Chairing a Panel
The panel chair is often the key to a successful panel. You may find following these guidlelines helpful.
- Introduce the panelists to one another and, at the conference, to the audience (Contact information is available through your area chair.)
- Decide whether to take questions from the audience after each presentation or after the session (to save time, you may wish to take them at the end).
- Alert presenters of time requirements. Panel chairs of 4-person panels usually allot 20 minutes per presenter, which includes time for questions.
- Alert presenters if they are running over their allotted time during their presentations. Running more than 5 minutes over the allotted time can hamper scheduling.
(The Procrustean's Chair--Guidelines for Panel Chairs--by Timothy Madigan, Subject Area Chair of Philiosophy & Popular Culture)