MODERATOR GUIDELINES  

Session moderators are selected by the Program Planning Committee and must register to attend the conference. Moderators are responsible for contacting presenting authors prior to the conference, managing session time, introducing speakers, limiting presentations to the allotted time, and allowing time for questions and answers. Breakout sessions are 75 minutes and involve oral presentations focused on specific topics and are designed to share information and stimulate discussion. All sessions will take place at the meeting facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sessions have AV equipment available, including a laptop computer, LCD panel, screen, and the appropriate sound equipment for room size. Sessions do not have telephone/video conference equipment, telephone lines, or internet lines available.

Responding to the Moderator Invitation 

Formal letters of invitation are sent by e-mail from the CSTE national office by Friday, March 6, 2025. Moderators for breakout sessions should respond to the invitation online no later than 11:59PM EDT Thursday, April 10, 2025. Moderators that fail to respond by the deadline will be considered accepted and expected to attend. If you can no longer moderate a session, then contact your CSTE Program Staff Lead immediately so they can find a replacement moderator.  

All presenting authors and moderators are expected to register for the conference and pay related fees. Presenting authors and moderators are encouraged to become CSTE members, but it is not a requirement to present at the conference.  

Presentation Time

In order to respect presenters and the audience, all presentations must not exceed their allotted timeframes. Presenting author presentation times will vary depending on the session. Presentation times can be accessed through your online invitation information in your Speaker Cetner. A direct link to your personal Speaker Center can be found in your invitation e-mail.

General Guidelines 

Before the Conference

REVIEW | Moderators need to review the Speaker Guidelines for Breakout Sessions, which includes important guidance for presenting authors. Access your Speaker Center to review the session details, including presentation titles, presenting authors, presenting author bio information, presenting author name pronunciation, and abstract information, if permitted by the author.

CONFIRM | Three to four weeks prior to the conference, moderators must contact presenting authors to discuss the session and coordinate presentations. If you or a presenting author cannot attend, contact your CSTE Program Staff Lead immediately.

REMIND | Presenting authors must upload presentation slides in Speaker Center by the advance deadline on Friday, May 25, 2025 by 11:59PM EDT. After the advance deadline, presentations may only be uploaded or updated onsite in the Speaker Ready Room, no later than 24 hours prior to the start of your session.

 During Your Session  

• Start the session on time. This is extremely important to ensure each presenting author has adequate time to present the topic and allow for discussion at the end of the session.  

• Presenting authors should present in the order listed in the agenda. If a presenter is a no-show adjust accordingly and allow other presenting authors more time or promote discussion at the end of the presentations. Please let the CSTE Program Staff Lead know of no-show authors. 

• Encourage attendees to fill in seating and ask that cell phones and notifications are silenced. 

• Keep presenting authors on time. If a presenter is going over time and you have used warning signals, then stand next to the person as yet another visual cue. If this doesn’t work, it is perfectly acceptable and respectful to other presenting authors to interrupt the presenting author. You may say something to the effect that you hate to cut such an interesting presentation short, but in fairness to the other presenting authors, you must. 

• During the question and answer segment, moderators should always repeat the question for the attendees. Moderators may want to develop their own questions during the session in case attendees do not ask questions. 

• Be polite. If co-presenting with others, don’t talk over others or advance or annotate slides while someone else is presenting.    

• End the session on time. Close the session by thanking presenting authors and encouraging attendees to complete a conference evaluation.   

• If an attendee is being disruptive, ask that questions/comments be held until the end so that the session does not fall behind time. If the attendee continues to be disruptive, then report it to the CSTE Program Staff Lead within your session.  

• IT and Audio Visual technicians are available onsite for assistance when needed. Because they monitor many technical components to the conference, they are not able to remain in the room throughout a session. If you need a technician in your session, please use the onsite technical support contact card found in your meeting room, notify the CSTE Program Staff Lead in your session, or see assistance at the Registration Desk or Speaker Ready Room.  

After the Session  

• Verbally Thank Presenting Authors. The CSTE National Office will send formal thank you letters by e-mail to all presenting authors listed on the agenda. 

• Share feedback about the session with the Committee Chair and your CSTE Program Staff Lead.    

CSTE Staff Support in Sessions 

CSTE Staff will be present in every Breakout or Lightning session at the Annual Conference to support presenting authors and moderators, troubleshoot AV issues, and ensure the smooth operation of the session. This support will include: 

• Arrive to the designated meeting room 15 minutes prior to the scheduled session to meet presenting authors and moderator. 

• Pull up presentations within the Confex Podium system on the laptop in the meeting room.  

• Remind presenting authors and moderators of time allotted for each presentation and Q&A and help moderator enforce the time allotted throughout the session. 

• Notify AV and/or IT teams of any technical problems and serve as main point of contact for AV/IT teams until problem is resolved.  

• Note any no-show presenting authors and record head count of the number of attendees in the session.  

• Help attendees fill into seats towards the front of the room to maximize the number of available seats. 

• Serve as primary lead for any accessibility needs within the session, such as running the microphone to attendees, helping attendees find seating, etc. 

• CSTE Staff will not be taking notes for sessions but will encourage attendees, speakers, and moderators to take notes as appropriate to their needs. 

SPEAKER DISCLOSURE – Presenting authors must disclose to participants prior to speaking any significant financial interest or other relationships with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) or provider(s) of any commercial services discussed in a session presentation and with any commercial supports of the activity. This pertains to relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other corporations whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the presentation topic. Having an interest or affiliation with a corporate organization does not prevent a speaker from making a presentation, but the relationship must be made known in advance to the audience. Questions regarding CSTE presenter disclosure should be directed to the CSTE National Office.   

PHOTOGRAPHY DISCLOSURE – By participating in the annual conference, whether in-person or virtually, uploading photographs to social media with the hashtag #CSTE2025, or uploading photographs to the CSTE conference app and/or platform, you grant CSTE the right to take and distribute photographs, video, audio and/or electronic reproductions of events and activities for use in CSTE print and digital materials. By agreeing to present, you agree to allow CSTE to make video recordings of your presentation and archive this public available media on the CSTE website.   

CSTE may select presentations or sessions for promotion to media outlets during the CSTE Annual Conference. Therefore, media personnel may attend conference sessions and can be identified by their conference name badges.  

Questions – Contact the CSTE national office at (770) 458-3811 or [email protected] if you have any questions that are not addressed in the guidelines or on the CSTE website.