Session Chair Instructions

Invited Author Policies

To encourage poster presentations, session chairs may designate one invited poster presentation per session and invite the author to submit. Invited authors are permitted to submit a contributed abstract (if they so wish) in addition to the invited abstract, in accordance with the First Author Policy.

Things to know

• Invited authors will receive poster presentations. There are no invited oral presentations.
• Please give your invited author at least two weeks to accept the invitation and submit their abstract.
• An individual may not accept more than one invitation to submit an abstract to a session.
• Invited authors must pay abstract submission fees. All abstract submission fees are nonrefundable. Refunds will not be issued if policies are violated, or an abstract is rejected.
• Invited authors do not receive waived or discounted registration fees or travel reimbursements.
• Session chairs may not present an invited poster in a session they are chairing but may submit a contributed abstract to their session.

Invited Author Instructions

Chairs will receive instructions on how invited posters can submit an abstract via email.

Monitoring Abstracts

You are expected to monitor your session during the submission period for abstracts that clearly do not belong in your session. You can track and review abstracts submitted in the abstract gallery (also for invited posters) and clicking on your session name after you login.

Session chairs should monitor for abstracts that are not topically relevant to your session or if you think an abstract was submitted to your session by mistake. Please notify the program committee or the scientific program team by the 1 October 2021 deadline and we will contact the author with the concern and move the abstract to a more appropriate session. Note: An abstract cannot be transferred after the program is finalized. Each author is counting on you as a chair to ensure that all abstracts submitted and accepted to your session are topically appropriate.

In the case of invited authors who have not accepted the invitation to submit or have not submitted their abstract, please follow up to ensure your invited author has received the invitation and intends to submit the abstract. If the invited author has declined the invitation, you can invite another author in their place up until the abstract submission deadline.  Late submissions will not be accepted.

Only finalized abstracts will show in the gallery and, until abstracts are submitted for your session, you will not see your session listed in the abstract gallery.

Merging Sessions

In the event that your session does not reach an adequate number of abstract submissions, as defined by the Program Committee, you may be merged with another appropriate scientific session. In this case session chairs will work with their program committee representative on potential merges . Please notify your program committee representative if you have any suggestions on potential merges.

Notes on Timing

At least one of the chairs must be available from 15 to 22 November 2021 for the scheduling of your session. Please note that, at the discretion of your program committee representative, you may be asked to merge with another session in late October to early November.

Abstract submissions are open until 11:59 pm EDT on 29 September 2021. Abstract notifications and notification of your sessions’ official scheduled day and time will be sent out in early December 2021. After this date, please monitor your session to note withdrawals.

Please contact the scientific program team or your program committee representative if you have any concerns while monitoring your session during the abstract submission period.

Final Scientific Program

In early December 2021, abstract acceptance notices will be distributed by email and the final scientific program will be available online.

After the program is published, authors are required to accept or decline their presentation. If the author declines, their abstract will be withdrawn from your session.

Please note, due to the size of the program, if you are moderating multiple sessions and submitted abstracts to the scientific program, the program committee CANNOT guarantee that you will be free of scheduling conflicts at the meeting. Ensure your co-chairs are available to step in to moderate a session if the need arises.

Chair Availability

At least one of the chairs (the primary liaison) must be available after the abstract submission deadline and during the scheduling period to respond to any program committee requests.

Because of content overlap and number of abstracts submitted, some sessions may be merged at this time at the discretion of the Ocean Sciences Meeting Program Committee.

Session Allocation and Scheduling

Session Allocation

After abstract submission, the designated topic area program committee representatives will determine the session type (poster session, or a combination of oral and poster session) and number of sessions allocated to each submitted session.

Abstract submitters select their presentation type preference during the abstract submission process. If an abstract submitter requests a poster presentation the request should be honored. The only exception to this policy is if the session is an alternate format (e.g. eLightning).

If you have any questions regarding your allocated sessions, please contact the appropriate program committee representatives.

Session Scheduling

Chairs will have from Monday, 15 November to Monday, 22 November at 11:59 PM EST to review and organize the abstracts submitted to their sessions by assigning the presentation order with poster sessions and, if an oral session is allotted, the duration of presentations. Session scheduling instructions will be sent via email..

To schedule abstracts in your session, please proceed to the online abstract scheduling system. During this time, chairs must designate two session moderators (do not have to be existing chairs) and one Student Paper Evaluation liaison for each allocated session.

Replacing An Empty Oral Presentation

If an author withdraws from an oral or eLightning session, the session chairs can request that a poster presentation from the accompanying poster session, if applicable, be moved to replace the withdrawn oral or eLightning presentation. This can be done only with accompanying sessions and with the authors’ explicit consent. To replace a withdrawn oral or eLightning presentation, email the Scientific Program Team with the details of the withdrawn abstract, details of the abstract proposed to replace the withdrawn presentation, and a message in which the poster presenting author consents to being moved.

Note: New abstracts CANNOT be added to fill empty slots in either oral or poster sessions. After the program has been finalized, poster presentations CANNOT be moved to different poster sessions or boards, due to the logistical layout of the poster hall.

Resources to promote your session

As a chair, please promote your session to your colleagues. We created some social graphics below for you to use to promote abstract submissions. Please use the title of your session in the body of your post with the hashtag #OSM22. To download the full-size version, click each graphic and then right click to save the image.

Instagram

Twitter