SFS Annual Meeting

Tips on using the SFS Virtual Meeting Platform

Helpful Overview of the Virtual Platform

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Frequently Asked Questions

Information on hosting coffee breaks

SRC Live and Silent Auction 2021 Info

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SFS 2021 Virtual Meeting Format

The SFS 2021 meeting will be virtual this year and with that change comes a new meeting format. The following information provides details on what you can expect as a presenter and attendee of the conference. Also described below are guidelines for special sessions.

1. Plenaries: Each day of the meeting from 12:00pm-1:30pm US Eastern time, we will have plenary sessions that will include presentation of awards, plenary addresses and the SFS presidential address.
2. Speakers: All talks will be pre-recorded and uploaded prior to the meeting to the meeting website. Talks will be 12 min in duration (unless otherwise noted, e.g. lightning talk special sessions). Presenters will upload their talks prior to the meeting. A chat feature will allow meeting attendees to ask questions.
3. Session organization (Special and Contributed Sessions): Talks submitted will be organized by topic for contributed sessions or will be selected for inclusion in special sessions by session organizers.
4. Viewing talks: All talks will be arranged in the standard format of concurrent sessions occurring at given times, but because the talks will all be pre-recorded, meeting participants can view a talk any time during the meeting and for approximately two months after the meeting ends. Each talk will have a chat feature to ask questions that will be relayed to the speaker.
5. Poster presenters: There will be 2 poster sessions, and poster presenters will be assigned a virtual poster "room" during one of the poster sessions to discuss their work with meeting attendees. To accommodate different time zones across the world, one poster session will be early in the US Eastern Time zone and one will be late in the day in the US Eastern Time zone.
6. *New this year- Moderated discussions!* To facilitate discussion among meeting participants, there will be moderated discussions in real time. Two moderated discussions will occur each day of the meeting, early and late in the US Eastern Time zone to accommodate participants from across the world. Moderators will lead discussions based on a series of talks and posters presented in the contributed and special sessions and will aim for lively discussions based on the research presented at the meeting. These sessions can be attended in real time and will be recorded for later viewing. We encourage graduate students and postdoctoral associates to volunteer to be moderators. When you submit an abstract or register for the meeting please indicate if you are willing to be a moderator!
7. Coffee breaks, panels and other social events: There will be ample time in the schedule to join meeting participants in multiple types of interactions. We will have multiple "coffee breaks" throughout the meeting where attendees can join others in discussion on various topic areas or for socializing. The schedule will include other events such as panels, mixers, the SFS auction, FunRun, etc. There will be a mechanism in the meeting platform to contact other participants to meet up in virtual discussions during the meeting.
8. Workshops: Many exciting workshops will be available to participants. Specifics are forthcoming, but these workshops will occur on Sunday 23 May and/or Friday 28 May.