Presenters Guidance

• Conference Dates: Sept 03-05, 2024
• Location: The Frederick Douglass Centre, Helix Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG, United Kingdom
• Contact Email: [email protected]

Room allocation

Please refer to the programme schedule to find your room allocation. We have tried to avoid scheduling conflicts, but if you notice any issues (such as one of your presenters being assigned to two different sessions simultaneously), please let us know as soon as possible.

Room details

By following the links in the first column, you can view photos and the floorplan for each room.

• In-person capacity will be managed by a team of volunteers. The room limits are shown in the table. If the in-person capacity is reached for a room, people wishing to attend that session will be advised to use other areas and join using the remote link.
• Remote attendees will receive streaming links through the conference platform, with no limit on the number of remote attendees per session.

Room (linked)	Description/layout	In-person capacity	Streaming
G.41	Main theatre (fixed seating)	500	Streaming is provided by a professional streaming company
G.56	Smaller theatre (fixed seating)	250	Streaming is provided by a professional streaming company
G.06	Theatre with grouped seating (fixed seating)	170	Streaming is provided by a professional streaming company
1.17	Classroom (movable, default layout)	60	Streaming is provided through Zoom, and managed by the RSECon team
2.16	Classroom (moveable, default layout)	60	Streaming is provided through Zoom, and managed by the RSECon team

Connecting your laptop to the AV equipment

Each room is equipped with a computer, large screens, and display setup (see table above). You can connect your laptop using HDMI.

Connecting to the Wi-Fi

Each room will have Wi-Fi available. Instructions for joining this will be made available throughout the conference and in each room.

Video streaming with audio transcription

The content presented in all five rooms will be streamed through our online conference platform. The video content being streamed will have an accompanying text transcription of the audio, meaning that spoken words in the video are converted into written text in real-time. Breakout discussions that are hosted on the conference Zoom facility will also be supported by the transcription service.

Recordings and other materials

The content streamed across all five rooms will be captured as recordings. The recordings will be made available after the conference on the Society of RSE's YouTube account. Breakout discussions will not be recorded.

The recordings will include the real-time captions that were captured during the live streams. Additionally, other resources and materials, such as presentation slides and repository links, will be made publicly accessible through an appropriate archiving platform, such as Zenodo. We will provide these details closer to the conference.

Session chairs

Session chairs will host sessions that include Talks, Walkthroughs and Panels. They are responsible for introducing the speakers and keeping the session on time. They will use flashcards to indicate when 5 and 2 minutes remain in the slot and will ask you to stop when time is up. They will also manage the Q&A for Talks and Walkthroughs.

Interactive sessions, including BoFs, Hackathons and Workshops, will not have a session chair. These sessions span an entire session block, and you are expected to manage your own introductions and timekeeping.

Volunteers

There will be at least one volunteer allocated to each room for each session. Volunteers will be identifiable by their maroon conference t-shirts. If you have any issues in your room, they will be your first point of contact for support.

Code of conduct

All presenters and attendees must follow our code of conduct. Be kind to others, do not insult or put down others, and behave professionally. You will have the opportunity to raise any conduct concerns after your session.

Accessibility

Whilst preparing your material please refer to the conference's accessibility guidance.

Should you or your team of presenters and facilitators require adjustments please contact us. Your presenting team may not feel comfortable sharing any additional requirements with you, so please make them aware that they can contact us regarding any adjustments that they may need.

Preparing your materials

Bear in mind that your presentation material will be displayed on a range of screen sizes (e.g. large conference room display and a personal laptop). It may be beneficial to view your content on several display options to check legibility, especially if you are using a terminal during a walkthrough. When preparing your materials, please refer to the conference's accessibility guidance.

If you haven't had experience of writing content, or speaking in public, check this article for some tips. If you have been allocated a mentor, it could be valuable to talk to them about content structure, and asking them to provide feedback on a rehearsal.

Saving your content to RSECon24 cloud storage

We will be publishing material (e.g. slide packs) to retain and archive your content along with the recording of your session. Uploading your content to our storage also helps us with room setup and easier transitions between speakers. Preferred file types are pptx, pdf, Google Slides.

