Guidelines for Conveners

The ASSW 2023 will be in a hybrid format. This poses some challenges for integrating both on-site and online participants into your sessions / workshops / meetings (short “sessions” in the rest of this document). As we want to ensure an inclusive and good conference experience for both types of participants, the following basic guidelines will be in place for any session held at ASSW 2023. Conveners / Chairs (short “conveners” in this document) of those sessions should familiarize themselves with these guidelines before the start of ASSW 2023.

 

Before your Session

• unfold_moreSchedule / Agenda

  Please prepare a schedule / agenda for your session with specific allocated times for each scheduled item. This schedule should be distributed to your session participants before the session (e.g. by uploading it to the session description on the website - contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for that).

  During the meeting try to stick closely to the allotted times to ensure that especially online participants know when to attend for certain items.

• unfold_moreSession Room

  Conveners / Co-Conveners / Assistants should be in the meeting room no later than 20 minutes before the start of their session!

  • A volunteer will be in the meeting room to help you get started with the technical equipment
  • Familiarise yourself with the equipment in the meeting room
  • Discuss meeting schedule with the presenters (they have been asked to be in the room 15 minutes early)
  • Upload the presentations (ppt or PDF) for the meeting to the computer in the meeting room (Windows based!) that will be used to share the presentation slides.
    • Note that it is NOT possible to connect your own computer as the audio system for those attending online only works with the computer in the room.
    • However, you can connect to the Zoom session yourself on your computer (important to turn off all audio / microphone on it to avoid feedback!) and share material for your meeting / session via Zoom screen share.

  If you have questions, please contact the volunteer assigned to your room.

• unfold_moreZoom

  We will use Zoom for connecting all online audiences to all hybrid sessions of the ASSW 2023.

  Open hybrid sessions: all conference participants will be able to access the Zoom links via a special password-protected website that will be shared with all registered conference participants before the part of the conference they signed up for.

  Closed sessions (by Invitation only): the session chairs will receive the Zoom links before the conference so they can share it directly with all the invited participants of their session. Please remember that it is the chair's responsibility to distribute the link to the attendees. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have lost the Zoom link.

 

During your Session

• unfold_moreSession Assistance

  On-site Session Co-Chair / Assistant

  Aside from the convener, each session should designate a co-convener or assistant. This can be one of your co-organisers / IASC WG Secretary / Fellow / one of the workshop participants volunteering for this task etc.
  
  The task of this person will be among others to monitor the Zoom platform to pass on to the convener:

  • raised hands from online participants who want to make a comment
  • questions that are sent in via the Chatbox / Q&A tool in Zoom
  • record the session (if requested by the session organizers)

  The session conveners are responsible for finding their own co-conveners / assistants responsible for this task!

   

  Technical Volunteer

  The ASSW 2023 organizers will assign each session a technical volunteer who will help with getting the Zoom meeting started, upload the presentations for the meeting, small technical issues with the equipment on site, e.g. computer problems, problems with accessing Zoom / passing on Zoom hosting rights to the session conveners.
  
  The technical volunteers will receive training before the conference on how to use the equipment in your meeting room.

  Important: It is not the task of the technical volunteer to help with running your session.

  For more difficult issues, the technical volunteer will call-in help from one of the professional technicians from the University of Vienna.

• unfold_morePracticalities during your Session

  Starting the Session

  • In order for online participants to understand what is said in the meeting room, on-site meeting participants must use the microphones in the room when speaking! There will be several microphones in each room (one for the chair and several for other meeting participants)!
  • Remind all meeting participants of the ASSW 2023 Code of Conduct
  • Clearly introduce the meeting etiquette and rules at the beginning of the meeting
  • remind online participants to mute their microphones when not speaking
  • encourage on-site participants who have a laptop to also log into the Zoom session and turn on their cameras (even though sitting in the room). This will help online participants to see the on-site participants better
    • IMPORTANT: Audio and Microphones need to be turned completely off on those computers to avoid feedback with the microphones used in the room!
  • if you do a tour-de-table, call on each participant by name to speak (both online and on-site)

   

  Sharing of Presentation Materials

  All presentation slides and other materials will be shared via Zoom for both on-site and online participants to ensure that also the online participants can see them.

  The material must be uploaded to the computer in the meeting room (Windows based!) and shared from there. Alternatively, the session convener / co-conveners / assistant can log-into the Zoom session and share the material from their computer via screen share (the technical volunteer on site will help to pass on necessary hosting rights before the session).
  Only share slides / screen in Zoom when needed during the meeting but otherwise do not share your screen to ensure that on-site participants can see the online participants.

   

  Session Recording

  Only sessions that request a recording to be made will be recorded!

  Each session convener is responsible for informing the technical volunteer on site if the session should be recorded. Alternatively, the technical volunteer can also pass on Zoom co-hosting rights to the convener / co-convener / assistant so you can record the session on their own computers.

  If you record your session, please inform all presenters and participants at the beginning of each session that the session will be recorded and for what purpose (e.g. for publishing online or only for internal note-taking purposes not intended for publication).

  Important: If a presenter does not wish their presentation to be recorded they will notify you during the session or after. Either pause the recording during that presentation, or note the name of the presenter to delete their presentation from your recording after the session (requires some video editing but not hard to do).

   

  Discussions during your Session

  The challenge of discussions in hybrid meetings is to ensure that both on-site and online participants are treated equally during the discussion. A few guidelines will help you as the convener to ensure that all participants have a good experience in your session:

  • all participants, no matter if on-site or online, must raise their hands (or use the raise hands function in Zoom), and wait for the session convener to pass the word to them if they want to speak.
    • Either you as convener or your co-convener / assistant should note the order of hands raised both among the on-site and online participants. Use this order to pass on speaking rights. When possible, alternate between an on-site and online speaker to ensure a fair inclusion of online participants in the discussion.
    • Speaking over others or spontaneous comments out of speaking order will not be allowed as this will be hard to follow for your online participants.
  • speakers should briefly introduce their name before making their comments to ensure that both online and on-site participants know who is speaking
  • on-site participants: must use one of the microphones in the room when speaking to ensure that online participants can understand them
  • online participants:
    • can ask questions / make comments by:
      • raising their hands and wait for session chair to ask them to speak
      • typing into the chat box or the Q&A box
    • can contact the session convener / co-convener / assistant via the chat box

  General rule: Be mindful of your online participants by including them randomly during the meeting and making sure that their needs are equally met during your discussions to the needs of your on-site participants!

   

  Breakout Groups

  If you are planning to do group work with your on-site participants, do the same using Zoom Rooms for your online participants.