HOPOS 2022 will be a hybrid conference. Around 30% of the talks will be presented remotely, and 70% presented in person on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. All talks, whether given in-person, or remotely, will be live streamed over Zoom for online participants. Most parallel sessions will have some talks in person, and some given remotely. (There is only one session where every speaker is remote; in about a quarter of the sessions, every speaker is in-person). Each room on the campus at UC Irvine will be equipped with a laptop, room microphones, speakers, and cameras. So participants attending remotely should be able to see and hear the presenters, and will be able to participate actively in discussion along with the in-person participants. Speakers who are presenting remotely will have their video projected onto the screen in the session room and their audio streamed through the room speakers.
Let's all be patient and understanding with each other. There are 105 different speakers, in 4 different rooms, with 35 different session chairs. So there will inevitably be bumps, even though we have planned carefully, and are all trying to be diligent.
Specific instructions for those of you who will be presenting in person:
Every meeting room on campus will have its own laptop, which will be connected continuously to the projector, camera, and speakers in the room, and will be logged into Zoom. Every presenter will use the room laptop while giving their talk. (Please do not try to disconnect the room laptop and connect your own computer when it is your turn to give your talk!) Since every session is being livestreamed continuously on Zoom, please do not log out of Zoom or close Zoom on the room's computer. Any slides you are using, or handouts you are using, should be available also for the online participants. In order to make this possible, you will need to share your screen through Zoom during your talk. Furthermore, since we cannot switch computers during the sessions, everyone's slides need to be saved in a uniform format, and will need to be pre-loaded onto the room computer before your session begins. Concretely, this will require:
1. Save your slides or handout in a pdf format. During the sessions, slides will be opened using a basic pdf reader (such as Mac Preview). Keep in mind that if you have complicated animations in your slides, these may not show up correctly. Please do not try to open Keynote, or Powerpoint, etc. on the room laptops.
2. Please send your slides as a pdf to your session chair before the session begins so that we can have all of the slides pre-loaded on the room laptop before your session begins.
3. When you give your talk, keep the zoom window open. This way, when remote participants ask questions, their video and audio will be visible and audible in the room. This will also prevent you from accidentally logging out of zoom and ending the session for remote participants.
4. When you open your slides during your talk, do so through the Zoom screen sharing function. In other words, when you open your slides: open the pdf reader. Then open your file. Then go back to zoom, and display your pdf using the Zoom share function. Keep in mind, even though you are in-person presenting to an in-person audience, you are also simultaneously presenting remotely to an online audience!
Specific instructions for session chairs:
Session chairs will have the standard responsibilities of introducing the speakers, making sure the talks and discussion period stays on schedule, and moderating the discussion period. In addition, session chairs will have additional responsibilities on account of the hybrid format of the conference. Specifically, during your session, the session chair will also be a co-host of the online Zoom room. It will also be the session chair's responsibility to monitor the technology in the room.
Coordinate with the presenters in your session before the session begins. Make sure that you have double-checked to confirm who will be presenting remotely and who will be presenting in-person.
Every in-person presenter needs to have their slides or handouts saved in pdf format, and then sent to their session chair before the session beings. Session chairs need to make sure that they have pdfs from every in person presenter in a timely manner.
Hosting the online Zoom room.
Every session chair will be set as a session co-host, using the designated email address that you used when submitting your abstract to HOPOS. (The other designated session co-host will be a member of the local organizing committee.) For this reason, every session chair needs to have their own laptop that is open and running Zoom during the session. If this is a problem, perhaps you can borrow a computer from one of the speakers during the session. Or, if all else fails, the local organizing committee will have a backup computer to use in case of emergency.
There will be five Zoom rooms: four parallel sessions (Parallel Session Room A, B, C, and D), and the plenary session. Make sure you join the correct Zoom room for your session. E.g., if you are scheduled to chair parallel session 4A, ("Bacon") join room A. Before your session begins, log onto the designated zoom room and make sure that you are set as a co-host when you log on. If you are not set as co-host, you can use the room's laptop to go onto Zoom and set yourself as co-host. (The laptops in the meeting room will always be logged into Zoom as host, using the Zoom account of a member of the local organizing committee.)
