The Chairs have an important role at the IMISCOE conference, contributing to facilitate important research exchanges on migration themes – and as an integral part of this, making conference participation an inclusive and safe experience for everyone.
We would therefore like to draw the attention of all Chairs to some important points:
- You can find the details of the session that you are chairing (including the room number and/or the Webex link) after logging in on the conference portal. Your session will also be automatically marked under the block “My sessions”.
- Please contact all presenters in the session you’re chairing in advance. Please note that it is your responsibility to follow-up with your session participants. All email addresses are available on the program portal – click on participants’ names. Please give concrete instructions in advance about length of time for each presentation, to allow presenters to prepare adequately (for instance, if your session has 3 papers, the time allocated to presentations may be different than if there are 5 papers).
- If the session has a discussant, please agree with them in advance about their role and time allocation for the discussion. If the session does not have a discussant, you can either encourage paper givers to comment on each other’s presentations (for instance, via a pairing system in which each paper giver will provide feedback to the presentation of another colleague) or open the Q&A with the general audience after the paper presentations. As chair, you can also ask questions and/or make comments regarding the papers during the Q&A, if you wish.
- Please make sure that you prepare your session in such a way that there is time left for the general Q&A with the audience and that paper givers will have the opportunity to react to the comments received.
- Please make sure you know which is the physical room in Lisbon and/or the Webex link allocated to your session well in advance of your session’s starting time. This information will be upload directly on the conference portal, so please make sure to check it regularly.
- Please go to the on-site and/or virtual room assigned to your session 10 mins before your session should start. Please ensure that the on-site and/or virtual equipment is ready for use – and have presenters upload/screen-share all presentations before the session starts.
- If you are attending a hybrid session and you are on-site, there are computers in each session room at ISCTE– with Webex downloaded and tested for use in the hybrid format. The password/login information will be available on a printout in each of the rooms that the conference uses.
- If you are attending a hybrid session and you are online, the conference assistant who will be present in the on-site room allocated to your session in Lisbon will open the computer in that room and the Webex link for online participants to make sure that everything works fine. If you are participating virtually, please double-check and test, before the session starts, that the Webex interface works on your computer, and that the sound works both ways. Please encourage the participants in your session who will attend online to do the same. A special Drop-In Session will be organized the week before the conference starts, to allow participants joining online to test the Webex functionalities prior to the conference, if they wish (please check the conference portal where the information regarding the date and time of the Drop-in session will appear soon). In addition, a special Online Support Centre will also provide assistance to participants joining via Webex, during the entire duration of the conference.
- If you are attending a fully online session, just make sure that you follow the suggestions indicated above on how to connect to Webex and test your Webex functions prior to the start of your session.
- On-site assistants will be present in Lisbon to support you for the organization of on-site or hybrid panels, whereas the technical assistants via the Online Support Centre would be able to help you with any technical issues that you may have for fully virtual or hybrid sessions.
- Please always make sure that your session starts on time, allocate time fairly between papers, and end all sessions on time. Plan for transition times.
- Please think carefully on how you will manage in person and/or online presentations in an useful and efficient manner. During the Q&A, if you are attending on-site and chair a hybrid session, please check the Webex chat in case any participants joining online ask questions, write comments in the chat and/or raise their hands. If you are attending online in a hybrid session, the assistant who will be present in your session will inform you of any on-site participant has questions or comments during the Q&A. If you are attending a fully virtual session, please make sure that you check the Webex chat yourself in case any participants ask questions, write comments in the chat, raise their hands, etc.
- To ensure the good visibility of your work in the conference program, we strongly advise you to create a profile on the IMISCOE Migration Research Hub, if you do not have one already: https://migrationresearch.com. Also, please do not hesitate to share the information regarding your session on social media, by using the hashtag #IMISCOE2024.
- Please make sure that the session is an inclusive and safe environment for all conference participants.
Being a Chair of a session at the IMISCOE conference is a big responsibility, but it is also an opportunity to make conference participants’ experience enjoyable.
We wish you a fruitful and inspiring IMISCOE conference – online or in person in Lisbon!