A Google drive folder for your uploads should have been shared with your email via Fliss Guest on 18th August. If you are unable to locate this folder, please contact the programme team. Please upload your content by 5pm BST on Monday 2nd September.

We appreciate that there may be some content that can't be captured, for example if you are showing a demo that requires your laptop screen to be broadcast. In this case, you may wish to broadcast your material from your laptop; you will have the option to plug your laptop into the room's AV system. Even if you are using your own machine, please still upload your slides so that we can publish them.

If you have saved your content to our cloud storage, it will be loaded onto your room's computer in advance of your session. If you want to check that your content is suitable for the room, or has been saved as you expected, you are welcome to approach a volunteer or committee member to ask to do a room check during one of the breaks. We suggest you do this with enough time that you can make changes before your session. Once your session starts, we will be unable to reload a new version of your content.

On the day

We ask that all presenting authors arrive at their allocated rooms 5-10 minutes before the session starts and make themselves known to the conference volunteers and session chair who are supporting the session. They will inform you of any additional room details e.g. pointing out the microphone and video. Please also clarify with the session chair when you want to take questions, especially for walkthroughs.

To create a positive hybrid experience for both remote and in-person delegates during your delivery, we ask that you:

• Introduce all presenters at the beginning.
• Ensure that you stay within distance of the room microphones and video cameras so that you can be heard and seen by all delegates.
• Use the digital laser pointer and digital annotation tools for pointing to your displayed content, rather than using hand pointing at display screens which may not be seen online. (Details will be confirmed closer to the conference start.)
• Share author or presenter contact details (e.g. email, slack handle) during your presentation so that delegates know how they can get in touch with follow-up discussions. This is particularly useful for remote delegates who will have a different networking experience to in-person delegates.

Length of Presentation

All presentations will end with 5 minutes of Q&A, where the session chair will ask questions from the audience.

• 15 minute slots should have a 10 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A
• 30 minute slots should have a 25 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A
• 45 minute slots should have a 40 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A

Managing Q&A

At the end of presentations, all audience Q&A will be managed through Canapii, which is our dedicated conference platform. This method of collecting questions from the audience creates a more equal environment for both in-person and remote attendees. The session chair is responsible for reading out questions for you to address. Please confirm with them whether you would like to accept questions during or at the end of your Talk or Walkthrough. There will be no roaming microphones available for in-person audience members to speak. Each session will have 2 volunteers assigned. They will be moderating the Q&A in line with our Q&A policy.

If you have not run a panel session before, you may want to take a look at this guide for panel discussions for some suggestions around how to plan and deliver your panel.

Preparing for your Panel

Please let us know how many in-person panellists there will be (including Panel chair) and if you are planning to have any remote panellists, so that we can set up the room appropriately.

Panels focus on interactions and discussions between panellists and a good Panel will have a diverse range of panellists where the variety of experiences of the panellists gives a range of perspectives on the topic. If you need support to identify additional panellists please contact us.

Managing audience questions and discussion

Sessions in which Panels are held will have a session chair who will be responsible for ensuring that the Panel and Talks in the session keep to time. Unless agreed in advance with the programme committee and the session chair, the panel chair, not the session chair, will be responsible for managing questions and discussion with the audience.

Questions and comments from the audience will come through Canapii, which is our conference Q&A platform. The chair should read out any which are to be addressed to panellists.

The Panel chair is responsible for steering the event, ensuring that all panellists are heard and that there is sufficient time to address a good range of relevant aspects of the Panel's topic.

In the email sent to corresponding authors on 15th July we provided a link to a form, where we are collating details that will help us to support you to deliver your session. Items in this section that appear in bold are details that should be provided in that form. Please ensure that someone on your authorship or presenting group submits this form by 12th August for your content.

Ensuring participants can engage with your session

You may want to share information or instructions with participants before the start of the conference (e.g., installation instructions or system requirements). If so, please provide us with a single link (e.g. to a Google Doc, Wiki, README.md) by 12th August, which should direct conference attendees to all necessary information for engaging with your session. We will be sending out communications to all attendees on 19th August with conference information, which will include the locations of these preparatory materials. We will also add this link to your abstract within the online conference programme. Please ensure that your link and associated content are public and accessible to all attendees.

