International Congress on Medieval Studies

International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5432 USA
(269) 387-8745

Advice for Presiders

A session’s presider is responsible for the running of the session. Their duties usually include acting as master of ceremonies and time-keeper; introducing session participants and announcing their social media preferences; and moderating discussion and maintaining an atmosphere of professional respect.

No one may present in a session for which they are the presider.

Information and Advice for Presiders

All Congress sessions are 90 minutes long. 

In a session of papers, 60 minutes should be taken up by the papers themselves, and 30 minutes by introductions, distribution of handouts, and discussion. (Sessions in other formats may be structured more loosely than sessions of papers.)

  • In a session of 2 papers, each paper should be limited to 30 minutes.
  • In a session of 3 papers, each paper should be limited to 20 minutes.
  • In a session of 4 papers, each paper should be limited to 15 minutes.
  • In a session of 5 papers, each paper should be limited to 12 minutes. 

We encourage presiders to be assertive in enforcing time limits; a well-run session with papers delivered within the time limit will be appreciated by participants and audiences alike. The most common practice at the Congress is to reserve discussion until after all papers have been given, but this is not required.

Introductions at the Congress are generally short (no more than two or three sentences). We do, however, encourage presiders to contact speakers in advance in order to learn about them and their work. Contacting the speakers in advance also provides an opportunity to ask about whose computer will be used, AV equipment, handouts or slideshows, social media preferences, and other logistical concerns.

During introductions, presiders should inform audience members about speakers' preferences concerning the sharing their work over social media. In some cases, speakers may ask for no public posts to be made describing their presentations. In other cases, speakers may ask to be tagged in any posts about their presentations. See the social media guidelines below for more information. 

In-person sessions are held in classrooms equipped with a projector, screen, Blu-ray player, document camera, amplified speakers, and a touch panel control system. Laptops can be connected to classroom AV equipment by HDMI or (in some classrooms) USB-C.

Computers are not provided for in-person sessions. If speakers wish to use classroom AV equipment, they need to bring their own laptops or make arrangements with a colleague to use theirs. Some presiders prefer to ask all speakers to send their slides and other materials in advance and load them onto their own laptops.

If AV equipment needs troubleshooting, presiders should ask for help from Congress staff. Congress personnel will be stationed on the first floor of Sangren Hall to help in-person attendees connect to Wi-Fi and use classroom AV technology.

Hybrid sessions are held in HyFlex classrooms. These rooms are equipped with built-in cameras and microphones, in addition to the standard projector, screen, Blu-ray player, document camera, and amplified speakers.

We provide a designated laptop and a tech facilitator in each HyFlex classroom. The tech facilitator will manage the classroom cameras and microphones to make sure that remote attendees can participate fully. Presiders should coordinate with the tech facilitator to make sure that speakers' slides and other materials are loaded onto the designated laptop in advance.

Confex tech support personnel will monitor all hybrid sessions online. They will be able to help troubleshoot issues like having problems logging on to the meeting site or sharing slides over Zoom.

Hybrid and virtual sessions are held as Zoom meetings linked directly from the meeting site. Join Now links for each hybrid and virtual session go live 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. You must be registered for the Congress and logged in to the meeting site in order to access these links.

Clicking the Join Now link sends you to the Zoom waiting room for your session. The Confex tech host will admit the first person who is listed as a session participant from the waiting room and make them co-host of the session. That person can then admit other session participants from the waiting room. Make sure your Zoom name is recognizable so that you can be admitted!

Session participants may prepare for the session, test screen sharing, etc., before the session begins and audience members are admitted from the waiting room. Those not actively involved in the session can be admitted from the waiting room at the start time or shortly before: the exact time will be up to session organizers and presiders.

For hybrid sessions, the tech facilitator will be a meeting co-host. They will ensure that virtual speakers can be seen and heard by in-person attendees, and vice versa.

When presiding over a virtual or hybrid session, we recommend:

  • Asking all virtual attendees to remain muted unless they are actively participating.
  • Asking in-person attendees to be careful not to talk over virtual attendees.
  • Saving comments and questions for the end of the session.
  • Having virtual attendees use the Raise Hand feature or type a question into the chat box if they want to contribute to the discussion.
  • Designating a colleague to help monitor the chat for questions.

Social Media Guidelines

The International Congress on Medieval Studies (@kzooicms) maintains a Bluesky presence. The account is used to make announcements, post reminders, and answer questions. We establish an official hashtag, unique each year, so activity of the current Congress can be easily followed and activity for previous years can be found under their respective hashtags. The hashtag for the International Congress on Medieval Studies is #KzooYYYY [i.e., the four-digit year].

Real-time online interaction both opens conversations to colleagues unable to attend and extends conference spaces for attendees. It can expand opportunities for networking and engaging wider academic communities within medieval studies and, more broadly, the humanities and beyond. Social media applications offer spaces that can be rich resources to strengthen intellectual communities, connections and communications both during and after conferences. 

We ask that Congress registrants keep three fundamental principles in mind: 

All speakers have both the right to request that their work, images and/or any related material presented not be live-tweeted, live-blogged, or otherwise publicly posted and the right to expect that their requests will be respected. 

Audio or video recordings of sessions should not be made or posted without express permission of all the session's participants. Ideally, these permissions should be secured in advance through the session organizer or presider. Photographs should not be posted without the consent of those depicted.

The Congress hashtag is a representation of the conference online as much as it is a representation of those using it. Please remember that your comments are public and should be made in the same tone you would use in person: the medium in which professional activity is communicated doesn't change its professional nature. Language that is vulgar, profane, threatening, or that includes personal attacks is inappropriate. 

Expressing appreciation and sharing links to useful/related information contributes to the conversation and strengthens academic connections. Disagreements and difficult topics are as integral to an intellectual community as scholarly generosity and should be handled with the same professionalism, care, and respect online as in face-to-face discussion.