Info for Presenters          |            Click here for Session chair info

The final program is available now at the web site. Check there for your session time and location. (Maps of the facility are located at the back of this PDF.)

Please review the entire page below. It includes information on meeting preparation, AV, handouts, room sizes, and other material.

Important note: this year marks the first time the societies have implemented a new policy to accommodate the needs of disabled attendees. Click here to see the Guidelines

"Speakers who use handouts should prepare five copies in large-print format (boldface 14- to 16-point font size for text and suitably enlarged for musical examples). Visual materials that are projected on screens (e.g. Powerpoint and overheads) should be available in handout form."

Presenters are also requested to provide an electronic version (PDF preferred) of handouts for this purpose.

Audio-Visual: All rooms are provided with computer projectors , CD players, iPod/MP3/laptop audio connections, and microphones. Piano and VCR are available in some, not all, rooms. If you requested it, you will have it. Laptops and computers are not provided.

DVD users: be advised that switching from computer projection to DVD player projection is slightly cumbersome (one has to change the projector input setting). If you are planning on using DVD and laptop in the same presentation, your presentation will be smoother if you plan on playing the DVD directly from your laptop. DVD players are not standard equipment but will be provided on request.

DVD International Formats (NTSC vs PAL vs SECAM). If you are bringing a DVD from outside the United States, you should be prepared to play the DVD from your laptop. DVDs produced outside of the United States do not always include the code required to play on US DVD players. If you have a question about your DVD, please contact Al Hipkins at the AMS for more information.

For those who are using their laptops for display with a supplied LCD computer projector, please note this important procedure:

AV Preparation Room: A room next to the Conference Registration desk in the Marriott (see rooms map) has been set aside for those who plan to use their laptop (for powerpoint or DVD display, for example). Please plan to come to try out the system and make sure all the connections are correct at one of these times. Don't just show up at your session and assume that you can figure out how to get your laptop connected to the projector! Rooms are provided with AMS-member monitors to assist with handouts, but we do not have the resources to provide a technician for every room for the entire conference. AV Prep Room hours: Thursday, 11am-6pm, Friday, 7am-6pm, Saturday, 7am-5pm, Sunday, closed.

If you must have an overhead projector, please let Bob Judd know. (Please do not request an overhead for "backup, just in case.")

Internet access: The cost of meeting room internet access is beyond the meeting budget. If your presentation depends on internet access, you may request this on the understanding that you will reimburse the society for the expense.

Marriott: $125 for wired connection - no wireless is available. Westin: wired or wireless, $250.

---

Handouts: please provide sufficient handouts for your audience. Room sizes vary from about 80 to about 300; when room assignments are finalized, you can gauge the quantity you'll need. Some presenters bring enough for a "full house;" some bring one for every two, assuming "full house." Despite the cost in money and trees, it is probably better to err on the high side.

Send a PDF! We'll upload a PDF of your handout to the web site if you send one. (Please send an attachment to ams@ams-net.org and include the words "Indianapolis handout" and your last name in the subject line.) This is particularly helpful for those who require an electronic copy due to disability.

Room sizes:

• Westin Grand 1, 2 & 3: 196 seats
• Westin Grand 4 & 5: 300 seats
• Marriott Ballroom 1/2 and 3/4: 150 seats (piano)
• Marriott Ballroom 5 : 300 seats (piano)
• Indiana Ballroom A/B and C/D: 100 seats
• Indiana Ballroom E: 300 seats (piano)
• Indiana Ballroom F, & G: 150 seats (piano)
• Lincoln: 110 seats (piano)
• Florida/Illinois: 150 seats (piano)

Consider utilizing an Indianapolis print provider for your handouts. It'll save you having to lug a heavy bag of handouts on your plane!

• Hotel: 24-hour Business Center
• Fedex Office Print & Ship Center, 120 Monument Circle, Suite 107 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Phone: (317) 631-6862 Fax: (317) 638-2525 E-mail: usa0186@fedex.com. [Enter the zip code, 46204, to identify the specific shop at the web site.] Click here to see it in Google Maps
• Fedex has provided us with at 20% off coupon! Save the hassle of carrying copies and order from them for Indianapolis delivery or pickup.

