This year the UMass Intercampus Marine Science Research Symposium is being held virtually using a combination of Zoom and Spatial.Chat virtual conferencing software. Zoom will be used for opening and closing remarks, plenary and lightning talks. Spatial.Chat will be used for poster sessions.
For security reasons, links and passwords to the Zoom and Spatial.Chat meeting rooms will be emailed to all registered Symposium participants the day before each day of the event. Please save the email with the password, and do not share with others. Each day of the event will have a new password, so please see your email from the evening before for the latest passwords.
Each session of plenary talks, posters, and lightning talks will have a Session Chair, who will oversee the proceedings of that session.
Plenary talks and lightning talks: Each speaker (and only the speaker) will be allowed to share their screen during their allotted time. To avoid background noise, except for asking questions, we ask that all other attendees mute their microphones.
Poster sessions: All posters will be assigned to a poster room in Spatial.Chat. Posters are required to be submitted in advance of the event per the instructions on the Registration page, and will be pre-loaded to Spatial.Chat by the symposium organizers. Each presenter will have an allotted time during which they will present their poster. All other poster session attendees will be free to move about from room to room and poster to poster. Again to avoid background noise, except for asking questions of the poster presenters, we ask that all other attendees mute their microphones.
An example of a poster session space is shown in the image below:
Tips for using Zoom and Spatial.Chat can be found below and at the respective conference platform websites, https://zoom.us/, and https://spatial.chat/.
Spatial.Chat Tips
- Please avoid using mobile devices – Spatial.Chat works best with a computer or laptop.
- Recommended browsers: Google Chrome or Firefox.
- To avoid echoes, we recommend using headphones.
- While in Spatial.Chat, we recommend closing all other video conferencing meetings (including Zoom), and vice versa.
- To try Spatial.Chat go to: https://spatial.chat/ and press the “Try Me” button.
- To go to the meeting space for the IMS Symposium poster session, follow the link provided in the email the evening before the given day of the symposium.
- When you enter a Spatial.Chat meeting space, you will be prompted to enter your name, enter an “about you” message, and select your avatar image. Click the “Continue” button, to go to the device setup screen.
- You will next be prompted to select the desired camera and/or microphone by clicking on the respective buttons. If your camera is easily detected in other programs, there will likely be no problems with Spatial.Chat. If you get a message stating that Spatial.Chat cannot access your camera or microphone, it is likely because another program has captured their use. Click the “Join Space” button to go to the password prompt.
- To join the meeting, enter the password provided to you via email, and click “OK”. Upon entry, you will be taken to the main meeting room.
- Once in the meeting space, your video connection will be via a round icon with controlled video and audio connectivity.
- Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out to see all of a room or just a particular area of a room.
- To move around within a room, click on your circle and drag it to any other location, or click on another person’s name or avatar to move next to them.
- To change the part of the room you are viewing, click and drack the background.
- Navigation to different rooms is done via the room menu on the right. Click on a room name to enter that room.
- Options to turn on/off your camera, microphone, or megaphone, as well as chatting or sharing your screen are at the bottom panel of the screen.
- Spatial.Chat rooms feature dynamic volume, such that the volume at which you and other guests hear each other changes according to your avatars’ distance from each other, just like in a real room.
- The Megaphone allows you to be heard at the same volume throughout the room.
- Like in-person venues, there is an occupancy limit per room – if a room is full, please wait for the occupancy to fall below 50, then enter.
- If you need to step away from the meeting, please log out via the power button, and then rejoin at your convenience.
- General help with Spatial.Chat can be found at the Spatial.Chat Help Center.
Zoom Tips
- To ensure you have the latest functionality, we recommend installing the latest version of Zoom from https://zoom.us/download
- To avoid echoes, we recommend using headphones.
- While in Zoom, we recommend closing all other video conferencing meetings (including Spatial.Chat), and vice versa.
- When you enter a Zoom meeting space, you will be prompted to enter a meeting ID and your name. Enter the meeting number provided in the email the evening before the given day of the symposium, then click the “Join” button to move to the next prompt.
- You will next be prompted to enter a passcode. Enter the passcode provided in the email the evening before the given day of the symposium, then click the “Join Meeting” button to move to the next prompt.
- You will next see a preview of your video stream, and be prompted to either “Join with Video” or “Join without Video”. Click on your selection.
- Finally, you will be prompted to “Join with Computer Audio”. Click this button to proceed. Alternatively, if you wish to test your speaker and microphone first, click the link to do so. Or, if you wish to join the meeting via phone, click on the “Phone Call” button.
- Once in the main meeting room, you will see and hear other participants in the meeting.
- To control your view, click on the different “Speaker” vs. “Gallery View” options in the upper right corner.
- You can mute/unmute your microphone, turn your camera on/off, post or view chat messages, share content, or post emoji reactions to the group using the menu selections at the bottom of the screen.
- To leave the meeting, press the “Leave” button in the lower right of the screen.
- General help with Zoom can be found at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206175806
If you have trouble accessing any of the meeting platforms or website for this event, please email smastsupport@umassd.edu.