The 13^th AFAF virtual venues will be hosted in Gather.town which offers a 2-dimensional floor plan with designated areas for specific activities. Participants can create their own avatar and navigate using the arrow keys. When the avatars are close to each other, videos will pop-up and you will be able to interact with fellow participants.

Gather.town offers a virtual space to meet fellow participants, interact with objects, view a virtual exhibition, and link to Webex for scientific sessions. You only need a computer, webcam, microphone, and a stable internet connection to join virtual sessions. A laptop or PCs are recommended, as the Gather.town virtual platform cannot be used on phones or tablets. Use headphones or a separate speaker for the best audio quality. We highly recommend each participant create their own Gather.town account and download Webex on your device before the forum.

Sharing of results, videos and posters without permission is a violation of copyright. Therefore, we request 13th AFAF attendees not to copy or distribute the forum link, screen shots, audio recordings, or video recordings without a presenter’s or forum organizer’s consent.

Due to copyright issues the recordings of the on-demand presentations or posters will not be available for access on the 13th AFAF website or 13th AFAF virtual venues after the forum.

Login to the 13^th AFAF website to access the link for logging into the 13th AFAF virtual venues in Gather.town. [PLEASE NOTE: Register in Gather.town using the same email address used for registering in the 13th AFAF and you will be allowed to enter the 13th AFAF virtual venues. However, if you register with another email, you will not have permission for entering 13th AFAF virtual venues.]

All events are located within the 13th AFAF virtual venues in Gather.town. No individual Webex session links will be provided. The 13th AFAF virtual venues include:

• Main Hall: Opening ceremony, Opening keynote address, Plenary sessions, Reports of scientific sessions, and Closing ceremony
• Room A and Room B: Parallel scientific sessions
• 13^th AFAF square: Virtual exhibition
• Poster area: e-Poster presentation
• Private areas: Many private areas are provided around the 13th AFAF virtual venues. In private areas, participants can only see and hear each other. You can have private conversations with your friends, collaborators and anyone you meet.
• Judge’s house: Only judges and staff are allowed to enter this house.
• Staff’s home: Only staff are allowed to enter this house.

Hereinafter, the venues in the following instructions will be referred to as above, all located in the Gather.town virtual platform.

In the Poster area, when you approach a poster, a preview of the poster will be seen at the bottom of your screen. To view poster in full screen, press the “X” key and the video of presenter and other participants in the private area will be visible. This will enable the poster presenter to introduce his/her research as well as have an interactive live Q&A with the audience. Once you are finished with the poster, please press “X” again to exit.

Due to copyright issues the recordings of the on-demand presentations or posters will not be available for access on the 13th AFAF website or 13th AFAF virtual venues after the forum.

Remind all participants and presenters to turn off their microphone. Encourage audiences to type their questions in the Chatbox of the Webex system and our staff will pass these questions to chairs.

Please also manage your session time to avoid any delays.

For keynote address, plenary and invited speeches, chairs will give a brief introduction of the corresponding speaker (not exceeding 2 min) and handle the 5 min live Q&A session after the presentation.

For regular oral presentations, the session Chair will announce the presenter’s name; this will be followed by playing the pre-recorded presentation by 13th AFAF staff. Chairs will handle the 5 min live Q&A session after the presentation.
Note: In case the presenter’s internet is unstable, the self-introduction will be skipped and the pre-recorded presentation will be played.

Once the session ends, please remind all presenters and participants to logout of Webex and enter Gather.Town.

Judges will have a special meeting in Judge’s house at 10:10 ~10:30 on 31st May for discussing the criteria for evaluation. Please enter the scores in the provided Google sheet (the link will be sent before the forum) and submit it before 13:30 on 2nd June. The awardees will be shortlisted during the second Judge meeting in the same place at 14:00~15:00 on 2nd June. Two student volunteers will assist in the results discussion. If there are any questions, please contact our staff Ms. ST-Shu-Wen Zheng at the 13th AFAF helpdesk.

For student oral competition, any presenter failing to be online during the live Q&A will not be eligible for receiving awards.

For student poster competition, there are 3 poster sessions during this 3-day-forum. If the students fail to show up during these sessions, they will not be eligible for receiving awards.

Awardees will be announced during the Closing Ceremony.

Before you begin, please ensure you have a high-speed internet connection and also set up Webex client on your computer.

The time allotted for each presenter is 15 min. The session chair will announce the presenter’s name; this will be followed by playing the pre-recorded presentation. Chairs will handle the 5 min live Q&A session.

Note: In case the presenter’s internet is unstable, the self-introduction and Q&A session will be skipped but the pre-recorded presentation will be still played.

Test your computer, browser, internet, and camera/microphone for compatibility with the live poster session platform.

All e-Posters are displayed for viewing in Poster area. Find your poster (Poster number) and stand in front of your assigned poster during the poster sessions.

Turn-on your camera during your presentation, so that audiences can see you while you present. Press the “X” key to view a full-screen of the poster. You can find “a laser pointer button” on the right side of the window when viewing a full-screen poster. During poster presentation, the laser pointer button, will display a red circle on the screen that you can use to direct the attention of the audience. The dark rectangular area in front of each posterboard are private areas where audiences can view and discuss the poster together.

Watch the Gather.town tutorial video for poster presentation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_1SWkaU5c

Please visit the individual virtual booth of sponsors and organizers in 13th AFAF Square. You can live interact with the exhibitors and booth representatives.

Virtual booth has information about the exhibitor, ways to connect with them, and ability to join their virtual seminars if they have one.

Walk up the interactive objects, press “X” on your keyboard to view and download product brochures and technical resources.

All participants will be given an endorsed Certificate of Attendance, which can be downloaded by logging into the 13th AFAF website 1 week after the forum.

Awards for oral and e-poster presentation will be presented at the 13th AFAF Closing ceremony. Each winner will receive a Certificate signed by 13th AFAF President.

13th AFAF will also provide the Helpdesk Webex link to connect to 13th AFAF staff for any technical assistance related to accessing or navigating in Gather.town. You can text chat or interact directly with 13th AFAF staff during working hours (8:30~18:30 TST [GMT+8] from 23rd May till 2nd June, 2022) to address any technical issues. (Link will be active from 1 week before the Forum).

Helpdesk Webex link:
https://nckucc.webex.com/nckucc/j.php?MTID=mf9ef96d87f59715b55a1c5a0dbf853fe

If you have any issues or problems related to 13th AFAF, you also can contact us at 13thafaf@gmail.com