Virtual Conference Presentation Guideline

SER2021 will be held on the PheedLoop virtual events platform. PheedLoop offers a variety of options for real-time interaction similar to an in-person conference, including context-aware text chat, video calls between participants or groups, and more. If you are curious about the platform, you can watch a video from PheedLoop and access a demo account here – please note that this is a generic video, and we will be providing SER2021-specific information soon. 

Registered attendees will receive log-in information for PheedLoop and access to your speaker/attendee portal from the Conference Secretariat (link will be sent by April 15).

Field trips will be held live on Fridays (based on the time zone of the field trip organizers) between May 7 and June 18. Registered attendees will be able to engage in live discussions with field trip organizers and presenters during the trips, and all trips will be recorded and available for attendees to watch after the event.

Oral presentations, posters, and short videos will be available on demand to registered conference attendees starting two weeks in advance of the conference (June 7). This will allow participants to watch presentations in advance of the live discussions scheduled during the main conference days (June 21 – 24). The exception to this will be workshops and training courses which will be held live the week before the conference.

Pre-recorded presentations will remain available to registered attendees for a month after the conference, through July 31.

During the main conference days (June 21 – 24), speakers (from both organized and invited sessions) will participate in live discussion and Q&A sessions with the audience – these time slots are only for discussion and will not include presentations. These discussion sessions will include all the speakers from a session and will be moderated by your session organizer or a volunteer moderator. Given the virtual format, sessions will be scheduled during two time blocks based on the location of the speakers: 11:00 – 13:00 EDT (15:00 – 17:00 UTC) or 20:00 – 22:00 EDT (00:00 – 2:00 UTC). 

Posters and short videos will continue to be available on demand during and after the conference. Conference attendees will be encouraged to visit the recordings during certain times, but poster and short video presenters will not be assigned to live discussion sessions.

As with an in-person conference, participants can build their own schedule, participate in all sessions, and switch from session to session at will.

All sessions will be fully recorded for post-conference streaming during the month after the event so that all registered attendees will be able to revisit the sessions and catch up with the talks they've missed. 

All sessions will be fully recorded for post-conference streaming during the month after the event so that all registered attendees will be able to revisit the sessions and catch up with the talks they've missed. 

1. Virtual Field Trips
2. Training Courses and Workshops
3. Symposia/Invited Oral Presentations
4. Contributed Oral Sessions
5. Poster Presentations
6. Short Videos

1. Virtual Field Trips

Virtual field trips will be held between May 7 and June 18. All registered conference delegates will have access to participate in field trips of their choice (although there will be a cap on the total number of participants that can join a given trip). Sessions will be live-streamed in Zoom Webinars (provided by SER2021) via the PheedLoop platform. Audience questions will be facilitated through questions submitted via text in Zoom Webinar’s Q&A function to the field trip organizer (or other moderator assigned by the organizer), or in the PheedLoop chat.

Organizers will be added as hosts to the Zoom room and are responsible for managing and preparing any interactive features or activities, as well as screen-sharing for any pre-recorded field trip content. Please see the information sent directly to you for additional information about structuring your trip.

SER2021 volunteers will be assigned to each field trip to assist with technology, recording, enforcing the code of conduct, or reaching out to conference organizers for larger issues.

2. Training Courses and Workshops

Training courses and workshops will be held during the week before the conference (June 17 and 18). All conference delegates will have access to attend the training courses and workshop sessions. Sessions will be live-streamed in Zoom Meetings (provided by SER2021) via the PheedLoop platform with interactive features enabled at the organizer’s request (e.g., breakout rooms, whiteboard, polling). Organizers also have the option to host their session off Zoom if needed (i.e., for a learning management system or other platforms) or on their own Zoom account – in this case, organizers will need to provide the link and access information at least one week in advance to SER2021 organizers.

Organizers will be added as hosts to the Zoom room and are responsible for managing and preparing any interactive features or activities. A SER2021 volunteer will be assigned to each session to assist with moderating, technological issues, and enforcing the code of conduct.

