Session chairs

Links

Guidelines

ECMWF is working with Glasgows, our AV technician partner, to deliver HydrologyWS21 . This short guide will help you get set up in advance, whilst also minimising delays on the day.

Zoom web conferencing platform

You will join this virtual event as a chair using Zoom. You will be joined on the Zoom call by the speakers in your session and a technician. The Zoom call will be live streamed to the wider audience, they will not be on the Zoom call with you and you will not be able to see the audience.

If you have not used Zoom before

• Download “Zoom Client for Meetings”

Use a laptop or desktop PC (with webcam and microphone installed). If this is not possible, you can download the app on iPads and other tablets.

• Join the Zoom test meeting

Follow the instructions to test your video and audio (if your browser prompts you to open Zoom, please click “Allow”). Best results are achieved with a wired headset microphone if you have one. Please do not use a Bluetooth/wireless headset.

Location, location, location!

As you will appear in the live stream when you introduce a speaker and during the Q&A, it is important that your camera set up is good. Find a suitable location for your presentation. Whether at home or in an office please consider the following:

• If you have a good quality wired headset mic then please use this
• Don’t set up in front of a window as the light behind you will put you in silhouette
• Find a quiet location - consider background noise from family and pets.
• Use a wired internet connection if you can.
• If using WiFi then make sure you are as close as possible to your router.

Virtual background

Some co-ordinated branded backgrounds specific to this event will be attached to this page nearer the time. We encourage you to select one to use as a background during the session you are chairing to give a consistent branded theme to the event.

• How to use a virtual background.

Speaker introductions

Speaker biographies will be available on the virtual event platform to help with introductions.

The importance of time

Apart from the poster pitches, speakers have been asked to allow 5 minutes for questions within their allotted time. Please keep presenters on time and feel free to interrupt if they are running over. Whilst at an in-person event, speakers may be able to stretch the timing; that is not the case in the virtual world. The virtual audience will be tuning in to see what they need as specified in the programme and will expect us to be on time.

For poster pitches, speakers have been asked to keep their mini-talks strictly under 2 minutes. There is no cue feature in Zoom to keep time. The only way to indicate that time’s up is for the chair to interrupt. The speaker will not be able to see you when they are screen sharing so visual cues will not work. Using chat is not an option for time keeping; the presenter cannot check chat messages while presenting. We will ask speakers to set a timer for themselves and then if they still overrun please interrupt verbally.

What to do on the day

1. Use the Zoom link to join the session.
2. Log in early! Join Zoom during the break preceding the session you are chairing, or if the session is the first of the day, at least 15 minutes before the start. This will allow us to deal with any last-minute technical issues and talk through how the session will run.
3. Ensure your video is switched on and your microphone is muted. We will ask you to unmute your microphone at the appropriate time.
4. Log in to the question moderation app (Q2P). We recommend you use a separate device for the Q2P to the one you use for Zoom.

Attending as a delegate

Only join Zoom for the session in which you are chairing. You can view the other sessions via the live stream. Do not have the live stream open while you are in Zoom, as this may result in you hearing delayed audio back on yourself.

Question moderation instructions

As viewers watch the live stream, they can ask questions via the Questions and Comments box. You do not need to monitor the livestream. This is just to explain how it works.

In the Q2P, you will see the questions drop into the Inbox

You can change the order the questions appear in the inbox from oldest to newest or vice versa. You can also opt to see the questions in the order of most “liked”.

 From here you can create a filtered list for use in Q&A sessions. You can choose to:

• Queue the questions that you will read out to the speaker during the Q&A. Queueing the questions not only gives a tidy list, but it pushes them to the technician who will display the questions as an overlay on the livestream while you read them to the speaker. Below is an image of how the livestream looks during a Q&A; it shows Chair and speaker with a “queued” question appearing in the frame.

• Reject any questions/comments that are not relevant.

• Edit the question, before queuing it, to correct spelling/grammar or to re-phrase the question.

You can only see the queued question by selecting the “Queued” page.

You can re-order the questions in advance of the Q&A session by selecting the cross and dragging and dropping the questions into the desired order.

Use this page view during the Q&A session to see only the filtered questions.

Start at the top of the list and once you have answered a question, mark it as “Answered” so it is removed from the list and the next question moved to the top.

You can also “Reject” and “Edit” questions from this page view.

If you have questions left at the end of the Q&A session, ask the person to post them on the speaker's presentation page on the microsite. If any questions left are not relevant for the following session, we recommend you “Reject” them from the queue to clear it ready for the next session.

To review the answered questions, select the “Answered” page.

From here you can move questions back “To Inbox” or “To Queued” if they have been marked as answered by mistake, or you want to refer to them again in another session.

To view any questions marked as rejected, select on the “Rejected” page

Technical issues or questions during the event?

For technical questions, please contact Glasgows on:

• Tel: 01772 767750
• Email: ecmwf@glasgows.co.uk

Any other questions?
Contact events@ecmwf.int