UBC-HKU Summer Theory Conference - Instructions for participants

The conference will be run as a Zoom webinar. This note goes over the schedule structure and presentation organization. The conference program is available here.

Links for registration:

• General audience: use this link.
• Presenters: you will receive an invitation to participate as a panelist and should use that link to participate.

More detail provided below.

Presentation structure

90 minutes will be allocated to each paper:

1. 60 minutes of presentation,
2. 30 minutes for discussions.

Participant roles and definitions

All participants in a Zoom webinar are divided into three roles by the platform: panelists, attendees and host. This is a terminology created by Zoom.

• Panelists: all conference presenters and organizers.
  • Can share their webcam and speak at any moment.
  • Can type answers to any question submitted by attendees in Q&A field.
  • Conference presenters can also request promoting their co-authors to panelists.
• Attendees: anyone else.
  • Can only submit questions in the Q&A field and participate in the chat.
  • Cannot share their screen and can only speak if allowed by moderator.
• Host: the role of host will be taken by the moderator of the active session.
  • The host has all the privileges of panelists but can also mute or kick out any participant.
  • A host can also nominate a co-host, who has the same rights.

We will also use the following terminology for this document:

• Active presenter: the person whose paper is been presented at a given moment.
• Session participants: all people whose papers are part of the active session.
• Moderator: one of the organizers, who will be assigned to run each session.

Access:

• Presenters.
  • You will receive an email from Zoom inviting you to be a panelist in the conference.
  • You should use the URK contained in the invitation email! If you use the link meant to the general audience you will not be able to share your presentation nor speak.
  • Make sure you do the following 20 minutes prior to your session:
    • Enter the webinar through your panelist link,
    • Have the presentation open in your computer.
    • Have your webcam and microphone ready.
• Attendees:
  • Register through the public access link provided above.
  • Registration approval is automatic.
  • You will receive an email with a link to enter the webinar.
• Moderators:
  • Please enter the Webinar at least 20 minutes prior to your sesssion to make sure everything is setup.
  • You will be granted the role of host upon entry:
    • If this is the first session of the day, the original creator of the event can make you a host.
    • If this is not the first session of the day, the moderator from the last session can pass along the role of a host to you before your session.
  • If your session is followed by another one with a different moderator, you should grant the host ability to the new moderator.
    • To grant the role of host you simply click on a participat person in the list of participants and choose “Make host”.
  • Do not leave the Webinar if you are still the host. This will close the Webinar.
  • While you are the host, you can name someone else as a “co-host”. This person will have the same privileges as you.

How to behave in a session:

• Active presenter.
  • Have slides loaded in your computer.
  • Choose to “Screen share” at the start of your time.
  • Pause a couple times for clarification questions from session participants.
• Session participants.
  • You should behave similarly to a discussant. You are expected to take a more active role in asking questions during presentations in your session.
  • Please ask questions!
  • Longer questions can be left to Q&A section.
  • Feel free to comment or answer questions from the attendees in the Q&A section.
• Attendees.
  • Can submit questions through Q&A field at the bottom of the screen.
  • These questions will be addressed in the Q&A section, if time allows.
  • Can participate in a chat room throughout the talk. Any inappropriate talk will lead to exclusion.
  • Can comment and upvote on all other open questions submitted by others.
• Moderator.
  • Presents speakers.
  • During Q&A section, reads unadressed questions by attendees in the Q&A field.
  • Dismisses all unanswered questions at the end of a talk to clear the list.

General Observations

• The presentations will be recorded, and the video will be shown to our HKU colleagues.