Guidelines on Being a Room Moderator

Room Moderator Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in serving as a room moderator during our conference. Below are some guidelines to help you out.

  • Arrive 5-10 minutes early to meet and greet with presenters and make sure technology and sound is working.
  • You can start 5 minutes late, but not much later.
  • Pass out small individual session evaluations which will be provided.
  • Introduce presenters as in the program: name and presentation title.
  • Please keep time and give each presenter only 15 minutes max (if a presenter doesn’t show-up you can give the others more time if needed); they can present their core message and possibly develop it more in the discussion time.
  • Give the presenters a 5 minute warning and 1 minute warning before their time is up.
  • Cards with “5 minute”, “1 minute” and “STOP” will be provided in each presentation room. Please leave these cards at the front area of the room when done using for the next presenters.
  • If the presentation is workshop, presentation or panel as a whole group, they have the whole hour. Feel free to ask if they need help with keeping time.
  • As the moderator, you can be the first one to comment or ask questions after the presentations then open the room up for anyone to ask question/comment.
  • Make sure everyone is heard, alternate between folks.
  • Do not be afraid of silence; it’s okay, wait patiently for thoughts or questions to spring forth.
  • After some degree of questioning/commentary, feel free to open the discussion into a more free-flowing, all contribute, style.
  • Make sure the session remains respectful despite conflicts. Agree to disagree.
  • End on time; it is also okay to end early.
  • Give thanks to all presenters and participants.
  • Lastly, make sure everyone fills out the small individual session evaluation sheets and collect them at the end. You can put the evaluations in the provided envelope and drop it off at the registration table.

Room Moderator Guidelines – Downloadable PDF