FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SFS 2021 VIRTUAL MEETING
How will the meeting work?
Oral Talks: Oral talks will be pre-recorded, and available asynchronously before the meeting starts. You will be able to watch talks before, during and even after the meeting. If you are giving a talk or poster, please attend the moderated discussion associated with your presentation! More information on that below.
Poster Presentations: You can also attend the poster sessions and interact with poster presenters. Posters are a great way to interact with an individual or a small group to learn more about groundbreaking research. Poster presenters can record an optional short video that gives attendees a quick overview of your work. This will allow for attendees to focus on discussing your work during the interactive poster session.
Plenary Talks: Plenary talks and awards will be available live from 12-1:30 PM Eastern. These will also be recorded, so that if you miss a plenary you can watch it on-demand after it occurs.
Workshops: Interactive virtual workshops are available on Sunday (May 23) and Friday (May 28).
How can I connect with other SFS members during the meeting?There are lots of ways to meet and reconnect with your freshwater family! You can:
- Host or attend some coffee breaks as an informal way to connect with other SFSers.
- Connect with folks you might like to speak with and arrange a time to get together through the platform or on zoom during the meeting.
- Take part in a moderated discussion, as an attendee, presenter, or a moderator.
- Attend a mixer!
- Sign up for an interactive workshop (Sunday and Friday). There are some exciting workshops planned to learn some new skills, learn more about NEON among other topics.
- Check out the SFS Social Media Posting Guide developed by the Student Resources Committee for advice on how to use social media to interact with other SFSers before, during, and after the meeting.
What are these coffee breaks?
Coffee breaks (7:30-8:30am and 4:00-5:00pm most days) are meant to be a fun way to build community among attendees on a virtual platform. Join in a coffee break for conversation & live engagement.
Why does my talk need to be submitted a couple of weeks before the actual meeting?
There are over 750 presentations and posters associated with the meeting and each of these needs to be uploaded into the meeting platform. This process will take time. In addition, we will open the meeting platform at least a week prior to the actual meeting so folks can start watching talks before the meeting. Because of these two considerations, we need your presentations in advance of the meeting.
What can I expect from the moderated discussions?
Moderated sessions are a live Q&A in response to recorded talks, and are open to all presenters, attendees, and the moderators. These are meant to be a forum for asking questions of presenters and for discussing advances in the field. This presents an opportunity for live discussion and engagement.
I have been assigned as a moderator for a session. What are my responsibilities?
Thanks to those who have volunteered to be a moderator for a session!
Ahead of Time: Please contact presenters in your session to see who will be attending the live discussions for talks and posters. Encourage folks to indicate on their talks/posters that they will be at the moderated discussion.
On the day/time of your moderated session: Open up the Zoom link (sent by Seth Tarver) at the specified time. Guide conversation in live session (be cognizant of time for questions and answers; set community guidelines, i.e., don’t let singular people dominate conversations, mute yourself if you aren’t speaking, ask folks to use the raise hand feature, etc). You can also organize breakout rooms depending on how large your session is. We recommend this option for groups with 20+ attendees; however, we also encourage multiple moderators (1/room) to facilitate discussion across breakout rooms. If you would like to create questions for the speakers / to guide discussion beforehand, we recommend using Mentimeter.
Note: You may be moderating a session outside your zone of expertise, and that’s okay! You don’t need to be a topical expert to be a good moderator. We would just recommend that you take the time to watch as many of the talks that you’ll be moderating the discussion on as you can, and come up with a few overarching thematic questions that could be posed to the panel if the audience questions slow down.
I am presenting a talk/poster and would like to take part in the moderated discussion. What do I do?
Please indicate on your talk/poster that you will be part of your moderated discussion! Then, simply join the moderated discussion associated with your session, and be prepared to answer questions and enjoy a lively discussion.
- Attend the plenaries each day at noon EST and the SFS business lunch.
- Learn more about SFS committees by attending the Committee focused coffee breaks on Tues from 4-5