Information about Poster Sessions for SMT 2021

This is a resource for session chairs, presenters, and monitors of SMT poster sessions. For information on how to create and submit your conference materials, view the Presenter Guidelines.

Poster sessions begin as Zoom meetings, but after introductory remarks from the Chair and lightning talks from the Presenters, each poster presentation will have their own individual Zoom meeting room where they can interact with attendees.

Zoom Meeting Setup

• The Zoom meetings will be set up so that the Monitor (volunteer) is the licensed host for the meeting. This enables the Monitor to start the meeting without a staff present and assign privileges to the chair and presenters. This also allows the session participants to arrive any time prior to the start of the meeting; however, the Monitor will need to be present to admit the participants from the waiting room into the meeting. 
• Every Zoom meeting will be automatically recorded. The time before the session starts will be cut before being archived for post-conference viewing. Poster session breakout rooms will not be recorded. 
• The waiting room will be enabled for all sessions. The Monitor will need to disable the waiting room immediately prior to the session starting.
•  The Zoom meeting will be set up so that all attendees will be muted with their camera off. 
• The SMT Zoom account allows for live transcriptions but it will need to be enabled immediately prior to the session beginning.

Before the session

• Each session will be assigned a Monitor. Presenters, Chairs, and Monitors are encouraged to join the meeting at least 10 minutes before the session begins by following the link on the session page; the monitor will log into their Zoom account to start the meeting and admit the session participants from the waiting room into the meeting.  
• During this time:
  • Monitors: make the chair and presenters co-hosts so that they may have full meeting privileges, such as screen sharing.
    • To make others a co-host, hover over participants video, click the ellipsis icon (...), click "Make Co-Host".
  • Chairs: remind Presenters of the progression of the session, including presentation order.
  • Chairs/Monitors: if one of your Presenters does not arrive, please contact smt@societymusictheory.org. 
  • Monitors: About one minute before the start time, disable the waiting room feature to admit attendees, and enable live transcriptions.
    • ​To disable the waiting room, click on "More" in the lower right corner of the chat and unclick "Enable Waiting Room".
    • To enable live transcriptions, click on "Live Transcript" in the bottom bar then "Enable".
  • Monitors: create a breakout room for each poster author(s). Use the presenters’ names to label the rooms and enable attendees to choose their own breakout room Set the breakout rooms to close one minute before the session ends.
  • Chairs: remind Presenters of the progression of the session, including presentation order and the procedure by which each poster will be sent to an individual meeting room. 
  • Chairs/Monitors: if one of your Presenters does not arrive, please contact smt@societymusictheory.org. 
  • Monitors:About one minute before the start time, disable the waiting room feature to admit attendees and enable live transcriptions.
  • Monitors should turn their camera off and mute themselves while the session is in progress.

Session intro

Download a sample script  

• Chair: Begin the session with a brief intro (see the sample script) that includes the session’s title, order of presentations, and information about the presentations being recorded and available on the conference platform through December 31.
• Chair: communicate to attendees the poster session procedure: after short presentations by the Presenters (no more than five-minutes), each poster Presenter will have their own individual Zoom breakout room where they will be able to interact with attendees.
• Chair: Read the brief statement (below) about appropriate language and behavior.
• Monitor: As the Chair reads the statement, post the following links in the chat:
  • Guidelines for respectful interactions at SMT virtual conferences
  • SMT Policy on Ethics
  • SMT Policy on Harassment

"SMT wishes to create a meeting in which all participants feel safe, welcomed and included. This should be a space of respectful and constructive discourse. To facilitate such an environment, we ask that all attendees refer to and abide by our guidelines on respectful interactions and policies on ethics and harassment."

Presentation summaries

• Chair: After the session intro, introduce each presentation in turn, giving presentation title and Presenter(s) name(s) and affiliation(s) only. (Presenter biographies will not be read, but may be found on the session page.)
• Each presentation will have a maximum of 5 minutes for presentation summary. These comments should be prepared ahead of time to ensure appropriate length. Presenters are expected to listen to all of the summaries before heading into their individual Zoom breakout rooms (see Q&A, below).

Q&A

• Following the summaries of all presentations, each of the Poster Presenters will move to an individual Zoom breakout room where they can interact with attendees. 
• In each of these Zoom meeting rooms, the Presenter(s) and Attendees will be able to see each other and interact face-to-face. Presenters may also answer questions that are posted in the Chat.
• The Chair is expected to move around from room to room and interact with Presenters. 
• The Monitor is expected to stay in the main meeting room to assist attendees.

Session ending

• Chairs and Monitors have a responsibility to end the meeting on time. All poster sessions are 90 minutes. 
• The Monitor should set the breakout rooms to close one minute before the session ends so that the Slack link may be chaired in the chat window. The link to the Slack channel may be found on the session page. . 

Session monitor responsibilities

• The Monitor will add the chair and presenters as co-hosts, disable the waiting room, create the breakout rooms, and enable live transcriptions.
• The Monitor will post the following links in the chat window at the beginning of the session:
  • Guidelines for respectful interactions at SMT virtual conferences
  • SMT Policy on Ethics
  • SMT Policy on Harassment
• The Monitor will unmute presenters when it is their turn to speak.
• The Monitor will coordinate with the Chair to monitor the Zoom breakout rooms.
• The Monitor will follow the Chat to ensure that presenters and attendees respect the SMT guidelines on respectful interactions. 
• The Monitor is responsible for recording the presentation summary portion of the session.
• Monitors will post links to the asynchronous Slack discussion in the Zoom chat.

If you need help during the session

• If there is a technical problem with Zoom, please send an email to smt@societymusictheory.org.
• If someone in a session is not abiding by the SMT policies on ethics and harassment or guidelines on online interactions, please contact Jennifer Diaz or Patricia Hall. 
• If a member of the session (chair, monitor, presenter) fails to appear, please contact Jennifer Diaz.