 Hello everyone. Thank you for checking this pre-recorded presentation on how to combine a session at the EGU General Assembly 2023. My name is David Ceron de Blanco and I'm the incoming Union-wide early career scientist representative of the EGU. Today I will show you how you can combine a session at the EGU General Assembly and how to do that smoothly. The EGU General Assembly is the largest year science meeting in Europe. It gathers scientists worldwide to present their research, discuss new ideas, and network with peers. Converners organize, oversee, and manage EGU sessions and act as facilitators to authors and promoters of discussion. As a convener, you will propose a session, review and select abstracts, and invite speakers. You will also guide presenters prior and during the session and facilitate discussion to make sure that the session runs smoothly. Converners shape the scientific program of the conference and showcase research in their fields. You, as a convener, play an essential role. No EGU General Assembly will be possible with these conveners, so thank you for your time and commitment in this role. As part of the EGU, I put forward this webinar to give you more information about how to convene sessions smoothly and effectively. As a convener, you should be aware of the EGU presentation guidelines and code of conduct. All attendees must follow these general rules. I'm providing here and in all places of the presentation links to more detailed information that I encourage you to check. The presentation will be available to download via the General Assembly program. I highlight here two relevant guidelines. The first is that the acceptance of an abstract and its inclusion in the program oblige an author or one of the co-authors to present the contribution at the indicated time and manner. So authors ought to show up. Missing presentations are categorized as no shows and abstracts will be removed from the conference website without appropriate reasons. The second is that audiences ought to record only with permission. In general, it is not permitted to take photographs, videos, or screenshots of any presentation. If you really, really like what you see and want to screenshot or record it, ask for explicit permission from the authors. So as a conclusion, as a convener, you should ask presenters to include symbols that guide their audiences to either encourage or not allow photos and screenshots on their presentation slides. I'll talk now briefly about the presentation modes available at the General Assembly 2023. This year's General Assembly will be held in a fully hybrid format. This means that attendees can participate on site or from whenever they are. This applies to all type of sessions. For virtual presentations tools such as Zoom and Guarded Town will be used. To make your presenters feel heard and not alone in the virtual section of your session, lead by example and use reactions and emojis and comments to increase discussion and participation prior, during and after the sessions. Hybrid mode means that presenters can share and discuss their research with conference attendees at two different times. Asynchronous interaction refers to communication before and after the General Assembly for a two months period. And synchronous interaction refers to communication that takes place in real time at the General Assembly itself. During the asynchronous interaction, presenters can upload material that is supplementary to the abstract. These supplementary material can be slides, poster, videos, and also links, which is a novelty for this year. Presenters can modify their material at any time, creating multiple versions. This material will be accessible only to registered attendees. These attendees and the presenters can comment for interaction, and those comments will be linked to each specific version. For the synchronous interactions, presenters have to upload their live presentation files 24 hours before their sessions. Attendees and presenters can comment for interaction for the case of eco and poster presentations, which are linked from the online session page. Do strongly encourage your authors to upload supplementary material, and make sure to communicate these guidelines clearly to all presenters. In terms of licenses, abstracts will get do-its as they always do, and display materials will get CC by 4.0. As I mentioned before, display materials will be limited to registered attendees only. The edu-sphere will launch at the end of the asynchronous phase. All abstracts will be linked to the edu-sphere after that phase, and the display material that authors do not remove during this phase will be linked again with a CC by 4.0 license. I will now talk briefly about the presentation types available at the General Assembly 2023. This General Assembly will hold three presentation formats, as is commonly the case in known non-COVID times. These are oral, poster, and pico, and they will be available both virtually and on-site. The presentation length is 10 minutes. This time includes the time for changeover and discussion. It is important to ensure that all presenters in the session have an equal amount of time to present. Orals will be held in an average style, both in-person and virtually. The in-person oral presentations take place in the lecture room. Lecture rooms are equipped with lectern cameras and microphones to allow delivery of the presentation via Zoom. On the contrary, virtual oral presentations take place directly via Zoom. They are presented usually live, and on exception, they are prerecorded. Attendees can engage with all the presentations, both on-site and online, using the in-room microphones or the Zoom chat. Make sure that a dedicated chairperson is focused on the interaction of the virtual attendees, and another one is focused on the inside interaction. And this one that is inside the room should moderate and repeat questions to be answered by either on-site or virtual authors. Presentations are scheduled on a specific day and time block. During this time, on-site presenters will stand in front of the posters and reply to any questions from the attendees who are physically present. On the other hand, virtual presenters will use gather town to present their poster and reply to virtual attendees. It is important to know that during the scheduled time blocks, attendees can only post their questions in the corresponding virtual or on-site platform. The presentation poster file might be uploaded at least 24 hours prior to the session start. The presentation poster files are only available on the day of the session, while the corresponding supplementary material, as I said before, are available before and after the actual day of the poster session. Four comments and discussion. As a convener, you should remind your poster presenters to be at their posters at their designated times. In case of the PICO sessions, authors will present a two-minute summary of their abstract on stage. After that, they will move to a detailed presentation and have discussion with attendees in front of a screen. PICO presentations are interactive and