The conference is just around the corner, so we wanted to remind you of a few things to help you get the most of your conference experience.

First and foremost, due to the nature of the conference, we highly recommend using a laptop or desktop to access the site so that you can view details of presentations.  This is not to say that you can’t access it on cell phone – only you will have fewer options with Zoom, and you may encounter certain limitations.

Next on the list is that you will need to login to gcmas2021.org using the email you used for registration and the password sent to you.  If you have already logged in, then you will have changed your password, and you will be able to navigate the site with enhanced privileges.  Note that this is an independent website from either OpenConf or gcmas.org and does not support Single Sign On (SSO).  If for some reason you can’t get in, please email me directly by Monday at 4pm so that we can get you sorted.

Once you have logged in, you will want to go to the “Meeting Rooms” tab.  If you’re an author you may see some additional options, but the page will essentially look like this:

All buttons on this page will take you to what looks like an identical meeting room, but the Zoom Room buttons in each link to different meeting instances.   So if you clicked on the Monday button, you would see this by default:

Since the only scheduled event for Monday is the Student Mixer at 6pm EDT, only the “Zoom Room 2” button will work for Monday.  You can always use the large left and right arrows to scroll through the schedule without going back to the “Meeting Rooms” tab, but the Zoom Room links won’t change – only the schedule display.  If you leave yourself here overnight and come back the next day – you would still go to the Monday Zoom Rooms which would now be empty.  Instead, go back to the “Meeting Rooms” tab and choose the Tuesday button.  In short – each day’s rooms have their own independent links.  [Also, note that all times are shown as EDT which is Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) – 4 hours].

Clicking on a Zoom Room button should open up Zoom from your browser and take you where you want to go. 

A common question I have received over the past couple weeks has been: what if I want to be in two rooms simultaneously?

If your default Zoom account supports more than one meeting simultaneously (because you have personally bought this support, or your institution supports this), you will be able to open more than one Zoom sessions at once.  Otherwise, if you wish to see what’s going on in Zoom Room 1 while meeting with people in Zoom Room 2, you will need to open each from different devices. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the schedule will feel more interactive.  Here’s an example.  If you’ve clicked on Tuesday’s Zoom Room, and then clicked on Poster Session 1, you’ll see this:

So clicking on a cell in the general schedule at left will show you the specific papers or content related to the cell you clicked.  For Poster Session 1, you will then see the posters by number that are available and you will be able to access 1) the submitted abstract by clicking on the green title text, 2) the 3 minute video introducing the poster by clicking on “View Video” and 3) the PDF that goes with the video by clicking on “View Presentation”.

If you are looking at podium presentations, you will only have access to the abstracts.  The other indicators were for authors who wished to know if their work was accessible by our tech team.

You will also note that all sessions have two icons at the top.  The first is a link to the forum that goes with the session.  Clicking on this will take you there.  You can post questions (do it by paper number to help authors find relevant posts), and if you click subscribe, you will then be notified via email of any responses.  Although you can ask questions during the meeting, it is possible that you think of something later and want to follow up asynchronously.  Note that when the full session video is available, a third icon will show up at the top by the other two, and you will be able to watch the videos after the fact.

Zoom Room 1 will be in Webinar format.  This means that unless you are a panelist (meaning speaker or moderator), you will not be visible to others.  You can use the chat functionality to communicate with others on the side (including private chat) or the Q&A functionality to post questions to the speaker.  One of the session moderators will be monitoring the Q&A (located with other Zoom controls at the bottom of your screen) for questions, especially upvoted questions.   If a moderator selects a question, Natalie may promote you to a panelist, or may “give you the microphone” so that you can followup more easily.

Zoom Room 2 will be in Meeting format and you can find out quite a lot about how the poster sessions will run by following this link:https://gcmas2021.org/poster-sessions-and-zoom-room-2/

We’ll briefly go over all of this at the start of the meeting, and some summary videos and posts will appear on the website in the next 24 hours before the conference. 

Finally, there are some best practices that should be considered if you are a presenter who is screen sharing:

0) If you are screensharing and presenting yourself, we hope that you have come to a training over the last couple of weeks.  Please confirm with us your intentions in this regards so that Natalie our Zoom tech can keep things running smoothly. 

1) Update your Zoom to the most recent version before the meeting:  see this: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362233-Upgrade-update-to-the-latest-version

2) Close all other non-essential windows on your computer.  These run the risk of being shared by accident, and may cause you to take longer to find the window you wish to share.

3) Close non-essential tabs in the browser, especially any which have media playing.  These will eat up your computer’s CPU and possibly lead to slow downs.  Additionally, media tabs have the potential to block the microphone or camera if you need them.

4) Get a hard-wired connection if at all possible.  While most of us are on Wifi, it is still not as reliable as plugging a network cable into your laptop.

5) If at home, be the sole network user at the time.  Other people should not be using high bandwidth applications such as Zoom while you are presenting.

6) Use a headset if possible.  This can help cancel out extraneous noise, but also means that your microphone’s audio quality will be better.

7) Consider your background. Try not to choose anything too distracting if you are using a Zoom filter, and if not, plain walls (green or blue) work the best.

8) Have your presentation queued up and ready to go before the next speaker finishes.

9) Don’t be afraid to text Natalie or the moderator using the private chat if you have questions ahead of time.

If you are NOT presenting and have any questions, please direct your questions to me (tim.niiler@gmail.com) or Chris Church, our program chair (chris.church@nemours.org).

We’re excited that this meeting is finally happening after a year of delay and look forward to seeing you shortly!
All the best,
Tim Niiler
GCMAS2021 Conference Chair