
The ESSV 2021 will take place as an online conference via gather.town and the presentations will be held via gather.town.
1st of March from 2 pm until 5 pm
and on
2nd of March from 9 am until 12 pm
The corresponding links will be provided via email.Zoom
The keynotes, presentations and discussions will be held in a Zoom-room. We will use the Webinar mode of zoom, which distinguishes between podium and attendees. The podium consists of all presenters of one session, plus the session chair and a member of the organizing team; the audience consist of all other attendees in the conference room. We recommend the installation of the current zoom client, as the browser mode of zoom does not support all functionalities.
As a presenter, you will be invited to the podium. You will play your own presentation on your own computer, with your standard tool (e.g. PowerPoint, Acrobat). Just before your own presentation, you should share your screen by using the Share Screen functionality of zoom:

If your presentation has audio files included, please make sure to select the “Share sound” option.

As an attendee, you can ask questions to the presenter using the Q&A functionality. The session chair will read the questions to the presenter after the talk. The session chair can also unmute the microphone of a participant so that s/he can verbally ask questions; if you would like to ask a question, please rise your hand accordingly so that the session chair knows. As an attendee, your video is switched off.
Gather
gather.town will host the ESSV 2021 in a virtual, 2-dimensional space. If two or more people stand near each other in that space, a video call will be started automatically. This way conversations and poster presentation will take place.
Access to gather
For the optimal experience of the gather space, make sure to use the latest version of the Google Chrome browser.
When you open up gather.town for the first time, your browser will ask you to allow the access to the microphone and webcam. This is necessary for the instant video chats.


In the following window, you have to specify a display name. Please use your first and last name here. Additionally, camera and microphone settings can be adjusted. Afterwards, click on Join the Gathering! to access the conference rooms!
Navigation
In the virtual ESSV space you will be represented as a small avatar on a map. Use the arrow keys ⬆ ⬇ ⬅ ➡ to move around and press the x-key on your keyboard to interact with objects (i.e., posters).

Once you move your avatar near another avatar or a group, a video chat will be initiated automatically with those people. It is important to note that the connection will be automatically cut when your avatar and the avatar your interlocutor move away from each other. A simple rule is:
The video stream of your current conversation partners will appear on the top of the screen. With a click on the expansion button on the right side of the videos, they can be expanded. With the larger videos you can still move around. However, it is more difficult as the videos may obscure the view of the map.



Interaktion
Inside the conference rooms there are multiple objects that you can interact with. For example, if you stand in front of a poster, you can press the x key to view the poster in full size. Ongoing conversation will not be interrupted due to the interaction with an object. Also games and the zoom sessions can be started by pressing x.
The conference rooms of the ESSV
The virtual conference rooms of the ESSV 2021 have multiple different areas. In the following, we will explain the spatial structure and functionality of the virtual space.
The map
A mini map for orientation can be found in the menu bar on the bottom of the page.

At the ESSV 2021 there are five different areas. At the reception (marked in green), you can find a friendly person to help you with anything related to the conference. In the sponsoring booth (marked in orange) you can find information about our sponsors. On the right of the reception you can find the game room that contains some fun activites for the evening.

The large room on the left side (marked in red) is the presentation hall. If your avatar is in this room, you can access the zoom conference by pressing the x key. The podium discussion will be held in this room at the end of the first day.
The large room om the right side (marked in yellow) is the poster room. Here the two poster sessions will take place.
Private spaces
Tables have a special functionality. If your avatar sits on a chair at a table, you will enter a private space. This means that only people sitting with you at the same table will be able to start a conversation with you. This allows for conversations that are not interrupted by passer-by.

The stage
There is a stage in the presentation room. If you step on the stage with your avatar, every participant of the ESSV can see and hear you. Please use the stage only if prompted, or if you want to give a grand speech during the after hours.

People who stand on the stage can be heard by everyone, but they can only hear people who also stand on the stage. If you have questions during the podium discussion, please use the microphone spots that are marked in red or step on the stage to ask your question.
The poster room
The posters will be prepared in advance and can be find in the poster room. The marked spots in front of every poster are marked as a private space. If you want to take part in the discussion of a poster, please step on one of those spots and press the x key to bring up the poster.

The video feed will still be active at the top of the page. Below that you can see the poster and scroll down if the poster is only partly visible. The magnification button on the right side increases the size of the poster again, so that even small text can be read. Above the magnification button you can acitvate the presentation mode. In this mode, every click on a part of the poster will create a red circle that will be visible for everyone. That way you can point at specific parts of the poster (in the following image the methods section was clicked).

Social games
The conference has a game room, so that the evenings of the conference can be a bit more social. There, you can play games together like tetris, sudoku, and poker. Also you can just sit at the table and talk with the other conference attendees. However, food and drinks have to be eaten outside of the virtual conference rooms as to not make any mess.

We wish you a great conference!