Essentials for All Virtual and Hybrid Session Participants
Here are the key things to know about accessing virtual content during this year’s Annual Meeting.
If you’re presenting virtually, you should also see Information for Presenters, especially General Principles for Remote Presentations.
Program
You can view the program on the Annual Meeting Hub.
This year, to maintain the accessibility created by virtual presentations for presenters who cannot travel, AFS is offering two days of dedicated virtual programming, October 11-12, in addition to a limited number of hybrid sessions during our four-day, in-person gathering in Portland, Oregon, November 1-4.
Registrants will be able to access recordings of the livestreamed and hybrid content on the meeting hub after the conference.
About the Annual Meeting Hub
The AFS Annual Meeting Hub is the online place to go to find the information you need to engage with the 2023 Annual Meeting. Anyone can view all the pages of the Hub, and it will serve as the center of access and up-to-date information during our fully virtual days and as we gather in Portland. Use the Hub, which is readable on mobile devices, as a complement to the special commemorative program notebook that you can pick up at the registration desk.
See Using the Meeting Hub for more information.
Accessing Live Sessions
Registration provides full access to both the virtual (Oct. 11-12) and in-person (Nov. 1-4) portions of the AFS annual meeting. Logged in registrants can access all fully virtual and in-person hybrid programs live directly through the Annual Meeting Hub.
All remote presenters will use the Annual Meeting Hub to access their virtual or hybrid sessions.
Note:
- The links to “join sessions” will be visible on the day of the session on the session details page — click a session listed in the schedule to get to the details and the join link.
- You won’t be able to see the “join session” links if you haven’t logged in. How can you tell if you’re logged in? It will say “Log Out” instead of “Log In” in the upper right-hand menu.
- “Join session” links will be active 30 minutes before the scheduled start times; all participants will be admitted to a waiting room. Presenters may be admitted from the waiting room 30 minutes early in order to prepare, while audience members will be admitted at the scheduled start time.
Recordings
Most virtual and hybrid sessions will be recorded, and registered attendees will have the chance to see anything they missed at any time through the end of the year. Allow about a day for recordings to be added to session descriptions in the schedule after live sessions.
Since most virtual and hybrid sessions will be available for asynchronous access afterwards, our limited tech support staff will prioritize aiding virtual presenters during the meeting. If you are a viewer and cannot log in, we invite you to contact us, but we may not be able to assist you in time to attend the live session.
Meeting in Zoom
Virtual and hybrid sessions and events will make use of Zoom using the Meeting format. See our Help with Zoom for guidelines and best practices, as well as technical help. This detailed guide covers settings for presenters as well as for attendees.
Policies
Please review our Annual Meeting Policies before registering, which includes information related to cancellation, social media use, and other important matters.
AFS strives to ensure that all meeting participants have equal opportunities to engage in and contribute to its Annual Meeting. Chairs and presenters should review our guidelines for accessible presentations. Attendees should contact us at [email protected] six weeks before the meeting to request other accommodations that may be necessary to facilitate their participation.
Expectations during the Session
It is important to familiarize yourself with “netiquette,” or general norms and expectations for communicating online. Try an online search on “netiquette” for some important general principles if this is new to you.
For this meeting specifically:
- Test your equipment before the conference, including your microphone and video. All presenters and chairs should have a stable web connection to avoid technical issues. See “System Requirements” in Help with Zoom.
- In general, mute your microphone when you are not speaking in order to reduce background noise.
- While individual circumstances may influence your choice about whether or not to keep your video on, we recommend that you do, whenever possible, to allow attendees to see each other even in a virtual space. Depending on your device capacity and Zoom software version, you may have options for creating a neutral background if you would prefer for participants to not see the place where you are sitting.
- Zoom Chat can be a great way to engage with other attendees during virtual sessions, and we encourage friendly and constructive comments, even during presentations. If you find the chat distracting, you can hide it from view, then review or even download the chat text near the end of the session to see if you missed any substantive suggestions.
- If you plan to move between sessions, keep your audio and video off while you move from panel to panel to minimize disruption.
- Follow instructions from chairs and moderators to ensure a smooth virtual session, especially concerning how to ask questions.
- As with any meeting, be courteous and forgiving. Allow chairs and moderators to handle disruptions.
Privacy
By default, most events and sessions conducted in Zoom will be recorded to make that content accessible to those who can’t attend the live virtual sessions. Social events and discussion sessions will not be recorded. These recordings will be available at least until the end of the calendar year for registered attendees to watch on-demand.
As an attendee, if you do not want to be recorded in a session, please do not attend the session. The program will indicate which sessions are not recorded so that you know ahead of time which ones are viable options for you. Chairs and presenters, please contact us at [email protected] if you do not wish to be recorded.
AFS collected permission from presenters concerning sharing email addresses. The email addresses that we were given permission to publish can be found by logged-in, registered attendees in the index of presenters on the conference platform.
For more specific information, see: