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Guidelines for
Moderators and Panelists

The program committee would like to thank you for your participation in the annual meeting. Here are a few guidelines to consider regarding your session:

In advance:

• As moderator, you are responsible for organizing the session and providing guidelines for your panelists. Please keep in mind that concurrent sessions (a.k.a. panels) run for one hour and fifteen minutes. The more informal focus sessions, all of which begin at 5 pm, last for one hour and may include a high degree of audience participation. For concurrent sessions, use no more than three panelists plus one moderator, for a total of four. Each of you should plan to speak for no more than 15 minutes, though 10 is better. Suggest talking points for each speaker to avoid overlap. Allow one hour total for presentations. Leave at least 15 minutes for questions.

• Decide in advance--no later than May 1--whether you or your panel will use PowerPoint. Slides must be delivered to the AAUP Central Office no later than June 1. Guidelines for PowerPoint presentations are as follows: For a 10-to-15-minute presentation, speakers should be allowed no more than six PowerPoint slides (with each slide taking approximately two minutes to talk through). Text on each slide should not exceed four bullet points, and should be no smaller than 40 pt font for slide titles or 28 pt for slide text. Make sure you review all of your panelists’ PowerPoint presentations to be sure that they conform to these guidelines before they are sent to AAUP. The Central Office will burn each session’s slides onto a CD, and have them ready for the meeting. So order of presentation matters. Again, you must submit these slides no later than June 1.

• If your session will use PowerPoint, the moderator is responsible for bringing a laptop that is PowerPoint enabled.

• Please alert Susan Patton at the AAUP Central Office, spatton@aaupnet.org, of any A/V requirements for your session, viz., Internet access, slide projectors, overheads, etc. Contact Susan before May 1.

• If you would like the Central Office to make copies of any handouts for your session, please submit them to Susan Patton by June 1.

• Good communication between the moderator and all panelists before the annual meeting can greatly enhance the effectiveness of the session. We urge you to have at least one conference call with all of your panelists before they complete the final versions of their presentations to be certain that a) their comments are sharp and focused and b) there is no direct overlap or unnecessary redundancies among presentations.

During the presentation:

• Moderators and panelists should arrive at least five to ten minutes prior to the session to test microphones and equipment.

• Start on time! Begin by introducing yourself, then introduce each speaker with a brief (one-line) bio. Restate the title of the session (for the audio recording) and give a brief summary of what you intend to accomplish.

• During the presentation, make sure each speaker speaks slowly and clearly into the microphone.

• As moderator, you are responsible for keeping the session on schedule. Moderators should alert panelists at the three-minute mark, with a sign or hand signal, and when panelists’ time is up. If a panelist is rambling or exceeding their allotted time, interrupt her or him gently (“This is fascinating, but we need to move on…”) and turn the floor over to the next speaker.

Question and answer session

• When you open the floor for questions, ask the first one yourself if no one volunteers from the audience. If there is a wireless mike in the room, make sure the person asking the question uses it. If not, repeat the question into the microphone so everyone can hear it.

• Please ask all questioners to identify themselves by name and press.

• Don’t answer all the questions yourself. Direct each to a different panelist as thoughtfully as you can.

• If the Q&A doesn’t get off the ground, don’t sweat it! Dismiss the session by inviting people who want to speak with the panelists to linger.

• Wrapping it up: Five minutes before the session is scheduled to end, announce that you’ll take one more question. After the last question is answered, thank your panelists and the audience, and end the session on time. Mention that a recording of the session will be available through the AAUP. (PowerPoint slides may be available, as well; we’ll let you know.)

If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to speak with your contact on the program committee; if you are unable to reach your contact, email the chair of the program committee, Richard Brown, at reb7@georgetown.edu. And thank you again for your involvement.  

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