Please note that due to our communications timeline, this deadline of 12th August can not be extended.

Some examples of information that you may want to share include:

• Equipment: Will an attendee needing equipment (e.g. a laptop) to take part or will you be providing everything (e.g. sticky-notes/paper)? This information is particularly relevant for international attendees who may have luggage restrictions.
• Software Requirements: Provide detailed information so that delegates can fully engage with your session.
• Repositories: Include links to repositories (e.g., GitHub) containing session materials, demo code, etc.
• Sign-Up Instructions: Offer instructions for accessing virtual machines or other necessary account registrations.
• Discussion questions: sharing a list of questions/prompts for discussion sessions so that each of the remote breakout groups can see them. Due to the remote setup, they may not be able to see the conference room screen when in the breakout Zoom rooms.
• Notepad links: (e.g. Google docs) where you will be collating notes from discussion groups.

Some of this content will be crucial for delegates to know before travelling to the conference (e.g. equipment, software requirements). Other content you may wish to add closer to your session time (e.g. discussion questions, notepad links). You can update the content on your linked item at any point, but please note that we will only be issuing one communication to delegates about associated material, so make sure all of your preparatory content is linked in this communication.

Slack

• The conference has a dedicated RSECon24 Slack workspace.
• We have created a channel for each interactive session: #bof-title or #hack-title or #workshop-title. This is a space for you to use as you wish, for example for sharing links, documents, reminders, or discussions with conference delegates.

Additional equipment

Let us know what additional equipment you will require (e.g. sheets of paper, pens). We cannot guarantee to be able to meet your requests but please ask and we can discuss this with you.

Presentation and facilitation group

Let us know if any of your presenters will be remotely attending. We understand that life happens and that last minute changes to circumstances may alter this e.g. leading to a presenter being unable to attend in person. Please find a volunteer or committee member as soon as possible to see what arrangements we can make to support your presenting team.

Presenters who will be attending the conference must have a conference ticket. For the interactive sessions, we acknowledge that you may need additional contributors who would not normally attend the conference. If someone is involved in either delivering or facilitating your session, and is only taking part in your session at the conference, please let us know so that we can discuss their ticket requirements.

On the day

• You may want to arrive at your room earlier than the 5-10 minutes suggested above. Ensure you give yourself sufficient time for any preparation. There will be at least one volunteer to support you with any equipment setup set-up.
• Interactive sessions have not been allocated a session chair, therefore you have autonomy over introductions and management of timings. Please respect the session times as you will be running into breaks and lunches. A member of the conference committee will prompt you to wrap up if you start to overrun. You can make use of spaces around the venue or your session’s Slack channel or if you wish to continue any discussions.

Room details

The room layouts are shown in the table in the general guidance above. If your session has been allocated to room 1.17 or 2.06, please let us know if you would like a non-default layout. The other rooms have fixed seating which cannot be moved.

• All conference sessions will be accessed through Canapii. The page for your session will either display the live stream or open up the linked Zoom meeting.
• Workshops located in 1.17 and 2.16, and all BoFs and the Hackathon will be streamed using Zoom.
• Workshops in G.06 will be broadcast using Canapii’s live stream.
• If you have provided slides in advance, these will be available on the room’s computer.
• Specific details on how presentations will be broadcast (e.g., whether one screen will display remote participants and another screen will show slides) will be shared with you when you arrive for set-up.
• Remote attendees will be able to unmute themselves and their voice be broadcast using the room's speaker system, and
• In-person attendees will have access to a microphone (either a roaming microphone or through inbuilt microphones).

Managing questions and discussions

• All questions from in-person and remote attendees will be asked through Canapii.
• Each session will have 2 volunteers assigned. They will be moderating the Q&A in line with our Q&A policy. Please introduce yourself to the volunteers prior to the start of your session to clarify how you intend to run the Q&A during your session.
• Zoom chats will be disabled to ensure all questions are directed through Canapii.
• We encourage all questions to go through Canapii. Please manage expectations at the beginning of your session (e.g. use of hands/Zoom hands for discussion points) to indicate when you are happy to take comments and questions. If you are accepting live engagement, ensure that you give equal opportunity to all delegates to engage, for example during open floor for questions. Use your remote facilitator to advocate for remote participants by monitoring Zoom and Canapii.
• If comments or questions are asked in the physical room, please use the roaming mics wherever possible. In the instance when someone speaks without a mic, please summarise or repeat into a microphone so that it can be heard by your in-person and remote attendees.

