Participation in ABZ2021

Thanks to our sponsor, we are pleased to announce that the ABZ 2021 conference will be completely free of charge. Neither authors/presenters nor guests will have to pay a fee. You can attend to all workshops, tutorials, presentations, and keynotes by registering via the links given below.

At the bottom of this page we have added some introductory information about the tools we use.

Links for Participation

Coffee and Lunch Breaks

During breaks, you will have the opportunity to meet and talk in a wonder.me room that is the same for all events throughout the week.

To get this link, please solve the following math equation:

Monday, 07.06.21

Tuesday, 08.06.21

Wednesday to Friday, 09.-11.06.21

Brief Introduction to the Tools Used

wonder.me

The tool "wonder.me" used for the coffee and lunch breaks allows multiple conversations at the same time between changing groups.

Similar to "real" coffee breaks, you move your avatar between the other avatars and when you get close enough to a person or group (so-called "Circles"), the video chat opens and you can join the conversation. It's just as easy to leave a group and move on to another person or group.

This main idea is explained briefly on this page and in more detail (including an introduction video) on this page.

Since the tool is browser-based, there is no need to install any additional software. However, there are some points to consider:

  1. use Chrome or Firefox as your browser. There might be problems with others.
  2. exit the zoom meeting before switching to wonder.me in coffee break (and vice versa). The camera cannot be used by both systems at the same time.
  3. grant - as soon as you are asked - the browser appropriate rights to access video and audio.
  4. when you open wonder.me for the first time, you will be asked to take a picture of yourself or upload one and enter your name. You only have to do this the first time, after that the data is stored in your browser (if you have given the appropriate rights for cookies).

You can now already enter the room, make these initial settings, and try out if and how it works.

zoom

We use zoom for the presentations.

The currently widely used tool is available on many platforms. Even though there is a web version of it, it is highly recommended (especially for the presenters) to install the zoom client on your system. There are numerous introductions to zoom, e.g. here.

Presenters are asked to run their presentation on their device and share their screen. Since it is much more pleasant for the presenters not only to speak against a black wall, but also to see people listening, we also recommend the audience to leave their cameras on. Only in cases where the bandwidth is not sufficient, it might be helpful to turn off video.

The following aspects should be considered:

  1. you do not need to register with zoom. The information you have to enter when clicking on the links above is only for the event itself, not for zoom in general.
  2. after entering the room you are muted. Remember to unmute yourself if you want to say something.
  3. you can ask questions at any time via chat (click on "Chat" at the bottom, a small window will open) or by raising your hand (see "Reactions" in the controls) to indicate that you want to say/ask something. The session chair will then call on you.

Why Two Tools?

We decided to use two tools to take advantage of both. zoom is optimized for presentations and Q&A sessions where only one person speaks at a time. wonder.me enables the simultaneous conversation of several people in changing composition. In addition, the use of two different tools makes it possible to continue a conversation during a break, even though the next session has already started (just like at a real conference).

We hope that the use of the two tools will be smooth after a short learning phase and that this will lead to many fruitful conversations between the presentations, which are actually the essence of a conference.