ASCJ 2009

Advice for participants in panels

The details of how a panel is conducted at ASCJ should be thought out by the organizer and/or chair. The only firm rules are that
(1) a panel should begin and end on time;
(2) the individual presenters should keep to a pre-arranged time limit, usually twenty minutes;
(3) at the chair's discretion, time should be allowed for one quick question from the audience between papers OR kept for the end.
(4) the discussant or discussants should make comments on the individual papers, or on the general theme of the panel;
(5) some time should be reserved at the end for questions and comments from the audience;
(6) the room should be vacated in time for the next presenters to set up their panel.

ADVANCE preparation. The panel organizer and/or chair should contact all the presenters, clarifying the way the panel will be conducted. In most cases, it is normal for the discussant to have at least a week, often two, to read the papers and prepare remarks. Presenters should know what is required and by when, and how they should contact the discussant.

ON THE DAY.
All sessions will be held in Building 11 of the Yotsuya campus. All rooms are equipped with projector, video cassette player, and DVD player. The projector will be connected to a laptop computer installed with PowerPoint presentation software.

Check the program in advance for the room number of your session. Be sure to arrive at the room a few minutes early. Come to the front of the room, identify yourself to the organizer and chair of the session, and introduce yourself to the other speakers.

If you are planning to give a PowerPoint presentation, bring the file on a memory stick. Past experience shows that it is NOT efficient to switch memory sticks between presentations. Whenever possible:
(A) save all the presentations for the panel on a single memory stick; OR
(B) copy your presentatiosn onto the "Desktop" of the laptop computer before the session begins, and erase them at the end.

Open all files so that the presentations are ready to show. This saves valuable time. 

You should edit your presentation for length. Practice reading it aloud, making sure it take no longer than the assigned time to deliver. If you run over time, the chair will give you a sign to stop.

Depending on the number of speakers, the maximum time may range between 15 and 25 minutes. This should be agreed IN ADVANCE by the chair and organizer, and speakers should follow that decision. Twenty minutes is a good length to aim for.

The members of the audience at ASCJ come from many disciplines, and from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Speak clearly and not too fast. English is the common language at the conference, but you should show consideration to non-native speakers and to non-specialists by choosing your words well, explaining any technical terms and foreign-language quotations. Avoid slang, overly colloquial expressions, or jargon. If your first language is not English, you should check that your presentation is grammatically and idiomatically correct. Don't forget to check the English in your slides.

English should be used in your oral presentation. However, it is perfectly acceptable to add names and terms in Japanese or other Asian languages in your presentation slides or in printed handouts. In many cases, using English (or romanization) with the name/term in Asian script will make your talk more valuable for listeners, as well as easier to understand.

The order of presentation follows the order listed in the program. Changing the order is confusing, and inconveniences members of the audience who change rooms to to hear a particular presentation. The chair will briefly introduce each presenter before she or he speaks.

It is the decision of the panel chair whether:
(A) to take one quick question from the audience after each paper, OR
(B) to keep all questions and discussions until the end.
The chair will announce the policy at the beginning of the session. If (A) is chosen, experience shows that it is best to keep such questions and answers short. It is the perogative of the chair to curtail lengthy discussion and move on to the next paper.

The session lasts two hours, and must end promply. If it runs over time, the audience cannot move to the following session or event, and the presenters scheduled to use the room next will not have adequate time to set things up.

At the end of the session, delete your presentation files from the computer.

The organizers have designated the atrium in front of Building 11 for after-session discussion.

AFTER the conference:
ASCJ presenters sometimes ask about submitting their papers after the conference, or plans for publication. ASCJ publishes no proceedings, and does not ask for complete papers to be submitted. We are always happy to hear if a paper has been published, however. We are happy to publicize this information on the website if you send us full bibliographical information.

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