This page will host important announcements regarding the Phenomenology Symposium and will be updated throughout the conference.
Announcements for Tuesday, May 5
Zoom Client: Make sure that your Zoom client is up-to-date. You can check for updates by following the instructions here. If you are experiencing difficulty with the Zoom client, try connecting using the browser interface instead. Please let us know if you are having difficulty connecting.
Plenary Session Break Rooms: By popular demand, we are expanding from one plenary session break room to 4. We will also keep all 4 break rooms open from 12:45 PM to 1:15 PM (but not during the afternoon parallel sessions). The format is that there will be one general discussion room at the same location as Monday and three new rooms, with one for each of the prior session's speakers. They are labeled "Speaker 1" through "Speaker 3" for the first through third prior talk respectively. They will be for discussion each of those talks respectively. We encourage plenary speakers to join their corresponding room. The links are in the updated schedule here:
https://indico.cern.ch/event/858682/attachments/1931148/3398524/pheno20schedulesafe.pdf
Parallel Session Break Rooms: For the afternoon session, we will have the same all purpose break room, but we will also keep the parallel session rooms open during the break for further topical discussion.
Announcements for Monday, May 4
Plenary Session Recording: In light of demand, we will be recording the plenary session talks. Unfortunately, we will not be able to record the parallel session talks. Only the audio and slides will be recorded; the chat box, Q&A text, and video of the speakers/chairs will not be available. Please be aware, however, that if you type in a question and the chair chooses to pose it to the speaker, the question will be recorded. We will post the videos online. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us. Stay tuned for further details.
Switching Rooms: In order to switch rooms during the parallel session, please click "Leave Meeting" in the bottom right corner of the Zoom window and confirm that you would like to leave before joining a different session.
Initial Announcements
Timezone: Note that Pheno 2020 times are all listed in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4, local Pittsburgh time). The plenary sessions begin at 8:40 AM EDT on Monday and 8:45 AM EDT on Tuesday and Wednesday. The parallel sessions begin at 2:15 PM EDT on Monday and 2:00 PM EDT on Tuesday. We apologize for any inconvenience that this causes any of our participants connecting from other time zones, but this issue cannot be avoided.
Schedule, Links and Password: The complete schedule with Zoom links is available at here. The password is only made available to registrants. Please do not share it with anyone who is not registered. The document is clickable, with links to all the various rooms on the Overview page and to the individual talks in the subsequent timetables. We also include information for those of you who would like to connect by phone rather than on a computer or mobile device. We highly recommend that you connect on a computer or mobile device for the best experience. Our conference will have a large number of participants, so we ask that you be considerate and only connect using one device at a time. The schedule for the conference is also available here, along with the slides, though the clickable Zoom links are only available in the attached schedule.
Connection Instructions: Full desktop/mobile connection instructions for those new to Zoom are available here. We recommend that you download the Zoom app, rather than connecting via a web browser for the best experience. If you have any technical difficulties or questions, please contact us at pittpacc [at] pitt [dot] edu.
Zoom Etiquette: Our plenary sessions will be in a Zoom webinar. In this format, participants other than the speakers, chairs, and organizers will not be able to speak. We encourage participants to make use of the Q&A function to pose questions to the speakers. The session chairs will read the question and select as many as possible to pose to the speaker at the end of the talk. There is also a chat available for informal discussion with the audience or with the speakers, chairs, and organizers. There is no way to chat with individual participants, though we encourage you to do so during the coffee breaks (see below). Please note that questions and chats will be widely visible, so please remain professional and courteous. As always, we ask that you follow our code of conduct.
Our parallel sessions will be in "regular" Zoom meetings. We ask that all except for the speakers, chairs, and local volunteers turn off their video and microphone at all times. Questions can be posed in the chat. As with the plenary sessions, the chairs will select questions from that pool to ask the speaker at the end of the talk. The parallel sessions are on a particularly tight schedule, so we ask that you not interrupt the speakers. Note that our local volunteers will be sharing the slides and navigating them on behalf of the speakers during these sessions.
Coffee Breaks: As Pheno traditionally has ample opportunity for networking, we will have a coffee break room as indicated on the schedule where participants can join and chat. We encourage everybody to go to the coffee break room to ask questions, compliment speakers for their talks and express interest in their research, or even just say “hi” to your colleagues. We will also post important new announcements.
Career Forum: On Monday, May 4 at 1 PM EDT, we will host our traditional Pheno forum on career development in a separate Zoom meeting as indicated on the schedule. The forum will include a talk with Q&A by Midhat Farooq from the APS. We particularly encourage young scientists participating in the conference to join.
Cocktail Hour and Award Ceremony: As is a Pheno tradition, we will have an award ceremony after the parallel sessions on Tuesday, May 5 at 6:45 PM EDT. Though we cannot share a drink together, we encourage you to join with your favorite beverage in hand! We will present awards to several participants to be redeemed when it is safe to do so.
Conference Photo: Though we can’t physically gather to take a group photo this year, we plan to assemble a collage of participant portraits. We encourage you to submit a self-portrait photo, ideally of yourself attending the conference. Instructions for sending photos have been made available to all registrants. The deadline for photo submissions is Wednesday, May 13.
