Engagement Guide 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference

Transcription

1 Engagement Guide 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference Purpose of This Guide This guide provides helpful information so you are prepared to engage with presenters, online materials, and other conference participants. What Does Engagement Mean? Strategies for Success Your Conference Mission Platform Preview Troubleshooting Quick Tips Check your technology in advance! Visit the Conference Resources page for additional tutorials and FAQs. Attend sessions with colleagues or doctoral students. Review session descriptions and come prepared with questions to ask. Use the conference hashtag #PDConf15 when posting about the conference on social media. Remember, what you get out of the conference depends on the effort you put in! Conference Technical Support: Event Help Desk Please send any questions to Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 1

2 What Does Engagement Mean? The new online platform provides many exciting ways for participants to access materials, communicate with each other, and share ideas. But how do these tools translate into engagement? Access Do you feel comfortable accessing online materials? Are you familiar with how to chat and use discussion boards? Prior to the day of the conference, you should become familiar with the new virtual platform (details later) and identify any areas where you may need additional support. Communication When else do you have the chance to meet with so many colleagues and share ideas? Communicating with your peers fosters collaboration and development. Add to session discussion boards throughout the conference for an ongoing dialogue. Determination What do you want to take away from the conference? Ultimately, it s up to you to make the most of the experience. Set your goals and achieve them! Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 2

3 Engagement Has a Few Primary Components Strategies for Success With the adoption of the new online platform for the 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference, we realize that things have changed. Your conference experience will be different, but we have a few suggestions to help you out. Bring an Engaged Attitude Bring the same mind-set to the Virtual Conference that you bring to an inperson conference. Expect to spend time engaging with presenters during conference session chats or dialoguing with other participants through the discussion boards. Participate during your program area meeting by asking questions. Treat the conference as you have in previous years. Communicate There are multiple methods for you to engage with colleagues at this year s conference. Resist the temptation to sit and get information passively. Twitter, chats, discussion boards use them all! Plan Ahead You have the conference schedule already, so reserve time on your calendar. Strategize about which informational sessions you want to attend for live chats. Browse through poster sessions and start discussion threads about anything that stands out to you. This guide contains useful information about how to navigate the virtual conference platform. Take time to familiarize yourself with the platform before the conference starts. Know Where to Find Help Make sure you know where to look if you need help or who to reach out to (including your own information technology department) if you need assistance. Troubleshooting tips are detailed in this guide. Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 3

4 Your Conference Mission Build Your Professional Network Meet someone new. Send a private chat to someone who you haven t met before. Contribute to the online conversation. Chat, start discussions, and ask questions. Share your experience and expertise. Follow-up with presenters who are working on similar projects and discuss challenges and successes that you have faced. Tweet. A Twitter feed will appear throughout the platform and will show all tweets sent with the #PDConf2015 hashtag. You do not need a Twitter account to view the tweets. If you are on Twitter, and tweet about your favorite sessions using the conference hashtag. Build a Resource Library Download materials! The Virtual Conference environment is the perfect space for accessing resources from other professionals in the field. How many new resources will you save for future reference and use? Platform Preview Conference Lobby Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 4

5 The Conference Lobby is your gateway to the conference. Click on a door to access informational sessions, posters, and discussion boards. You also can use the navigation pane at the top of the page. Use the Conference Lobby link in the navigation pane to return to the Conference Lobby at any time. Navigation Pane The navigation pane found at the top of the page includes links to easily access sessions, posters, and other resources. Click the Twitter icon to see the conference trending on Twitter! Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 5

6 Sessions Lobby The Sessions Lobby is your access portal to the informational sessions. There will be two informational sessions available at a time, one in each room. The Session Lobby will display the title and start times of current sessions at the top of the column and will display the upcoming session underneath. To enter a session, click the gray Enter Now button at the bottom of the session description. Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 6

7 Informational Session Room In each informational session room, you will have access to many tools that will allow you to engage with the presenter, chat with other participants, and review presentation materials. Handouts and the session evaluation are available by clicking the buttons at the top of the page. Clicking one of these buttons will open a new window so that you don t have to navigate away from the presentation. Recorded presentations are streamed as videos in the main window. Each video will have closed captioning. The chat box shows a stream of all the messages that have been sent to attendees, as well as any private messages you ve sent or received. Use the drop-down menu to select who to send chat messages to. Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 7

8 Poster Session Booths Conference posters are organized into booths. While in a booth, you can view a poster by clicking on the links on the left side of the page. Poster content will appear in the middle of the page, along with links to supplementary materials. Each poster session will include a downloadable presentation and also may include supplemental handouts or materials. There will be a chat box at the bottom of each exhibit booth that will serve all posters in the booth. Each booth will house approximately five posters. Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 8

9 Troubleshooting Check Your Technology Virtual Conference Platform Test your devices to ensure their compatibility with our conference platform. Use the platform s online tool to run a quick test. If you can view the video, you will be able to attend the conference. Live support also is available the day of the conference (see the Live Support Offline icon circled in red in the screenshot). If you cannot view the video, you may be using an old version of a web browser, or your organization s firewall or privacy settings may be incompatible. You can update your browser on the hyperlinked page Keep your browser up to date (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot). Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 9

10 Check Your Technology Program Area Meetings The program area meetings are being held in separate platforms from the main conference platform (to provide audio capabilities). Keep in mind that if you plan to attend your program area meeting on a mobile device, you may need to download additional applications or extensions in your browser. Information related to program area meetings for the day of the conference is available on the Program Area Meetings webpage. Online Platform Tools (Click Hyperlink) WebEx compatibility test Adobe Connect diagnostic test Additional Troubleshooting Tips If you run into trouble the day of the conference, it may be because of your organization s firewall or privacy settings. We recommend checking in with your information technology department ahead of time to anticipate and avoid any technical glitches. Technical Support the Day of the Conference Within the conference platform: Event Help Desk Click on the Live Support Online icon. For the program area meetings: WebEx Technical Support or Adobe Connect Technical Support Engagement Guide: 2015 Virtual OSEP Project Directors Conference 10