Guidelines for Session Participants
General Information
Highlights
Moderators, panelists, and presenters are encouraged to submit an abstract of their current work for the Research and Practice Highlights section of the Workshop notebook. All Workshop participants receive correspondence regarding how to submit an abstract of their current work.
Audience
The audience will include academics and practitioners with diverse backgrounds, experience, and knowledge. Because of this diversity, it will be helpful to define any legal and technical terms and acronyms.
Plenaries and Monday and Tuesday Concurrent Sessions
Format
These panels have a moderator and three to five panelists. Since panels are intended to provoke discussion, we recommend moderators provide background information on the issue and present prepared questions at the opening of the session.
Session Time
These sessions are 90 minutes long. Panelists will have about 10 minutes each to respond to the moderator's questions. After all panelists have spoken, the moderator will open the discussion to the audience, leaving about half the session for question and answer.
PowerPoints
PowerPoint presentations are only allowed in the Plenary sessions. PowerPoint is not available in the Monday or Tuesday afternoon concurrent sessions.
Moderator Role
Moderators help create an atmosphere where researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from wide-ranging backgrounds can exchange ideas in a positive, constructive environment.
Moderators have three critical responsibilities:
Formulate panel questions. Submit three to four questions directly to session panelists by the date requested.
Keep the session on time and on track. Student volunteers at the Workshop will help with timekeeping, but moderators should be prepared to politely encourage panelists and audience members to keep their remarks brief and focused to allow maximum participation from the widest range of persons possible.
Introduce the panel topic and panelists. Facilitate panelist remarks in response to guiding questions. Ensure the question and comment period runs smoothly, allowing for open remarks from participants and for as many questions to be asked and addressed as possible.
Moderators will develop questions that help guide the discussion and provide a framework for the session. They should give careful thought in designing questions, taking into account the unique perspectives and experiences panel members bring to the issue. Moderators are encouraged to schedule at least one conference call with panelists in advance of the Workshop, in order to discuss the questions or alternatives.
Panelist Role
Panelists, who are invited to sit on Workshop panels because of their experience and knowledge, play an integral role in the success of the Workshop. Panelists should know that their role is twofold: 1) to share what they know and what they have done; and, 2) to engage the audience. Panelists are really provocateurs for those in the audience, who are experts in their own right and often have important stories and information to share.
Each moderator develops three to four questions, which will be sent to panel members during the Workshop planning period. Panelists will then have about 10 minutes to respond to the set of questions during the actual Workshop session.
We strongly recommend that the moderator and panelists schedule a group call in advance of the Workshop to organize the session.
Wednesday Research and Practice Sessions
The Wednesday morning Research and Practice concurrent sessions are dedicated to sharing specific new and ongoing programs, initiatives, or policy updates that will be of broad interest to our hazards and disaster community.
Session Time
Wednesday Research and Practice sessions are 60 minutes long. Presenters typically open these sessions by sharing new research, program, or initiative updates. They then often reserve the remaining 15 minutes for audience interaction, feedback, and questions.
Powerpoint
Wednesday morning sessions will have PowerPoint available, but presenters are not required to use it. If you choose to use PowerPoint for your presentation, we will send around instructions for getting your slides loaded in advance, and we will ask that you please adhere to this request, as these sessions will start and end sharply on time.
Moderator Role
The role of the moderator for these sessions is to introduce the speakers, briefly set the stage for the session, and keep all presentations on time.
Presenter Role
Presenters for the Wednesday sessions will present on the program, activity, or policy update that they are involved in and make sure it connects to the topic of the session and other presentations.
We recommend that the moderator and presenters have a group call in advance of the Workshop to organize the session approach and format.