Virtual Participation
How many technical presentations or workshops were you unable to attend during prior IMS conferences, because of scheduling conflicts? Have you ever missed information conveyed verbally during a presentation, only to later realize an important aspect had been missed? Has your target audience ever been diminished in number, because of a concurrent conference event? With the large number of high-quality events happening simultaneously at IMS, these scenarios are often a reality.
The Virtual Participation Committee is working hard to provide solutions to these problems for IMS2009, implementing a new capability for on-demand replay of technical paper presentations, workshops, short courses, and other components of the conference – serving as a valuable resource for conference attendees, and enabling non-attendees to experience the sights and sounds of IMS2009.
The Virtual Participation Committee is pleased to announce that, for the first time, audio and visual content experienced by the conference attendees will be available as an on-demand service within 24 hours of its scheduled live presentation. Content from individual technical paper presentations, complete workshops, and the plenary session will be available online before the conclusion of the conference – and remain accessible for one full year.
The wide variety of content found within the conference, including technical papers on a number of topics, workshops, exhibitions, and student contests, is a reflection of the diverse wants and needs of conference attendees. To provide the maximum value for a broad audience with varying, yet targeted interest in specific types of content, the Virtual Participation Committee has placed strong importance on identifying the type of content and method of delivery that best meets the needs of virtual participants. Using surveys of IMS members, and numerous discussions with representatives from the industry, professional academia, and student communities, we are working to ensure that Virtual Participation provides an added-value service for conference attendees, as well as those who are unable to attend.
A large selection of technical paper presentations will be recorded, allowing synchronized audio and video of the presented slides to be available within 24 hours of the live presentation. This provides the opportunity for conference attendees to experience technical paper presentations that are in concurrent sessions, within a timeframe such that a personal follow-up with the presenter is possible before the conclusion of the conference. An additional opportunity exists for student presenters, as a special section of the on-demand website showcases their work to a larger audience of potential employers. Because this is a new feature in IMS this year, technical paper presenters are given the choice to opt-out of recording if they choose to do so. The recorded technical paper presentations will be available at no cost to all conference attendees that have technical session access, and available for purchase by the general public.
Short courses and workshops have been valuable features at IMS conferences, providing the breadth and depth desired by attendees from industry and academia alike. However, their relatively long duration can restrict attendance because of scheduling conflicts with other workshops, paper sessions, and conference events. To provide shot course and workshop content to those interested but unable to attend, we plan to record every short course and some of the largest workshops to provide synchronized audio and video of the presented material. The on-demand content will be available for a cost based on the short course or workshop price at the conference and available at no cost to paid short course or workshop attendees if they wish to revisit the material during the one-year availability of the on-demand content.
While it may be argued that the technical paper sessions, workshops, and short courses serve as the backbone to every IMS conference, it is the plenary session, the exhibition, and the other conference events that showcase the liveliness of the conference. Much of this content will be made available in an on-demand format for the general public at no cost; to provide coverage of events missed by conference attendees, and give non-attendees the opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of IMS – enticing them to experience future conferences in person.
We look forward to providing you with these expanded capabilities at IMS2009 in Boston, and hope that you can help us by submitting papers and workshops of the highest quality. If previous IMS conferences are of any indication, we are confident that the value of the content supplied by you, and then made widely available by Virtual Participation, will be very high. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of the Virtual Participation Committee members. We look forward to greeting you at IMS2009 in Boston.
For more information about Virtual Participation, please visit our website at: http://ims2009.org/virtualpart.html.