Guidelines for Virtual Conference (IBCAST-2021)

1. No Registration Fee will be charged from any category (Paper Presenters, Participants). However, participants will have to fill ‘participation form’ and send to IBCAST Sectt. Before 15th Dec 2020 to get conference login
2. IBACST brochure and abstracts will be available on website as PDF
3. Every activity will be managed virtually through Zoom Meetings
4. Technical Programme of activities will be uploaded on IBCAST website before start of the conference.

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Guidelines for Virtual Conference (18th IBCAST 2021)

Following guidelines shall be observed in IBCAST 2021.

Guidelines for Presentations:

English is the official language of IBCAST 2021 (12-16 January, 2021), therefore all contributions must be prepared and delivered in English. The time reserved for each presentation is fixed and Authors are requested to follow the assigned times.

There are two categories for online talks:

1. Keynote Talks are scheduled for 40 minutes + 5 minutes of Q&A
2. Regular (author) Talks are scheduled for 15 minutes + 5 minutes of Q&A

*Individual paper presentation should not exceed the time allowance above in order to ensure adequate time for Q/A.

Presentation format

Please prepare your presentation preferably using PowerPoint version 2007 or 2013 however older versions are also supported. Screens’ aspect ratio will be 16:9. Please note that Apple Keynote and Prezi presentations are not supported and they have to be converted into PDF files. When saving your final presentation to the cloud (dropbox or Google drive), do make sure to include your video files and all links to these multimedia files. As no presentation template is prepared, you are welcome to use your own.

Guidelines for Recorded Video Presentations:

As an online virtual conference, all presentations will be forwarded as a pre-recorded video to their track (as backup). The video shall be uploaded to an online cloud (drop box or Google cloud) and link will be shared with organizers of each track until 21 December, 2020.

Authors will use the following guidelines for preparing their video for emergency/backup purposes.

Duration: up to 15 minutes + 5 minutes for Q&A
File size limit: 100MB file
File format: MP4
Link sharing deadline: 21 December, 2020

Although please be sure the video includes the title of the paper, the authors, and a mention to the conference title.

Instructions for Recording:

The easiest way to prepare your presentation video will be to subscribe to the free version of Zoom and use it to record your presentation video. A 15 minute presentation should be well below 100MB. Alternately, you can use Voice-over-PowerPoint (available in PowerPoint 2016 & 2019) and create a PPTSX file. Then Save As to MP4. Note the generated MP4 by PPT is typically large and will likely need to be compressed to meet the size limit of 100MB for author uploads. Please check the recording for quality and understandability, and for timing, as it needs to fit into the specified duration. Kindly consider following tips for recording purposes;

1. Use as quiet an area as possible
2. Avoid areas that have echo
1. Rooms should be fairly small
2. Sound dampening with carpeting, curtains, furniture
3. Hardline internet connection recommended, but if unavailable, a strong Wi-Fi connection
4. Good headset with microphone close to mouth BUT away from direct line of mouth to reduce “pops”. Avoid using default built-in microphone on computer.
5. Do a test recording of a couple of minutes and review the sound and picture quality, MP4 format, and bit rate before recording the entire presentation. Make adjustments if needed.

DETAILED ZOOM GUIDE FOR PRESENTERS

INITIAL ZOOM SETUP:

Please install Zoom in advance. For a stable connection to the meeting, please check the Zoom Best Practices and Resources

HOW TO JOIN THE SESSION:

1. You will be provided with the required credentials before the conference starts (Link and Registration-ID).
2. Click on the session link to join the meeting.
3. The host will start the designated Zoom meeting 25 minutes before the Session. Presenters have to be login 15 mins before their allocated presentation time
4. If you are joining the Session before the host has started the meeting, please wait in the lobby until the host starts the Session.
5. Inform the host you are the presenter and please make sure that the login name is as provided by IBCAST track (via direct message on Zoom).
6. In case of any issue/problem, please be in touch with the IBCAST organizers at secretary@ibcast.org.pk

Instructions for Audience:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of Zoom Client installed. You need to have account. Install Zoom Client from: https://zoom.us.
2. The password for the conference sessions via Zoom will be shared by IBCAST Program coordinators.
3. Join the Session and turn off your microphone, so that no disturbance is caused to others (by defaults the microphone is switched off).
4. You can turn on your microphone to ask questions from presenters or organizers. You can also use zoom chat to communicate with presenters or organizers.
5. The host will start the designated Zoom meeting 25 minutes before the Session

HOW TO ASK QUESTIONS

Q&A SESSION

Following the video presentation there is a short Q&A session. We request participants to raise hand to ask their Q&A.