Virtual Infrastructure
To participate in WCCFL 40, you will need access to Zoom, Slack, and the Gather platform. Starting the week of May 9, 2022, registered WCCFL 40 participants will begin receiving emails containing information about zoom links, use of the Gather platform for social breaks and receptions, and the WCCFL 40 Slack workspace for discussion of individual talks and conference-related topics. You will also receive a separate invitation to join the Slack workspace.
If you register for WCCFL 40, but do not receive any emails after May 9, please check your spam/junk folder. If you still cannot find the emails, please contact us immediately at wccfl2022@stanford.edu.
Zoom information
All the talks will happen via the Zoom platform. Links will be mailed to all those who are registered shortly in advance of the conference. Please make sure to update your Zoom client to the latest version prior to the conference.
All participants will be muted upon entry to the Zoom session. We ask that you keep your microphone muted during the presentation, and only unmute yourself during breaks or during the Q&A when instructed by the session chair. Our staff may mute you during a presentation if you forget to do so.
It is up to you whether your camera is on, but we would like to encourage you to turn the camera on during the Q&A period, especially if you are asking a question. You might also consider adding a picture of yourself to display while your camera is off.
There are two further features of Zoom that we will be using at WCCFL 40 that we highlight here:
The “raise hand” feature: If you want to ask a question after a talk, please indicate this by clicking on the "raise hand” icon; do not use the chat. This icon is located in last row of the Reactions options, which come up when you click on “Reactions” in the tool bar at the bottom of the Zoom window. Your participant thumbnail will then show the hand icon allowing the session chair to see that you have a question. To lower the hand, click on the "lower hand” button located above “Reactions”.
Renaming: We would like graduate students to be able to ask the first few questions after a talk. In order that the session chair knows who is a graduate student, we ask graduate students (who want to ask questions) to indicate their status by renaming themselves. To rename yourself, open the participant window and move your cursor over your name; you will see a button labelled “more” to the right of your name. If you click on this button, a drop-down menu will appear; one menu option is “rename”. Click on this option and you will be able to edit your name. If you are a grad student, please put “grad” before your name. If you want to add your pronouns, you can indicate them after your name. After you have edited your name, click the “rename” button. Renaming in this manner only persists within a single Zoom session.
We will have a Stanford University IT (UIT) staff member available during the entire conference to help ensure that all goes smoothly. The UIT staff member will be available at the plenary Zoom link, for consultation about any technical issues. Should you need help during a Zoom session, you can also contact a WCCFL organizer via the chat; they will indicate their status before their names in the participant list.
WCCFL 40 Slack workspace
The WCCFL40 Slack workspace contains a channel (beginning with #) for each talk. These channels are named according to the following template:
day-lastname1-lastname2
For example:
friday-harris
If two presenters happen to have the same last name, their first name initial will be listed between the day and last name, as follows:
friday-j-harris
Participants are invited to use these channels for follow up questions and discussion after their talk.
There are also some additional channels:
• #help-and-support (for anyone who experiences technical difficulties throughout the conference)
• and a few fun and social channels, such as…
• #general (goes out to everyone! Post wisely!)
• #pets-of-wccfl40 (for posting pics of your pets, furry or otherwise)
• #coffee-stains-of-wccfl40 (for those of you who, like us, spill coffee everywhere — this channel is for discussion and photos of delicious conference beverages of all kinds)
• #random (where you are welcome to chat about any topics)
You can also send direct messages (DMs) to individual people (by clicking on their name or profile picture or starting with the icon at the bottom of the screen and typing @), and you are always welcome to reach out to one of the conference organizers directly or email us for assistance at wccfl2022@stanford.edu.
If you have any questions about how to use slack, please reach out on the #help-and-support channel. To learn about how to get started with Slack, please visit the following page: https://slack.com/help/articles/218080037-Getting-started-for-new-Slack….
OSF
The primary location for posting talk materials (including abstracts and handouts) should be authors’ OSF pages; for instructions about how to post materials on the OSF page, please go to: https://wccfl2022.stanford.edu/creating-osf-page. Presenters may also post talk materials on their Slack channels. Links to each talk's OSF page are found in the program, and the WCCFL 40 conference repository on OSF can be found here.
Gather
For our social events on Friday and Saturday we will use the Gather platform, which allows users to create avatars and interact with one another to simulate the social gathering aspect of a conference. Dates and times of dedicated social events are included in the program, but the Gather space will remain open during the whole of the conference, and you are welcome to make use of the space outside of these times. Students and post-docs should take care to note the Saturday student- and post-doc only mixer, which will take place in the dedicated student lounge!
We recommend using either Google Chrome or Firefox to log into Gather, as Gather only provides full support for these browsers, and we cannot guarantee that others will work as smoothly.
A link to the space will be sent to all conference attendees shortly in advance of the conference. If you need help once in Gather, please feel free to consult with one of our volunteers at the virtual help-desk. We look forward to seeing you there!