Taking part in a session with papers? Here’s a quick guide to time limits.
Every session at the annual meeting runs 90 minutes. Here’s how that time divides, depending on how many papers are on your panel and whether you have a commentator.
With a commentator
| 3 papers | 4 papers | 5 papers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair’s opening | 5 minutes | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Papers | 19 minutes each | 15 minutes each | 12 minutes each |
| Comment | 12 minutes | 10 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Discussion | 14 minutes | 13 minutes | 13 minutes |
| Transitions and buffer | 2 minutes | 2 minutes | 2 minutes |
Without a commentator
| 3 papers | 4 papers | 5 papers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair’s opening | 5 minutes | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Papers | 22 minutes each | 17 minutes each | 14 minutes each |
| Discussion | 17 minutes | 15 minutes | 13 minutes |
| Transitions and buffer | 2 minutes | 2 minutes | 2 minutes |
Why the two-minute buffer? It covers the walk to the podium, the laptop that needs a moment, and finishing a minute early so the next session can get set up. It’s small, but sessions that don’t budget for it end up borrowing from the discussion, which is the part of a panel nobody can reconstruct afterward.
If a panelist doesn’t make it, the usual practice is to keep the original per-paper time and give the extra minutes to discussion rather than letting everyone expand. It’s a kindness to the room, and honestly a kindness to the presenters too. A paper rehearsed to fifteen minutes doesn’t get better at twenty-two.
Preparation Advice for Timeliness and Accessibility
- A double-spaced page tales about two minutes to read aloud. Twenty-two minutes is about eleven pages. Fifteen is seven and a half. Twelve is six. Write to that length from the start rather than trimming a longer piece on the plane.
- Read it aloud with a timer, once, all the way through. Almost everyone reads faster alone in a quiet room than they do at a podium in front of strangers. If you land exactly on the limit in rehearsal you’ll run over in the session, so edit until you finish a minute early.
- Say what the paper argues in the first couple of minutes. Suspense works in an article, where a reader can turn back, but rarely survives being heard once, in a warm room, after lunch.
- Skip the skipping. “I’ll leave this section aside for time” costs you thirty seconds and signals that the format caught you by surprise. If something has to go, decide in advance and cut it.
- Check how your session room is equipped for A/V, and make sure you have the contact information for your session members. Not every session room is equipped with a projector, so you’ll need to plan accordingly. (Please note: No changes can be made to A/V equipment at this time.) You can find information for all your sessions with our session lookup, using the same access code you used to sign your participation agreement.
- If you do have slides, keep the type large and the text minimal, and describe any image or chart out loud instead of gesturing at it. Some people in the room won’t be able to see it clearly..
- Use the microphone, even in a small room and even if you’ve been told you have a carrying voice. It keeps the session as accessible as possible for everyone.
- Get your paper to the commentator on time. If your panel has one, they need it far enough in advance to read all the papers together and find what connects them. Check with your chair and commentator for deadlines.
- On your session day, arrive about ten minutes early to meet everyone on your panel, coordinate with your chair, and troubleshoot any technical issues.