Poster session and Gather.Town Networking Instructions 

The SMC2021 poster session is scheduled from 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. on October 18 and the Gather.Town poster interactions/networking is scheduled from 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. on October 18.  

The poster session will take place in the form of lightning talks via Zoom. The Zoom links will be embedded into the agenda closer to the date of the conference. 

Following the poster session, poster presenters will be directed to move to Gather.Town for interactive discussions and networking. 

•  The live Gather.Town link will be available to conference attendees on the agenda, closer to the dates of the conference. 

Poster presenters should plan to “stand near” their poster with their Gather.Town avatar.

Posters will be pre-loaded into Gather.Town. 

*If you are a presenter: Gather.Town posters will need to be emailed to [email protected] or upload here, no later than Thursday, October 14 at 5:00 p.m. EST. 

If you are a poster presenter, instructions for how to format your Gather.Town poster displays can be found here. 

Poster Presentation (Zoom) Logistics 

• Starting promptly at 3:30 p.m. on 10/18 each presenter will be given 5-minutes to present their poster materials on Zoom, which may not be exceeded.
• The 5-minute presentations will run continuously, one after the other. 
• Immediately following the poster session, the data challenge will begin. Presenters are welcome to stay to watch the Data Challenge or go to Gather.Town to find their poster.
• The official networking/interaction time on the agenda begins in Gather.Town from 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. on the 18. 
• Poster presenters will be standing next to their posters during this time frame so attendees can interact with them. 

Gather.Town Interactions/Networking

• The Gather.Town interactive networking sessions will begin at 4:30 p.m. on October 18. 
• After joining Gather.Town presenters will walk to the poster room, labeled on the map.
• When you enter the room all poster boards will be numbered, and posters will be pre-loaded.

If you are unfamiliar with Gather.Town you can watch a short tutorial video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89at5EvCEvk

How will conference attendees interact with the posters? 

To interact with a poster, conference attendees will walk up to the poster using an avatar and press the “x” key to enter a full-screen viewing.

• While viewing the poster, they will also be able to interact with the presenter. 
• When your avatar is in the private space near a poster, all other conference attendees in that private space will be able to see and hear you through your webcam and microphone.
• You will only be interacting with people in this space, and not the neighboring spaces.
• This promotes conversation with the presenter without interrupting conversation going on at other posters.

If you have any questions about the poster session or logistics please contact [email protected].