Virtual Conference Center on Gather is now open!
You can contact Jan Fischer (jan.fischer@slideslive.com) for questions specific to SlidesLive and Zoom meetings and SoCS chairs Hang Ma (hangma@sfu.ca) and Ivan Serina (ivan.serina@unibs.it) for general inquiries.
You can register for the online conference via the following link: Registration. The registration is free for ICAPS participants and SoCS Paper Authors. The cost for non-authors attendees is 10$. You will receive an email that contains the login details for the paper sessions and the virtual conference center (on Gather).
The Schedule page provides a compact overview of the program, adaptive to a time zone of your choice. The main conference is single-track, stretched over 4 days, alleviating time-zone issues as much as possible. Global events (invited and Masterclass talks) are scheduled at "prime time", a time window reasonably accessible for most participants. Each session is repeated twice, to provide at least one accessible presentation time for most time zones.
The layout and usage are fairly obvious. Just go there and have a look around. We hope you like it!
You can choose your avatar character and appearance from a limited set of options. The only attribute by which people will actually be able to "recognize" you is your name tag. Please use your REAL and FULL name.
"Local" chat in Gather is visible only to people in your interaction distance (the people you can currently talk to); "global" chat is visible everywhere.
The session rooms in Gather contain an internet link leading to the online meeting (e.g. Zoom). You follow that link, leaving Gather temporarily, by pressing the `x' button.
Navigating through the Virtual Conference Center: The session room is on the right side of the main lobby. You can take a break and socialize in the Bar room any time during the conference. Besides, there are several pictures in the main lobby that introduce the characteristics of Guangzhou and Jinan University. Each picture has a TV in the area. Press the 'x' button when you stand next to the TV to watch the corresponding video.
Sponsors: We encourage everyone to visit the Booths room to meet the sponsors just like you would at the physical conference.
The map contains a variety of so-called "private spaces". People within such a space all see and hear each other; nobody outside the space does. Rectangular marked areas (mostly around posters), meeting rooms in the lobby, and tables with chairs identify such private spaces.
Some rooms contain spotlighted positions. If you stand in such a position, your audio goes to all people present in the room. This feature is included on the square stage in the Session Room.
There are three ways to attend the Session at Gather
Attend the session directly in gather:
go to the session room in the upper right corner of the main venue
if you are one of the speakers in the session, please broadcast in front of the podium, otherwise, find a seat and sit down
Attend the session through Zoom:
go to the left whiteboard at the top left of the session room
press X to enter the discussion ( Password: sent by email to the registered users)
in case the link in Gather fails, you can also visit it directly https://zoom.us/j/92190153983 (Password: sent by email to the registered users)
Attend the session through SlidesLive:
go to the left whiteboard at the top left of the session room
press X to enter the discussion
the link for accessing SlidesLive is https://slideslive.com/socs-2021/livestream
prerecorded contents will be accessible after each stream session at https://slideslive.com/socs-2021/content
The conference takes place in our virtual conference center, on the Gather platform.
Please use your REAL and FULL name in Gather, as this is how other participants will identify you (it will be the "name tag" of your virtual character). The password for the virtual conference center will be given in an e-mail close to the conference dates. That same password also is used to access the Zoom meetings.
All main-conference sessions will be done in Zoom, which includes pre-recorded presentation videos and live Q&A after each presentation. It is recommended that you join Zoom for live interaction with the authors. Please use your REAL and FULL name in Zoom. The videos will be streamed into the Zoom meeting by a host. Session chairs will decide when to start the next talk video. Paper discussion will be in live audio/video, plus textual chat while the videos are streaming.
All sessions, including presentations and Q&A, will also be simultaneously broadcasted on the SlidesLive live-streaming page (the URL is TBA), which has a more stable connection and is more easily accessible (on computers and mobile devices) than Zoom meetings. However, there is a delay of 20 seconds on Slideslive. You can choose to watch a presentation on SlidesLive and type your questions in a sli.do chatbox under the live stream while the presentation is playing. Session chairs will raise your questions to the authors if all questions in the Zoom meeting are answered. Otherwise, authors will answer the questions after their sessions.
Explanation of the live stream and discussion
All content (prerecorded and live) will be displayed across two channels.
SlidesLive contains the stream and also a chatbox under the video. Your questions will be taken from slido and the authors will answer them. The stream ensures maximum quality of video as well as the ability to replay sessions you might have missed.
To ask the authors directly, please join the zoom room with authors. All content will also be played there, so you can stay there the whole time. Please keep in mind that you will be recorded and livestreamed if you participate with video on inside zoom.
Make sure you are not watching the livestream whilst being in the zoom room. You would have double audio.
Instructions for ZOOM call:
Use headphones to prevent echo
Download the ZOOM app
Have enough light on your face
You should be visible from the upper chest up, there should be a little room above your head. The camera should ideally be eye level
Enable HD in the video settings in zoom
All main-conference sessions will be done in Zoom. You can use Zoom via their web client (Google Chrome, Firefox and Chromium Edge), but only with restricted functionality. We recommend installing and use the Zoom app.
You can choose to watch presentations on the SlidesLive live-streaming page, which is supported by most of the popular web browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Chromium Edge, etc.).
As for the Gather platform:
JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.
A Chromium browser is recommended.
For internet speeds, we recommend 10 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
To get all advantages of our virtual conference center on GatherTown, you should have a camera and microphone on.
Join GatherTown to hang out and chat with others!
Yes you can. Dial into zoom as usual, finding your local number here. The Meeting ID is insert_meeting_id. The Passcode is given in the e-mail confirming your registration.
All participants are bound and expected to uphold the conference’s Code of Conduct. SoCS-21 has adopted the ICAPS Code of Conduct. We guard against "Zoom Bombing" by requiring a password and having moderators with the ability to evict participants. Please remember to be respectful of other participants, and try to be constructive and supportive. This is particularly important given the current circumstances: you don't know what other people are facing, even while talking or writing to you.
Each paper will also get a poster. There will be two poster sessions. To take part in the poster session you have to upload your poster by July 20. You are encouraged to attend both poster sessions.
Format The poster must be a PDF in portrait format.
Presentation At least one author should be at the poster stand during the whole poster session. The marked area around each poster is a "private space", meaning that the poster conversation includes all, and only, the people in that space. Also, the people in the marked area see the poster in full screen.
You, or at least one of your co-authors, should be present in each of the two occurrences of your paper's session. Your job is to 1) answer questions in the chat while the video is being streamed, and 2) answer questions in the subsequent live audio/video discussion just like at a physical conference.
Your paper talk video will be streamed into the zoom meeting and broadcasted on SlidesLive by the conference team, so you do not need to worry about that. Your job is to produce the video and to answer questions.
