Frequently Asked Questions

For the 2026 Symposium, most sessions are in person unless otherwise noted. The 2026 Symposium is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (CST) on Thursday, April 16, 2026. The Symposium will be held at different locations on campus, such as the UWF Commons, Conference Center, Great Hall, Auditorium, the Cannon Green, and the Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Additionally, some virtual presentations are available through the online conference platform Gather.Town. 

About Gather.Town: Please watch this YouTube video from Gather.Town, how to use Gather.Town as an attendee, to learn more about what to expect. 

This is a free event and is open to the public. If you are a visitor, please visit the Visitors Center (Bldg. 81) for a visitor's parking permit. Visitors may park in designated visitor spaces or commuter spaces. Visitor spaces are designated by signage and are located in lots A, B, H, K, P, Q, and BB. If visitor spaces are unavailable, visitors may park in commuter or open lots indicated in green and pink on the new Interactive Parking Map at uwf.edu/campusparking.

We encourage all faculty and students who wish to volunteer to sign up via the Volunteer Google Form on the Volunteer Info page. All OUR Ambassadors (students funded through OUR) are asked to volunteer.  

Students who wish to submit a virtual presentation should indicate it on their abstract submission application. When accepted, you will receive instructions on submitting your recorded presentation by April 2, 2026.

• Students and faculty selected to do a virtual presentation will submit a 2-3 minute pre-recording of their presentation or other presentation materials (i.e., poster, PPT slides, ePortfolio, etc.) in advance of the Symposium.  These materials will be uploaded to the online conference site Gather.Town so students can invite their faculty mentors, peers, and family for a live virtual presentation at their convenience. Please note that you are required to submit your presentation materials by April 2, 2026 (two weeks before the Symposium).

• Presenters in the Main Oral Presentation Sessions must submit a link to their slides in advance of the Symposium. This link can take the form of Google Slides or another presentation-sharing site. The session moderator will access your slides via the link you submit during the Symposium; you will not be able to log into your own Google Drive or use your own laptop during the Symposium.

• You will submit your slides link within your original Symposium application (you should now see a new section for those materials).  As long as you are using a “live” link such as Google Slides, you can submit the link before your slides are completed, and you can continue editing them. **Please make sure that you make the site link viewable for anyone with the link.** 

Details coming soon!

No, your work can still be in progress, and you can present your work at the Symposium. We know that research does not always go as planned, so you are welcome to show the work you've done thus far. Even if you are still in the development phase, you are welcome to present!