GCM 2020 will be held as an online workshop on June 24, 2020 using Zoom as a video-conferencing platform. The following presents essential information how to attend the online workshop as a regular participant, as a speaker, and as a session chair. Please make yourself familiar with this information prior to the workshop, in particular with the Code of Conduct at the end.
We offer Zoom meetings for plenary sessions as well as for “coffee” and “lunch” breaks, described below.
All plenary sessions, i.e. the opening at the beginning of the workshop, the paper sessions, and the closing at the end of the workshop, are held similarly to a regular workshop or a conference: You attend those sessions by participating in Zoom meeting 911 4949 1486 (see below for details on attending the Zoom meetings) and watch as well as listen the speakers. In fact, we use the same Zoom meeting for all plenary sessions. When you enter the meeting, you will first reach a waiting room. Our technical staff will admit you to the actual meeting as soon as it is ready to start. Session chairs and speakers in the sessions are asked to enter the meeting 15 min before the session starts; see additional information for session chairs and speakers below.
During the plenary sessions, you may ask questions in the same way as in a regular workshop: Please raise your hand (using the corresponding button of the Zoom user interface; see below) or by posting a text message to the chat. The session chair will then let you speak. Please don’t forget to unmute your microphone when asking questions, and to mute it otherwise. You can also post your questions as text messaged to the chat, but this should be used as a fallback option only if audio fails.
Plenary sessions will be recorded, and the videos will be made available on a web site for all registered participants.
Coffee and lunch breaks with communication in smaller groups are an essential part of workshops and conferences, and we try to offer you this opportunity during our online workshop, too. Of course, you have to bring your own coffee, tea, biscuits, etc., for obvious reasons. To take part in a “coffee” or “lunch” break, just join the Zoom meeting 940 4966 5357 (see below for details on attending the Zoom meetings). You can enter this meeting without a waiting room, i.e., you are immediately admitted when joining the meeting during the breaks indicated in the program. This meeting is in fact split up into several sub-meetings (called “breakout sessions” in Zoom jargon). If you wish to have a “coffee” chat with particular persons attending also the meeting, just tell the session host. The host will then assign you to a sub-meeting. That way, you can also join an ongoing chat within a sub-meeting. You just have to tell the session host using audio or Zoom’s chat functionality. You can leave a sub-meeting (“breakout session”) anytime. You will then be in the “main” meeting again. If you would like to have chats with other participants, just contact the session host again.
Unfortunately, Zoom does not offer a possibility to freely select a sub-meeting that you would like to attend. You cannot even see who is in which sub-meeting. Only the session host has this possibility, so that you are forced to contact him first. This is of course less convenient than in a “real” workshop or conference, but we hope to offer you something as close as possible to real coffee and lunch breaks.
All plenary sessions use the same Zoom meeting, and so do all “coffee” and “lunch” breaks. The meetings are password protected with the same password for all of them, which is made available to all registered participants by email. If you use the URLs published in the program, you have to enter this password. You can participate Zoom meetings either using your web browser, or by using the Zoom-Client, which is available here for all usual operating systems, even on smart phones and tablets. We recommend using the Zoom-Client. It is not necessary to register with Zoom in order to participate in any of the GCM meetings.
Please read and comply with the Code of Conduct at the end of this document!
If you are a speaker, please make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. And please use a headset so that good audio quality is guaranteed. We recommend using a computer with a camera so that participants can not only watch your slides, but can also see you during your talk.
We highly recommend that you do use the Zoom-Client, which you should install on your computer well in advance. Please make yourself familiar with its user interface. During your talk, you will show the slides of your talk by sharing your screen. Please make yourself familiar with this functionality and rehearse giving your talk. Most of us are already familiar with this anyway because almost all talks and meetings today use this functionality of Zoom or similar video conferencing platforms.
Please enter the Zoom meeting of your session (it is always Zoom meeting 911 4949 1486, see above) 15 min prior to session start (Our technical staff will admit you to the actual meeting). The session host, your session chair, and the other speakers in your session will be present, too. During these 15 min, please check whether your microphone and camera work and you can show your slides sharing your screen properly. Provide information about yourself to the session chair so that she can introduce you and your talk when it is your turn. And arrange with your session chair how she communicates to you when your speaking time (20 min for regular presentations, 15 min for short presentations) is over. We recommend that the session chair uses a brief audio announcement for that. Please try to stick to your speaking time! It is hard for session chairs to signal that time is over without rude interruptions…
After you have ended your talk (or even during your talk depending on permission by you and/or your session chair), participants may ask questions, moderated by the session chair as usual. If questions are asked by text messages on the chat, they will be read aloud by the session chair.
Please note that the plenary sessions and, in particular, your talk will be recorded. If you have any issues with this, please contact the GCM chairs early.
Please read “Information for Speakers” (see above) because most of it applies to you as well. Again, please enter the Zoom meeting of your session (it is always Zoom meeting 911 4949 1486, see above) 15 min prior to session start (Our technical staff will admit you to the actual meeting). During the session, and also during the 15 min prior to session start, a member of the technical staff will be available, act as a session host, and also record the session. You do not need any specific permissions during your session, you can attend like any other regular participant.
Your tasks in the session are the same as in a regular workshop:
Make sure that all the speakers are present well in advance of the session (i.e., 15 min earlier). If speakers are still in the “coffee” or “lunch” break, our technical staff can remind them to leave there and to join your paper session. Our technical staff will also remind participants in the “coffee” or “lunch” break that your session is going to start.
Introduce the topic of the session and yourself when the session starts.
For each talk, introduce the paper and the speaker in particular. You might collect some information about the speaker in the 15 min prior to the meeting.
Take the time of each talk (20 min for regular presentations, 15 min for short presentations) and give signals to speakers before speaking time is over and as soon as it is over. We recommend arranging with the speakers how you signal this information. Different from regular workshops, you cannot just raise a sheet of paper with “10 min” or so scribbled on it. Writing to the chat would probably not work either since speakers usually do not watch the chat during the talk. We recommend short audio announcements although that may appear a bit rude.
After the talk, moderate questions and answers (10 min for regular presentations, 5 min for short presentations). Please watch for raised hands in the user interface of the Zoom-Client. Raised hands are visualized as icons in the participants list. And please watch the chat. Some participants may ask questions by posting text messages there. In this case, please read the question aloud so that every participant can hear it.
At the end, please close the session. The Zoom meeting will be ended afterwards.
Please note that the plenary sessions and, in particular, your part in it will be recorded. If you have any issues with this, please contact the GCM chairs early.
When attending Zoom meetings (either plenary sessions or “coffee” & ”lunch” breaks), please do not use pseudonyms or acronyms, but use full names, similar to badges in regular workshops and conferences.
During meetings, please mute your microphone when you are not talking. Before starting to talk, please do not forget to unmute your microphone, and to mute it again afterwards. Session hosts may mute your audio if this appears necessary.
If possible, use a headset for better audio quality if you are a speaker, session chair, or just would like to ask questions.
When you have a question, please “raise your hand” using this Zoom functionality (Please make yourself familiar with the user interface and how to raise your hand in Zoom in advance.) The session chair will then let you speak.
You may also ask questions by posting it as a text message to the meeting chat. The session chair will then read it aloud. However, we recommend to “raise your hand” instead and ask the question using audio.
If it happens that the session is disturbed by intruders (“Zoom Bombing”), the session host (a member of our technical staff) will try to exclude the intruders. If that fails, the session host will terminate the meeting and immediately set up a new Zoom meeting with a different meeting number and password. Our technical staff will post the information how to enter the new meeting by email to all registered participants. So please check your email in that case!