Chairs Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of the chair is to oversee that the session
runs smoothly and productively. It is important that the format of the
panel, including the length of presentations, be agreed in advance of
the conference, instead of the few minutes before the session begins.
Please work closely with your discussant(s) on these points. The chair
is responsible for introducing the session and its participants, managing
the timing of the presentations, and making sure the discussion proceeds
in a productive manner.
Duties of the Discussant
Discussants critically evaluate the panel's research papers. Discussants
cannot perform their task effectively if they do not receive panel papers
in a timely fashion. Therefore, we are encouraging authors to send electronic
or hard copies directly to all discussants as soon as possible to ensure
that you have ample time to review before the Annual Meeting. Authors
have also been instructed to forward a final copy of their paper to each
panel member as well as to the panel chair by this date. If you do not
receive a copy of a paper, we encourage you to contact the author directly.
Along with critically evaluating each paper, the discussants should also
ask panelists about how their findings can be used in the classroom.