Outline for planning the Virtual IVOA meeting

J Evans (new: 23Jun2020; revised: 27Jan22)

Technology

• Videocon: Zoom
• Recording: Record via Zoom
• Session messaging: Zoom chat
• Live notes: Etherpad
• Time Zone calculator - https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

Organizing Program/Attendees, Steps to do in order:

• Start 4 months prior to meeting ...
• Build Program prep page for meeting organization
  • https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/ProgramPrepVirtual
• Set up Registration page with Virtual Interop information and post – INAF created/sponsored page for the Virtual Interops so far
  • https://indico.ict.inaf.it/event/1056/
• Send notifications to Interop list announcing the meeting and then reminders/prompts with registration/schedule: Schedule/content below … examples in attachments.
  • Save the date/1^st email: 3 months prior to meeting date or as soon as date has been agreed by the Exec/TCG -- See below – attachment #1.0 for sample email
  • Reminder at 2 months prior to meeting – Advertise the draft schedule with this notice – See below attachment #1
  • Email at 6 weeks prior to meeting – Advertise that Registration is Open, include pointer to registration and schedule -- See below attachment #2
  • Email at 3 weeks prior to meeting – Reminder to Sign-up, include pointer to registration and schedule – See below attached #3
  • Email at 3 days prior – Send info on Logistics – Serves as a date/sign-up reminder too – Include pointer to registration and schedule -- See below attachment #4
  • Email day of … Welcome & pointer to final program
  • One week after Interop – send a thank you for attending email – See below attachment #5
• WG/IG leads contributed topics on Program Organizing twiki page under New Requests
  • https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/ProgramPrepVirtual - May 2020 planning
  • https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/ProgramPrepVirtualNov - Nov 2020 planning
  • Get an understanding how many session each WG/IG needs or if they ‘pass’ on sessions for this interop
  • Monitor Attendee abstracts submitted to Registration and update Program prep wiki page; Discuss feedback with TCG and get assigned to WG/IG sessions
  • Notify abstract authors when assigned to a session; then further correspondence with WG/IG for session organization/coordination

Schedule

• In scheduling be cognizant of the time zones and work to balance hours to be fair of attendees in all time zones as much as possible
• We picked 3 time slots that sync'd with 8am in Victoria, Strasbourg, Sydney/Beijing and scheduled around those times
• Scheduled each day – see examples of May2020 & Nov2020 Interop schedule below
  • https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpMay2020 - May 2020 - 5 day mtg
  • https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpNov2020 - Nov 2020 - 3 day mtg
• Assign sessions/presenters to slots so that times are reasonable for their location
• Review schedule matrix vertically and horizontally in time zones to make interesting and balanced assignments of sessions for attendees
• Sessions
  • Each session has 4 coordinators
    • 1 – Primary Presenter
    • 2 – Proctor – Ensure Recording/Start on Time/End of Time/General oversite
    • 3 – Monitor – Orchestrate taking/stopping questions, putting hands down, Managing mute button (Chosen by WG/IG for session)
    • 4 – Note Taker – Etherpad (Chosen by WG/IG for session)
      • Attendees were also welcomed to add questions to etherpad during session; they were folded in during Q&A at end
  • Each session is 1 hour and has 1 topic with ½ hour break between sessions
    • Primary presenter can organize into several presentation within the timeslot
  • First day – Welcome, Exec presentation, TCG presentation, WG/IG presentations
  • Plenary Session ??? Will we have one ??? Exec decision
  • TCG special topics ??? Internal workshop, hackathon, …

Example emails

Attachment #1.0

(For Nov 2020 Interop, sent on July 23, 2020)

Dear VO Community,

We are writing to inform you that the *IVOA Northern Fall Interop meeting will be Nov 16-20* and ask you to "Save the Date" to participate in the meeting.

The meeting organization will be similar to our May Interop meeting. We will use Zoom as our shared remote service, and Etherpad for live notes and questions. We are planning to keep presentations to a single thread (no parallel sessions) and save a good amount of the time for your input and discussion. Sessions will be recorded and posted so that if you miss a session you can go back and view it. We will work to schedule sessions with reasonable times during the day for 2 of the 3 sessions a day in your time zone.

We envision asking the community for topics/presentations as we did last time and welcome your participation. There will be a follow-on email in early fall with those instructions.

So, enjoy your summer, save the date, and we look forward to another engaging IVOA meeting in November.

Best Regards,
-Janet & Pat
(for the IVOA TCG)

Attachment #1

(For Nov 2020 Interop, sent on Sep 28, 2020)

Dear VO Community,

This is a 2nd reminder to inform you that the IVOA Northern Fall Interop meeting will be Nov 17-19 (3 days) and ask you to "Save the Date" to participate in the meeting.

The meeting organization will be similar to our May Interop meeting. We will use Zoom as our shared remote service, and Etherpad for live notes and questions. We are planning to keep presentations to a single thread (no parallel sessions) and save a good amount of the time for your input and discussion. Sessions will be recorded and posted so that if you miss a session you can go back and view it. We will work to schedule sessions with reasonable times during the day for 2 of the 3 sessions a day in your time zone.