Additional considerations for creating a positive hybrid experience

When delivering your session please expect to have both in-person and remote attendees. Please note that attendees may drop in or out of your session, and that your session is being recorded. We recommend that you:

• Have a dedicated facilitator to monitor the conference platform and remote space. This person should not present and facilitate at the same time so you may wish to have a couple of your presenters share this role.
• If you are seeking feedback throughout your delivery, for example if delegates are following a demonstration, ensure your feedback mechanism includes your online participants (e.g. the use of ticks/crosses in Zoom).
• Ensure that there is minimal additional noise at the end of discussion sessions before continuing with presentations.

Discussion Groups

We recognise that presenters may want to include small group discussions elements during their sessions. A breakout discussion is a smaller, focused discussion or activity where participants split into groups to explore specific topics or tasks in more detail. Let us know if your session will need discussion groups, and you will be allocated spaces to use for this purpose.

For workshops in G.06

• Your main content will be streamed directly through Canapii and audio and visual equipment will be managed by the professional streaming company.
• Remote delegates will be directed to the Canapii live stream.
• When you enter your breakout discussion time:
  • Your in-person breakouts discussions will happen within G.06. We don’t have additional rooms for breakout discussions, but there are spaces around the venue which you are welcome to use.
  • Remote breakout discussions will happen in a separate Zoom meeting. This link will be provided in the session’s information page in Canapii. You will be able to manage the Zoom meeting to use the Zoom breakout room functionality. You may wish to set up an “on-a-break” room or advertise the use of the “on-a-break” reaction for people who do not want to engage in discussion.
  • We encourage you to proactively support one of the Zoom breakout rooms to provide a hybrid experience. Your session will be allocated with one Owl. One of your in-person facilitators will need to connect to the Owl and enter the Zoom meeting. A volunteer will be able to support you to set up the Owl’s audio and video feeds. Please ensure your hybrid and remote facilitator(s) have a Zoom account.
• When you finish the discussion time, you will need to make remote participants aware that they should rejoin the Canapii stream.

For all other interactive sessions

• Zoom details will be available in your session's information in Canapii.
• We will allocate your session’s corresponding author as a co-host, and can allocate a second co-host. Co-hosts will be granted permissions to create the Zoom breakout rooms. Please let us know if you would like an additional co-host.
• Please ensure your presenters and facilitators have a Zoom account.
• Zoom chats will be disabled to minimize the number of communication channels that need monitoring.
• Zoom rooms have been set up to record automatically (unless otherwise specified).
• There is a transcription service linked to the Zoom meeting.
• The room’s console will be logged into the Zoom meeting, and the meeting window will be displayed on the projector screens. To share content from your machine, you will need to log into the Zoom meeting and share your screen. You will not connect to the console in the room. If you have provided slides in advance, these will be available on the room’s computer.
• Remote presenters can interact with Zoom to share screens, present, and speak.
• We encourage you to work proactively to support at least one hybrid breakout discussion. Each BoF and Workshop will be allocated an Owl for facilitating one hybrid breakout room. One of your in-person facilitators will need to connect to the Owl and enter one of the Zoom rooms. A session volunteer will be able to help you with the Owl settings prior to your session starting.
• You will be able to manage the Zoom meeting to use the Zoom breakout room functionality. You may wish to set up an “on-a-break” room or advertise the use of the “on-a-break” reaction for people who do not want to engage in discussion.
• In classrooms the tables are set out in cabaret styles which will enable breakout discussion setup.
• We don’t anticipate the lecture theaters being at full capacity, so please encourage the discussion groups to spread out around the room.
• We don’t have additional rooms for breakout discussions, but there are spaces around the venue that you are welcome to use.