3. Symposia/Invited Oral Presentations

During the main conference days (June 21 – 24), each symposia will have a 45-minute time slots for live stream Q&A and discussion with the audience – these time slots are only for discussion and will not include presentations, all presentations will be pre-recorded and available for conference delegates to watch on their own schedule, resulting in more time for audience participation with speakers. Pre-recorded content will be available to conference delegates starting June 7th.

Audience questions will be facilitated through questions submitted via text in Zoom Webinar’s Q&A function to the session organizer (or other session moderator assigned by the organizer), or in the PheedLoop chat. SER2021 volunteers will be assigned to each symposium to assist with technology, recording, enforcing the code of conduct, or reaching out to conference organizers for larger issues.

Uploading Recordings – Deadline May 18

All invited presentations are required to be pre-recorded and uploaded in advance of the conference to be included in the program (deadline May 18). The time limit is 12 minutes for oral presentations.

1. You will be recording a narrated version of your presentation. You may choose to record just your slides with narration or record both yourself and your slides. We suggest you try a short recording first to see how your presentation will look and sound.
2. You can use the software or application of your choice to pre-record your presentation. Different tools are available to assist you and enhance your presentation, please find some suggestions below:
   • Zoom (Step-by-step guide)
   • Microsoft PowerPoint (Instruction video)
   • Prezi (Instruction for a video)
   • Screencast
   • Accepted formats are: .wmv, .mp4 or .mov
     The following formats are NOT accepted: .ppsx, .pptx, .ppt, .pps
3. Please remember to use the abstract reference number to rename your video.
4. Talks can be given in the speaker’s native language as long as accurate English subtitles are included.
5. We encourage you to consider ways you can make your presentation more accessible.
   1. One option is to include English captions. Both Zoom (paid plans) and PowerPoint offer automatic captioning, or you may have access to other services through your organization. The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities also offers a number of best practices for PowerPoint and presentations in this document.
   2. Once you have access to your PheedLoop speaker portal, you will also have the option to upload files for conference delegates. We encourage presenters to load a transcript file or accessible PDF/ PowerPoint file in addition to any other files you choose to share.

4. Contributed Oral Sessions

Contributed oral presentations will be assigned to sessions based on the topic. During the main conference days (June 21 – 24), contributed sessions will be given 45-minute time slots for live stream Q&A and discussion with the audience – these time slots are only for discussion and will not include presentations, all presentations will be pre-recorded and available for conference delegates to watch on their own schedule, resulting in more time for audience participation with speakers. Pre-recorded content will be available to conference delegates starting June 7^th.

Audience questions will be facilitated through questions submitted via text in Zoom Webinar’s Q&A function to the session moderator, or in the PheedLoop chat. A volunteer session moderator will be assigned to each session to help guide the conversation; we also encourage all speakers to plan on watching the other talks from their sessions to better understand your session’s theme. Additionally, a second SER2021 volunteer will be assigned to each symposium to assist with technology, recording, enforcing the code of conduct, or reaching out to conference organizers for larger issues.

Uploading Recordings – Deadline May 18

All contributed oral presentations are required to be pre-recorded and uploaded in advance of the conference to be included in the program (deadline May 18). The time limit is 12 minutes for oral presentations.

1. You will be recording a narrated version of your presentation. You may choose to record just your slides with narration or record both yourself and your slides. WE suggest you try a short recording first to see how your presentation will look and sound.
2. You can use the software or application of your choice to pre-record your presentation. Different tools are available to assist you and enhance your presentation, please find some suggestions below:
   • Zoom (Step-by-step guide)
   • Microsoft PowerPoint (Instruction video)
   • Prezi (Instruction for a video)
   • Screencast
   • Accepted formats are: .wmv, .mp4 or .mov
     The following formats are NOT accepted: .ppsx, .pptx, .ppt, .pps

1. One option is to include English captions. Both Zoom (paid plans) and PowerPoint offer automatic captioning, or you may have access to other services through your organization. The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities also offers a number of best practices for PowerPoint and presentations in this document.
2. Once you have access to your PheedLoop speaker portal, you will also have the option to upload files for conference delegates. We encourage presenters to load a transcript file or accessible PDF/ PowerPoint file in addition to any other files you choose to share.

