Whether this is your first time chairing an AGU Fall Meeting oral session or you are experienced at overseeing an AGU Fall Meeting oral session, you are encouraged to either view the Online Chair Training or plan to attend one of two 30-minute sessions onsite in Washington, D.C. AGU’s audio-visual team will discuss the use of all equipment in the room.

View the Oral Session Chair Training to help you prepare for your session! Click here to view only the recording's slides.

Onsite Training:
◦Sunday, 9 December at 4:30 pm – Convention Center: Room 145A
◦Tuesday, 11 December at 7:00 am - Convention Center: Room 145A

If an author withdraws from an oral session, the session conveners can request that a poster presentation from the accompanying poster session be moved to replace the withdrawn oral presentation. This can only be done to and from accompanying sessions and only with the authors’ explicit consent. Please send an email to abstracts@agu.org with the details of the withdrawn abstract, the details of the abstract that will be moved into the oral presentation slot, and the email or message where the poster presenter has given consent to being moved to an oral presentation.

Note: New abstracts CANNOT be added to fill empty slots in either oral or poster session.

Please note: Oral sessions are held in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

AGU would like to assure all meeting participants feel safe, welcomed, and included, and that our meetings promote and help reflect diversity, inclusion and excellence in science.

Prior to or during your session,

• Check the online program for any changes or updates.
• Refer to the AGU Ethics and Equity Center for guidance on issues you may face as a convener or session chair.
• Familiarize yourself with the pronunciation of presenter names and affiliations.
• Ensure that all speakers are treated equally and have their fully allotted time.
• Oral session chairs will have access to the AGU Fall Meeting Presenter Pre-Submission Review to view the list of presenters and their contact information in their sessions and to see if an oral presenter has uploaded a PowerPoint presentation. This access will be available by mid-November.
• Due to safety regulations, please stress that your audience members not sit in the aisles. This will allow for the maximum number of attendees to attend the session and ensure that the city’s safety department will not close the session room or stop the session.
• Use any reasonable means to stop a speaker who has exceeded the allotted time. The session must stay on schedule for both the audience and other speakers, per the approved program.
• Only an author listed on a paper may present. No other substitutions are permitted.
• If a paper has been withdrawn or a speaker does not appear, call for discussion of previous papers in that session or call a recess. Do not start the next paper until the time listed in the program. Please note any “no-shows” presenters on the Chairperson’s Evaluation, which will be provided in advance of the meeting.
• You may interrupt speakers in order to ask them to speak more audibly, slowly, or clearly; to face the audience; or to briefly explain the message of an illegible slide.
• The Chair, not the speaker, conducts the discussion by recognizing participants on the floor. During discussions, ask participants to identify themselves and speak audibly so the audience can hear the questions as well as the replies.
• If a paper draws no questions from the floor, you are encouraged to ask questions in an attempt to stimulate discussion, if time allows. However, some papers elicit more than the usual number of comments; judge accordingly.
• To maintain the schedule, it may be necessary to defer lengthy discussions to the end of the session or to suggest that the discussion be continued in private, once the session has ended.
• Please be aware of signs of aggressive questioning which may border on bullying,
  especially if directed towards student or early career scientists. Please intervene in real
  time if you witness such behavior.
• No new presentations may be added to the session.
• Each oral session room is equipped with computer projection equipment. All presentations MUST be uploaded in the Speaker Ready Room and sent to this equipment for viewing.
• Speakers cannot connect their laptops into computer projectors. Speakers have been instructed to load their presentation in advance in the Speaker Ready Room.
• As Chair, you must keep the session on schedule. Do not go to the next presentation, and do not allow the session to overrun while a projectionist is trying to solve problems.
• Please note, if you are chairing multiple sessions and also submitted abstracts to the scientific program, the Program Committee CANNOT guarantee that you will be free of scheduling conflicts at the meeting due to the size of the program. Please ensure the co-conveners of the session are available to step in to chair a session if the need arises.
• An online evaluation will be sent to you a few days prior to the meeting. Please be sure to complete it as soon as your session is complete. Include an assessment of the session’s attendance as well as any papers that were not presented.
• PANEL SESSIONS: If your session is scheduled as an official panel approved by the AGU Fall Meeting Program Committee, please note that the oral session room you are scheduled in will have a head table to seat eight. We recommend starting the panel by having each panelist introduce themselves and provide a brief summary of their stance on the topic. Following introductions, the chair can open the panel for discussion to be concluded by either audience Q&A or a summary from the chair.
• SHORT TALKS SESSIONS: If your session has been designated as a short talks session, this means that your session contains presentations that are quicker than the traditional 15-minute presentation. As each session is scheduled differently according to the convener’s vision of their session, please reach out directly to abstracts@agu.org if you have any questions or are in need of any guidance in chairing this session.
• AGU has updated its Photography and Social Media Guidelines. Beginning with Fall Meeting 2018, the default for AGU Meetings will be that photos are allowed for personal use in all settings – including scientific sessions – unless the presenter indicates otherwise. Presenters can do this by displaying a digital “No Photo” image on their poster or slides available here. This information is displayed throughout the Presenter Guidelines.This policy is new, and some presenters may miss the communications and updates. Presenters may also indicate their preference by displaying their own image or words on their slides, or they may verbally indicate that they prefer no photographs. In the event that you observe photographs being taken when the presenter has elected “No Photo” please feel free to remind the audience to honor the preference and refrain from photos.
• AGU suggests that the Chair confirm that Presenters are aware of AGU’s guidelines in advance of the session to avoid any disruption, so that they have the opportunity to inform attendees of the “No Photo” option prior to their presentation.