If there are online presenters during your session, make sure that they are given the ability to share their screen. You can do this by making the speaker a co-host.
During the discussion period, participants can ask questions or make comments whether they are online or in-person. You will need to maintain a queue that includes both online and in-person participants. There will be in-room microphones, so questions asked in the room should be audible to the online audience, as long as the questions are spoken clearly and the technology cooperates. Online participants should also be able to ask questions by turning on their microphones: the laptop in the room on the speaker's podium will be connected to the room speakers. If not, make sure the audio volume level in the room is turned up (there will be a volume control on the wall next to the speaker's podium) and that the volume controls on the room laptop are turned up. If all else fails, you can ask online participants to type their questions into the chat.
Monitoring the technology in the room.
Every meeting room on campus will have its own laptop, which will be connected continuously to the projector, camera, and speakers in the room, and will be logged into Zoom. Every presenter will use the room laptop while giving their talk. (Please do not try to disconnect the room laptop and connect your own computer during your session, and do not allow the speakers to do it, either!) Since every session is being livestreamed continuously on Zoom, please do not log out of Zoom or close Zoom on the room's computer.
If a speaker is remote, please make sure that the room laptop is projecting the video from the Zoom session onto the room's screen. The laptop will already be set up, so this should require only that the Zoom window is open on the room's laptop. Please also make sure that the audio from the speaker is coming through the room's speakers, by making sure that the presenter on Zoom has not muted themselves, that the room computer's audio is not muted, and that the room speakers are turned up to an appropriate level (there will be a volume control on the wall next to the podium).
If a presenter is in person, please make sure that their slides are pre-loaded onto the room computer in pdf format. An easy way to do this is to have them emailed to you, and you can open your email using the browser on the room computer and save the pdfs onto the room computer. (Alternately, you can use a USB drive, since all of the room laptops will be USB compatible. But just using email is preferable, since it avoids connecting and disconnecting from the room's computer.) Make sure that the pdfs are opened on the room laptop before the session begins, using a basic pdf reader (such as Preview), and not using Powerpoint or Keynote. During the talks, please monitor the presenters to make sure that they are sharing their screen through Zoom, so that the online audience can see their slides as well.
All of the technology in the room (the computer, the camera, the screen, projector, and speakers) will be set up before you arrive for your session, and the computer will already be turned on and running Zoom and a pdf viewer. So nothing should need to be turned on. Similarly, please do not turn anything off when your session ends.
Specific instructions for those presenting remotely:
Remote speakers will present their talks using Zoom. Those who register for the conference online will receive an email providing the links to the Zoom rooms. There will be five Zoom rooms: four parallel sessions (Parallel Session Room A, B, C, and D), and the plenary session. Make sure you join the correct Zoom room for your session. E.g., if you are scheduled to present as part of parallel session 4A, ("Bacon") join room A. Remember also that the schedule is set on U.S. Pacific Time.
During remote presentations, the presenter's video will be projected onto the screen in the session room at UC Irvine for the in-person audience, and their audio will be streamed through the room speakers. The session chairs, who will always be physically present in-person in the session room, will be the hosts of the Zoom room.
During your talk you can share your slides or your handout using the standard Zoom share screen function. The session chair, who will be the Zoom host, will need to give you permission to share your screen. Since the slides are being projected onto a screen in the session room for the in-person audience, make sure that what you are sharing will be in a font and font size that will be legible for an in-person audience.
The question periods will be moderated by the session chairs. There will be room microphones in the session rooms, so in-person participants will be able to ask questions aloud. On-line participants should also be able to ask questions by turning on their microphones on Zoom.
Obviously, before your session begins, please do your due diligence to make sure that your computer is charged, your camera, microphone, and speakers are working, your Zoom software is up to date, and that your internet connection is reliable. The sessions are tightly scheduled, so any technology induced delays may cut into other speakers' time.