---

Aural Music examples: if you are using a recording, it is respectfully requested that appropriate acknowledgment of the performance and/or performer(s) be made in your paper or on a handout.

All who present papers are required to register for the meeting.

Additional resources

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published two short articles with guidelines for those reading papers or chairing a session at a conference. The information they contain may be of interest.

Conference Rules, part 1, by Linda Kerber (Chronicle, 14 March 2008)

Conference Rules, part 2, by Linda Kerber (Chronicle, 21 March 2008)

Info for Session chairs     |      Click here for Presenters info

Thank you for agreeing to take on this important task, central to how the Annual Meeting functions for the Society.

There will be no meetings for session chairpersons ("chairs"), so please read the following suggestions carefully and contact the AMS if you have further questions.

• Before the meeting

You should request, from each presenter on your session, a complete copy of the paper to be presented along with any handouts so that you can review these materials before the meeting. A receipt date about a month from the meeting (12 October) is strongly advised. Evaluate to be sure participants' papers will actually fit into the allotted time. Also request brief biographical sketches (affiliation, papers or books published) from each of the presenters.

It is critical that you plan your time period (one and a half or three hours) as precisely as possible. People migrate from session to session, and thus they must have complete confidence that papers will start at the appointed times (AM: 9:00, 9:45, 10:30, 11:15; PM: 2:00, 2:45, 3:30, 4:15). Plan on two-minute introductions, 30-minute papers (maximum), and 13-minute question periods. Keep to 45-minute slots for each paper. There is little point in introducing your session in an extended way, since many people change rooms at paper-breaks.

In four-paper sessions, you may wish to take a very short (literally no more than two-minute) break halfway through, but under no circumstances allow a break to derail the schedule.

AV questions: AV details are given in the "information for presenters" (click the link at the top of this page). Questions not answered there should be directed to the Bob Judd at the AMS office.

• During the meeting

Arrive at your room ten minutes before the start of the session to meet the speakers and the room monitor and look over the AV setup.

Paper presenters know that their time length is thirty minutes. In the unlikely case that a paper threatens to go beyond this limit, you should intervene by passing notes to the speaker that time is running out.

At the start of each talk, announce the names of the authors, the title of the paper, and which author is presenting the paper. Short biographical information should be provided.

Your other main task is to control the question period. Remind both questioners and speaker(s) to be brief. Audience members should only ask questions; any background information that they give should be kept as brief as possible. Speakers should briefly answer the question posed, and then stop and take the next question. As a rule, questions and answers should not last more than about a minute each, i.e. up to two minutes for each question-answer pair. The speaker and questioner should not continue back and forth; if they do, ask them to postpone their public conversation until a private moment, to allow others to contribute to the public discussion. If people don't comply with these guidelines, don't be afraid to interrupt them. Be polite and tactful, but firm.

Establish and announce the order of questioners. Encourage shy audience members to ask questions before allowing the confident ones to ask a second question. If there are many questions, announce in advance who will pose the last three questions, apologize to the others, and stop when the last person's question has been answered. That should, of course, be as near as possible to the allotted time. Please note that talks scheduled before breaks or before the end of the day will not be extended. It is important to begin and end sessions on schedule.

Please prepare several comments or questions for each paper in case the discussion needs to be started by the chair.

• Special instructions for those chairing two-paper (short) sessions

If you are chairing the opening short panel of a morning or afternoon session, please show courtesy to the chair and presenters of the following panel by ending several minutes early and vacating the table promptly (as two short sessions are slotted for the same room, the new chair and panelists must be ready to go immediately). For morning short sessions, the first panel should end by 10:27; for afternoon slots, 3:27. This may sound a bit picky, but it is necessary to make the meeting run well. If you are on the second half of such a slot, please be ready to go immediately at the appropriate time (10:32 or 3:32).

All session chairs are required to register for the meeting.