I found these instructions that I made back in my days as an academic, burned by my experience of many poorly-prepared and poorly-paced events. I'm sure that they still apply:
1. Start no earlier than 10 (delegates to arrive from 9.30).
2. Tea and coffee on arrival.
3. Make sure that all speakers are given technical support to set up in advance of their panel. If possible, insist that your speakers take the time to set up before the panel starts.
4. Never run any more than four papers simultaneously without a break.
5. A conventional panel of three 20 minute papers should be given a 90 minute timeslot. This gives you a bit of slack for papers to overrun, and if the discussion peters out and you let people out early - well, no delegate has ever complained about that.
6. The first break is to occur no later than 11.30. Breaks should be thirty minutes. This alleviates rush and makes them proper breaks.
7. Lunch should be no later than 1, and no shorter than an hour.
8. Always provide
biscuits.