allow presenters to showcase their research using those digital displays that can contain animations and videos. Virtual PICO spots will be available in gather town, which will also have all the screens of the display PICO sessions for both on-site and virtual presenters. All PICO presentations, both on-site and virtual, will be available for browsing by both on-site and virtual attendees. I will now provide brief guidelines on how to organize and lead your session. For your session, you should be aware that on any given day, there will be four time blocks for scientific sessions, each block being one hour and 45 minutes. In each block, you could schedule an invited talk that can vary in length between 10 and 35 minutes, a variable number of presentations that could be between 6 and 10, and an introduction or a discussion slot of up to 10 minutes. You have to make sure that you allocate enough time for this presentation and leave enough time for discussion. You also should be aware that you cannot schedule presentations for more than the time block assigned to your session and block of block studies. As a convener, you should arrange your session by selecting presentations. If you are not convening a PICO session, you ought to divide the abstracts of your session into orals and posters. To do this, you should consider the presenter's preference and the number of abstracts that are in your session. You should also consider the quality of the work. You should equally consider diversity and aim to highlight various countries and incidents, different career stages, and diverse scientific approaches. Additionally, you can highlight up to one solicited presentation per time block. I will mention more on this one. Finally, make sure to find impartial judges for the OSPP. The OSPP, or Outstanding Student and PhD Candidate Presentation, is a great opportunity for students and PhD candidates to showcase their work and receive recognition for their contribution. And judges should ensure fair competition and recognition for student work. After you have selected the abstracts for your session, it's now time to define the structure in which they will be presented. For these, you should consider grouping similar topics together, aiming for a logical and coherent sequence that allows the session to flow smoothly. Also consider the content and themes of each presentation, as well as the diversity of the presenter. And avoid scheduling talks by the same author or research groups consecutively. Once a logical order is defined, you can use the add subtitle button in the online tool to structure your session. With that, you can now define the length of solicited presentations if you have any. As a convener, you can highlight up to one solicited presentation per time block. We recommend that you indicate the names of solicited presenters in the description of your session, again in the online tool. Authors of solicitors abstracts are like any other attendees, so they are responsible for the abstract processing charges, registration fees, and other expenses. A session must have at least two chairpersons present in person during the conference. It is important that you appoint chairpersons, even if they are not a convener, and particularly so if conveners are not attending in person. The chairpersons' role is to introduce the speaker, keep the presentations on time, and facilitate discussion. Now a brief mention on some dental logical behavior expected from conveners or co-conveners is that they cannot present as authors, and they are discouraged from being a co-author in all representations in the session they convene. It is also expected that they are not authors, whether the first or co-authors of any solicited presentation in a session they convene. Finally, a brief note about communication. You should make sure to communicate with all authors to ensure that they are aware of their presentation time and location. Consider sending out reminders a few days before the conference. You should try to prepare any necessary materials ahead of time, such as introduction slides, and also do not forget to inform all chairpersons of their responsibility during the session. They are key to ensure that the session runs smoothly. We are approaching the end of this presentation, and I just want to mention a few key points to bear in mind before, during, and after your session. As I just mentioned, it is important to prepare any necessary materials ahead of time. This could include some introduction slides, the order of the talks, or some questions for discussion. It will be also relevant if you can arrive early to the conference to familiarize yourself with the venue, confirm the session location, and ensure that everything is in place for a successful session. Try to introduce whenever possible yourself to the chairpersons and presenters. This is important to build rapport with them, answer any questions they might have, and ensure that they are aware of their roles during the session. Verify if possible all necessary equipment, such as microphone, projectors, and laptops, and make sure that they are working correctly before the start of the session. During the session itself, you should keep track of time and ensure that each presentation starts and ends on time. A delay in one presentation can have a domino effect on the entire session, and it's crucial to stick to the schedule. Encourage discussion and questions from the audience to promote engagement and participation. Be prepared to moderate the conversation and redirect questions if necessary. Have a couple of questions on your own so there's no author without some feedback on the work. Address any technical difficulties that may arise as promptly as possible. If a problem can't be resolved quickly, it may be necessary to postpone the presentation or move it to a different location. Finally, some advice on how to proceed after the session. Although this might seem obvious, do thank the chairpersons and presenters for their hard work and participation. Let them know that their contributions were appreciated and vital for the success of the session. Also, take the time to provide feedback to the program committee, both about the section highlights and any areas of improvement. Constructive criticism is essential for the committee to improve the overall quality of the conference. Also, you might want to reflect on the session and evaluate its success. Determine what worked well and what could be improved. That way you could prepare to do future sessions. So in a nutshell, you might want to follow these guidelines to secure the success of your session. For convening your session, it is important to plan, organize and be attentive to detail. You should consider guidelines for diversity and representation when running your session and you should be actively communicating with all parts. Last but not least, please check out this useful blog post for more information on how to convene sessions at the EDU. And now I want to thank you for your attention and I hope you found this presentation informative and helpful. Good luck with your session.