In accordance with the Articles of the Federation, sessions of the full Council of the United Federation of Planets were presided over by the President of the United Federation of Planets (barring special circumstances, such as the President being off-planet), who stood at a podium near the north wall while the councilors sat in seats arranged in rising rows of twenty. The podium determined who could speak to the Council for the record, and recognized speakers could only address the Council from the speaker's floor, located in the center of the room between two sets of seats for the councilors. Councilors had computer terminals at their work stations that they could use to silently contact one another or those outside the chambers, and lights on each terminal to indicate a desire to addres