Experience of online meetup -Japan meetup-  

We are Botchan Lab Tokyo. We held a Japan meetup this spring. 

Due to the influence of COVID-19, it is no longer possible to have a meeting with large numbers of people and it is necessary to have an online meetup. We would like to share what we did and what you should be aware of. 

Date: 30 March 2020 13:00~18:00 

Participating universities: Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Gifu University, The University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyushu University, Tokyo Metropolitan University 

iGEM ambassadors: Dorothy Zhang, Ryo Niwa, Kaavya Ashok

Total attendees: 30 

Meetup Overview 

We have three main topics. 

(1) Presentations by each team 

(2) Exchange of information (fund-raising and team management methods) 

(3) About COVID-19 

This meetup was performed using "Zoom". Participants chose either to connect individually or to connect with other team members. 

Preparations for the Meetup 

We asked each team to prepare a 10-minute presentation. Presentation slides and abstracts were shared in advance.  

For the “meetup overview (2)”, we collected from all teams what they wanted to ask other teams. We asked all teams to prepare the answers before meeting. 

Before the meetup, we did a preliminary Zoom meeting with participants to check video, audio, and screen sharing. 

Things to Note 

・The account name was “your name + team name”. 

・The session was recorded. 

・The slides were displayed on a shared screen. 

・The presenter used microphones and the microphones of the non-presenters were muted.  

・Video presentation was also allowed. One team made a video presentation. 

・The remaining time of each presentation was displayed using the subtitle function. 

・The question and answer session was held. Audience members having questions showed their intentions using the “hands function”, and the moderator allowed their remarks individually. 

・We took a 10-20 minute break in between the topics. 

・We took a screenshot as a virtual group photo. 

・A moderator and timekeeper were required. We recommend that they work at the same place so they can cooperate with each other more easily. 

Sentiment 

・It was good that we were able to resume smoothly after the break time. 

・It was difficult to tell time-limit to the presenter only by using subtitles when the presentation time was protracted. 

・For the “meetup overview (2)”, if the answers to the questions were shared in advance, it would have been possible to have a deeper discussion. 

・The thing that we were most careful about was time management. 

・Be careful of howling (in the case of multiple devices being used in the same place) 

・We recommend that you record on multiple devices just in case.  

It became a lively online meetup as well because participants actively spoke up. It is hard to prepare, but you can have a meaningful meetup even online. Please, do your best to hold online meetups in the future.