Role of Discussant
The role of the discussant is to critique the paper under consideration. Papers should be discussed courteously and tactfully. The idea is to provide constructive criticism that will help the audience understand the paper and allow the author of the paper to rethink important points, and possibly improve the paper. Discussions should neither be glorifications nor vilifications. Furthermore, discussions should not simply summarize the paper and rehash the author's presentation, but offer an alternative perspective. Discussants should also refrain from turning the allotted time into a presentation of the discussant's own research; discussions should stay close to the paper under consideration.
The rooms will have facilities for computer-assisted presentations, using PowerPoint or PDF. To make this run smoothly, should you choose to use it for your discussion, it is imperative that you:
- Send the file of your discussion to the session chair at least one week before the conference, so that s/he has the option of loading all of the files for the session ahead of time onto his/her memory key;
- Present yourself in the conference room at least 10 minutes before the start time;
- Bring your discussion on a USB memory key, in addition to having sent it to the session chair.
A number of computer-literate students will patrol the conference areas to act as first line support. Nonetheless, presenters and discussants are asked to test run their presentations.