties to continue the discussion until the room is
no longer available.
Presentation
Coordination
This
document contains details regarding your role and responsibilities as
a session speaker for the 3rd National Surface Transportation Weather
Symposium (3rd NSTWS), July 25-27, 2007. Each moderator will receive a
similar document to ensure that the moderators and speakers have a mutual
understanding regarding each others’ expectations at the symposium.
In addition to these guidelines, your moderator will be working with Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, who has been assigned to assist you with planning and finalizing the details of your session.
Please review this document carefully. If you have any questions regarding your role and responsibilities or you need assistance in contacting your session moderator, please contact Frank Estis, Co-Technical Conference Coordinator, at frank.estis@noaa.gov, or by phone at 301-427-2056, ext 27.
Registration
Speakers will need
to register for the 3rd NSTWS. You may register on-line. Click
here.
Speaker’s Role
As a session speaker,
your presentation should be well-organized, and in keeping within the
time allotted, 15 minutes, to afford equal time to all speakers and permit
questions and answers. Your session moderator has been selected to ensure
the success of our session. Your cooperation with and accessibility to
him/her is greatly appreciated.
Speaker’s
Responsibilities
Session speakers will
be responsible for the following:
- Participating on a conference call with your moderator and other speakers prior to the symposium
- Registering for the symposium
- Providing a short speaker biography to your Moderator
- Coordinating with your Moderator to review your introductions and presentation topics to avoid duplication
- Coordinating with your Moderator to understand the electronic timer that will provide a clear signal that you are within two minutes of your allotted time
- Making arrangements for your own replacement speaker should you be unable to participate in the session at the last minute and provide your replacement’s name and contact information to your Moderator as soon as practicable
- Coordinating with your Moderator, arrange to meet onsite 30 minutes prior to address last minute changes, etc.
- Provide a copy of your presentation to Ken Barnett, OFCM, Audio Visual Coordinator, kenneth.barnett@noaa.gov, 301-427-2056, ext 31, by 12:00 a.m. EDT on July 22, 2007, via the OFCM ftp site. Also, bring a copy of your presentation to the session via portable USB device or CD-ROM as a backup.
Session Equipment, Room, & Materials
Equipment
For each session, the symposium sponsors will provide all projection and audio equipment required for the presentations.Rooms
All sessions will take place in the main meeting room with chairs and tables in classroom arrangement, a table for the moderator and speakers on a riser at the front of the room, and a podium.Materials
Tent cards and water for the moderator and speakers will be available in the room.
Turn in Your
Presentation
We are collecting all presentations before the conference. This
allows our AV technicians to check for compatibility issues, virus scan,
and deal with any other issues that could arise. Please turn in a finished
version if at all possible; we would
like to prevent having to load last minute updates.
Timeline
Please
turn in presentation to the ftp site by 12:00 a.m. EDT on July 22, 2007.
After this time the ftp site will not be accessible.
File Naming
Name
your presentation following this format: s for session, session number,
dash, two digit presentation number, and your last name.
Example: s2-04barnett.ppt (which tells us, Mr. Barnett is the fourth speaker
in session two.)
Movies. If you plan to have movies in your presentation, please also name them following the same format, adding any helpful information after the last name.
Example: s2-04barnett-volcano.avi.
FTP Directions
FTP
directions will be emailed to presenters. All files will need to be transferred
to the ftp site. Please upload all movies also, they are NOT embedded
in the file. If you don’t upload the movies they will not run during
the conference.
Structure
and Content
PowerPoint Presentation is highly encouraged for all speakers.
We will have a computerized LCD screen projection, a computer, a remote
mouse, and a laser pointer. Individual’s laptop
computers will not be used to avoid unnecessary delays between speakers.
The speaker will use the remote mouse to advance the slides. The computers will run from an AV station off to the side, where the AV technician will have your presentation ready and projected on the screen. There will also be a large monitor on the floor in front of the speaker, to assist and help prevent the speaker from having to look back at the projection screen.
Version
The
computers will be running the Windows XP operating system with Office
2003 installed, so it is preferred that you save your presentation in
this format.
PDF as a last resort. Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) is a last resort for making presentations because the speaker will not be able to advance the slides with the remote mouse. (The speaker will have to say “next slide” to advance through the presentation.)
Resolution
The
computers will be running with 1024 by 768 resolution and 32 bit color.
Internet Access
There will be NO internet access
on the presentation computers.
Web site reference
If
you have a web site relative to your topic or organization, please include
the link in your presentation.
Movies
All
movies should start automatically. Moving the cursor of the remote mouse
to click on the movie to start it can be somewhat difficult. (All movies
should be named properly before they are inserted and they will need to
be uploaded with the presentation to the ftp site.)
Sound
Sound
in a presentation should be avoided. If it is necessary, please contact
the AV technician. Kenneth.Barnett@noaa.gov.
Animation
Slide
transitions and bullet animations should also be kept to a minimum.
Questions?
All
questions regarding presentations should be sent to Kenneth.Barnett@noaa.gov.