5. Poster Presentations

Presenters will upload their e-posters following the information below. Presenters also have the option of uploading a short video explaining their poster. Posters and recordings will be available on-demand to conference delegates starting June 7^th. There will be no live discussion sessions for posters, but the Program Committee will identify times to encourage delegates to visit posters (these times will be shared in advance so you can plan to be available live). Presenters will be able to interact with delegates through the PheedLoop chat, which will allow for ongoing conversations.

Uploading E-Posters - Deadline May 18

E-posters need to be uploaded in advance of the conference to be included in the program (deadline May 18).

1. E-poster size (in/cm) – 24 x 36 / 61 x 91.4. Posters can be in landscape or portrait orientation. Conference delegates will be viewing your poster on their computer screen, so please be mindful of the size of your images and fonts.
2. All written content on e-posters needs to be in English.
3. File format: .pdf or .jpg

Uploading Poster Presentation Recordings – Deadline May 18

A short video describing your poster is optional – the maximum time for this recording is 3 minutes. Videos need to be uploaded in advance of the conference (deadline May 18) to be included in the program.

1. The goal of the short video is to give the kinds of information/elevator pitch you would present to someone approaching your poster in person. This can be as short as you’d like but has a maximum length of 3 minutes.
2. It is up to you how to best present your poster. This could include a video of you standing in front of your poster (printed, projected, on a large monitor), narration over the poster image, a short slide deck with different parts of the poster broken out, or some other method entirely. However, just like at an in-person conference, your poster text and images must be the main focus of the video – please do not use the video to bring in information that was not included on the poster.
3. Accepted formats include: wmv, .mp4 or .mov      
   The following formats are NOT accepted: .ppsx, .pptx, .ppt, .pps
4. Please remember to use the abstract reference number to rename your video.
5. Talks can be given in the speaker’s native language as long as accurate English subtitles are included.
6. We encourage you to consider ways you can make your presentation more accessible.
   1. Verbally describe any images on your poster when you come to their section.
   2. Consider including English captions. Zoom (paid plans) offers automatic captioning, or you may have access to other services through your organization. This article describes some options for transcribing and captioning/subtitling videos (SER2021 does not endorse any specific brands or methods).
   3. The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities also offers a number of best practices for PowerPoint and presentations in this document.
   4. Once you have access to your PheedLoop speaker portal, you will also have the option to upload files for conference delegates. We encourage presenters to load a transcript file or accessible PDF/ PowerPoint file in addition to any other files you choose to share.

6. Short Videos

Presenters will upload their short videos following the information below. Short videos will be available on-demand to conference delegates starting June 7^th. There will be no live discussion sessions for short videos, but the Program Committee will identify times to encourage delegates to visit videos (these times will be shared in advance so you can plan to be available live). Presenters will be able to interact with delegates through PheedLoop chat, which will allow for ongoing conversations.

Uploading Short Videos – Deadline May 18

The maximum time for short video presentations is 5 minutes. Videos need to be uploaded in advance of the conference (deadline May 18) to be included in the program.

1. Accepted formats include: .wmv, .mp4 or .mov     
2. Narration or audio in short videos can be given in the speaker’s native language as long as accurate English subtitles are included.
3. Please remember to use the abstract reference number to rename your video.
4. We encourage you to consider ways you can make your video more accessible.
   1. Consider including English captions. This article describes some options for transcribing and captioning/subtitling videos (SER2021 does not endorse any specific brands or methods).
   2. Once you have access to your PheedLoop speaker portal, you will also have the option to upload files for conference delegates. We encourage presenters to load transcript files in addition to any other files you choose to share.

All sessions will be fully recorded for post-conference streaming during the month after the event so that all registered attendees will be able to revisit the sessions and catch up with the talks they've missed.