The meeting schedule is made up of sessions of the IVOA Working Groups and Interest Groups. In addition, we envision asking the community for topics/presentations as we did last time. We plan to make a slight adjustment in that we will welcome smaller proposals with >1 presenter in a session as well as longer proposals that take the hour.

Here is a high-level draft schedule for the November Interop. It will be filled in during the coming weeks.
https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpNov2020

We are meeting now and will followup with a registration page shortly. There is no fee associated with the meeting.

We look forward to another engaging IVOA meeting in November.

Best Regards,
-Janet & Pat
(for the IVOA TCG)

Attachment #2

(For Nov 2020 Interop, sent on Oct 7, 2020)

Dear IVOA Community,

We are happy to announce that Registration for the Northern Fall Virtual IVOA Interop (Nov 17-19 UTC) is now open.

** Here is a link to the meeting and registration web page:

https://indico.ict.inaf.it/e/ivoa/interop-nov-2020

There is no fee associated with this meeting.

The Interop schedule is made up of sessions of the IVOA Working Groups and Interest Groups. In addition, we are asking for community led presentations. The meeting web page supports abstract submission for presentation consideration. Contributions at this Interop are 10-12 minutes in length with additional time for Q&A. Abstracts will be accepted through Oct 31. We will be in contact with participants as abstracts are accepted.

** Here is a pointer to the high-level schedule. The schedule will be populated with sessions in the coming weeks.
https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpNov2020

Please email Janet Evans ( janet@cfa.harvard.edu) if you have any questions.

We look forward to another successful Interop meeting in November!!

Best regards,
-janet, pat, & marco

Attachment #3

(For Nov 2020 Interop, sent on Oct 28, 2020)

Dear IVOA Community,

Just a reminder that the Northern Fall Virtual IVOA Interop is *Nov 17-19 UTC*. u to sign up for the meeting at the registration web page:
https://indico.ict.inaf.it/e/ivoa/interop-nov-2020

As a reminder, the Interop schedule is made up of sessions of the IVOA Working Groups and Interest Groups. In addition, we are asking for community led presentations. There is no fee associated with this meeting. We will hold the meeting via Zoom.

The community led abstract deadline has been extended though *Wednesday, Nov 4*. Please provide a brief description of your presentation that fits within a 10-12 minute time slot. There will be additional time for Q&A. We will inform you of the time slot for your scheduled presentation as abstracts are accepted.

Here is a pointer to the high-level schedule. The schedule will be populated with sessions in the next week.
https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpNov2020

Please email Janet Evans ( janet@cfa.harvard.edu) if you have any questions -or- problems submitting an abstract. We’ll be sure to address them!

** We welcome you to pass this email on to colleagues who may not be on the Interop mailing list.

Looking forward to another successful Interop meeting in November!!

Best regards,
-janet, pat, & marco

(& the IVOA Exec & TCG)

Attachment #4

(For Nov 2020 Interop, sent on Nov 13, 2020)

Dear IVOA Interop Attendees,

We’re a few days away from the start of the IVOA Interop meeting. Hopefully you have a few days of rest if you were also at the well-attended and well-organized ADASS meeting. Congrats to ADASS!!

Here are a few Interop logistics.

o The sessions start at 6:00 UTC, 13:30 UTC, 20:30 UTC; Monday - Wednesday (Nov 17-19 UTC).

o The schedule is posted here:

https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpNov2020

o Click on the Session title for access to the detailed presentations in each session.

o The Zoom links will be added to the schedule header for each day.

More information at the Opening session … we look forward to a collaborative and informative meeting.

Best regards,

-janet & pat

(for the IVOA TCG)

ps. Registration is still open - here is the link:

https://indico.ict.inaf.it/e/ivoa/interop-nov-2020

Attachment #5

(Sent 1 week after Interop)

Dear IVOA attendees,

The IVOA Executive committee and Technical Coordination Group want to thank you for attending our first Virtual IVOA meeting May 4-8.

As follow-up, session notes and videos are all available to you. The notes can be accessed from the Schedule link below where you then click on the session name to get to the notes. The videos are available from the CANFAR Storage UI or VoSpace.

notes: https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/InterOpMay2020

videos: https://www.canfar.net/storage/list/pdowler/ivoa/virtual2020a

-or-

VOspace: vos://cadc.nrc.ca~vault/pdowler/ivoa/virtual2020a

We have also scheduled several follow-on meetings. You can find those meetings posted at the bottom of the Schedule page if you are interested in attending. (Link above)

Finally, we welcome you to view the following web page with information about joining any of the Working groups or Interest groups that presented at IVOA. You will find information about each Working group, Current chairs/Vice chairs, and how to be added to the mail list.

http://www.ivoa.net/members/index.html

Best regards,

-janet & pat

(for the IVOA TCG)