Presentation Guidelines: Oral Poster Symposia Moderators and Discussants
There are 10-12 posters in each Oral Poster Symposium, with two moderators and two discussants. The moderators may structure the session as they prefer. A suggested program includes three-minute presentations by each poster presenter, then 30 minutes of general poster viewing, followed by a focused discussion among clusters of four poster presenters.
The three-minute introductory presentations provide an overview of each author’s work. These brief presentations, with a maximum of three slides, should focus on the rationale for the study and how the results provide new insights and/or mechanisms. Attendees can then view all the posters and interact directly with the author for about 30 minutes.
Before the meeting, the moderators will group the posters into logical clusters, typically with four posters per group. After the general viewing period, presenters will discuss the posters in each group. Moderators also ask each presenter to come prepared with at least one question for each of the other presenters in the group. They encourage co-authors and mentors to participate actively in the discussion—those interactions are what make a poster symposium more informative and engaging than a platform session.
Oral Poster Symposium co-moderators should confer about six weeks prior to the meeting to confirm their presentation format, group the posters in a logical manner, and communicate with the abstract presenters. All participants should familiarize themselves with the abstracts in the symposia. An Oral Poster Symposium discussant helps fuel the discussion by asking relevant questions from the audience, with the goal of increasing audience participation and engagement.