Notes for Chairs
🎤 Session Chair at ICEM 2026
Setting the tone. Holding the space. Keeping us moving forward.
Thank you for agreeing to serve as a Session Chair at ICEM 2026 in Hamburg.
This role is central to how our congress feels, flows, and connects people — not just to the program, but to each other.
🌍 ICEM 2026 is the first time the world’s largest emergency medicine congress comes to Germany.
🏅 And we are intentionally doing it differently: inspired by an Olympic spirit of togetherness, respect, and shared responsibility.
As a Session Chair, you help turn this idea into reality.
🔎 Before the session
Please take a moment to prepare:
- 📋 Review the session program, speakers, and presentation titles
- ⏱️ Familiarize yourself with the session schedule and timing
- 🎙️ Prepare brief, accurate, and appreciative speaker introductions
Preparation allows the session to start focused, confident, and connected.
🤝 During the session
You are the host of the room.
- 👋 Open the session with clarity and a welcoming tone
- ⏰ Ensure the session starts and ends on time
- ⏳ Actively support time management, including clear time warnings and, if needed, respectful intervention
- 🌈 Help maintain a focused, inclusive, and collegial atmosphere
💬 To encourage meaningful exchange beyond the lecture hall, please remind the audience that questions and discussion will take place after the session in a designated area of the conference center.
🙏 Closing the session
- 🏁 Close the session on time
- 👏 Thank the speakers and the audience for their contributions and engagement
🧭 A note on structure
Each session is led by one Session Chair.
🚫 Session Chairs must not give a presentation or speak as a presenter in the same session they are chairing — this is a strict principle at ICEM 2026.
🎯 This allows full presence, neutrality, and focus on moderation and flow.
✨ At ICEM 2026, we believe that how we meet matters just as much as what we present.
🤍 Your role as a Session Chair helps create a space where excellence, respect, and connection come together — and where emergency medicine moves forward, together.
Thank you for being part of this.