Navigating CitSciVirtual

Take a quick tour of the virtual “Convention Center” to find your way to the meeting space, the posters, and the workshops. These videos assume that you have followed the emailed instructions for accessing the CitSciVirtual space (sent 30 April to all attendees).

Live Event Help Options

Live support is available via Zoom at scheduled hours. Please see the Google event calendar at the bottom of the CitSciVirtual schedule page for times and links.

There is an Attendee Helpdesk in CitSciVirtual where you can post questions and scroll through answers. See questions below as well.

Presenters can access a Presenters helpdesk in the CitSciVirtual space, where hosts and fellow presenters can support with answers.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• When will registration open?
  • Registration is now open! View registration details here.

• How do I access CitSciVirtual?
  • All registrants will receive an email with instructions on how to join CSA Connect and CitSciVirtual.
  • If you are registered and have not received instructions, please check your spam, junk, and notifications folders. The email comes from citscivirtual@citizenscience.org

• How do I find content in CitSciVirtual?
  • See the videos above for some visual guidance
  • For CitSciVirtual: from CSA Connect, look for Groups in the ooking for posters? Try browsing Topics. 
    • Tip: “Follow” topics of interest so see new conversations in your (personalized) Activity Feed
  • Looking for Workshops? Go “Back to Network” and choose Workshops in the left menu
    • Tip: you have to accept the emailed invitation for each of your workshop bundles to gain access (email from csaconnect.mn.co). You can’t accept Workshop invitations unless you have your CSA Connect account set up
  • Looking for live Events?  For posters, socials and plenary sessions, look for Events in CitSciVirtual
    • These show up in your time zone! You can “Add to Calendar” within each event
    • Tip: Join an event directly from the Event item (it will show as “Live”)
  • For Workshop sessions, Look for Events within each of your Workshop bundles (see above)
    

• What platform are my live sessions hosted in?
  • All live sessions for workshops and poster collaborative sessions will be hosted in Zoom. Workshop presenters will have access to breakout rooms and other features of zoom and can coordinate with event organizers on how to use them. 

• Where can I find an invoice or receipt for my ticket purchase?
  • You should immediately receive at least one email: a receipt from info@citizenscience.org and (if you registered for CitSciVirtual) a thank you email from citscivirtual@citizenscience.org (Subject line: “Thank you for registering…”). If you do not see the appropriate message(s), check your junk folders, and please be sure to add the relevant addresses to your email client’s safelist. 
    
• How do I get back to the CSA Connect site?
  • Go to connect.citizenscience.org and log in using the information you used to create your account on CSA Connect.

• How long are workshops?
  • Workshops will be a mix of pre-recorded and live content totaling no more than 3 hours. Live sessions will be no more than 2 hours.

• Will live sessions be held in my timezone?
  • Live sessions of the conference will be held from approximately 12pm ET to 4pm ET to accommodate the widest range of time zones. There will additionally be many opportunities to view pre-recorded content and engage with presenters and attendees in discussion platforms.

• What will the conference cost?
  • Registration rates are now available (see details here). Registration rates have been set to keep participation affordable and we are actively seeking sponsors to ensure equitable engagement opportunities for all participants.

• Will there be individual talks?
  • CitSciVirtual will not feature individual talks – rather posters will serve as a way for people to share their work and connect with others interested in similar topics and workshops an opportunity to share expertise and practices with workshop participants. We have an opportunity with CitSciVirtual to accept a wide pool of posters, and we welcome submissions from many sources and perspectives.

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For Presenters:

Many of your questions about the content, format, and presentation of your posters or workshops can be found in the following toolkits. Because presenting in a virtual environment is new to many of you, we’ve pulled together detailed information to help you prepare for and share your poster. We recognize that some of you may be experienced curating content for virtual audiences and encourage you to utilize the table of contents below to help you navigate to relevant sections of this documents. 

• Do all of the presenters in my workshop need to register?
  • All workshop presenters must register for the CitSciVirtual event to deliver a workshop. You can recognize additional contributors by name, but presenters can only access the event platform if registered. Registration information is available here including information about special pricing for students, non-professional citizen scientists, and community leaders.
    
• Is there a presenter discount?
  • There is no discount for presenters, as our events are designed to facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and many attendees join both to learn and share. We strive to keep costs low for all attendees, with support from sponsors. If costs are prohibitive to your participation, please make inquiries via citscivirtual@citizenscience.org.

• Can presenters change their workshop bundle or join other bundles that they did not select?
  • Presenters can only register for one bundle from each block – no additions. The only exception is workshop presenters – they do not need to register for their own block and can register for any other two workshops.
  • If you FORGOT to register for blocks, or if presenters registered for their own and want to change, we can help. All other requests can be made but cannot be guaranteed.

• How can I access CSA Connect as a presenter to upload content?
  • You should have received an email from citscivirtual@citizenscience.org with the subject “Important: Join links for CitSciVirtual presenters” with details on how to log into the CSA Connect site on April 1, 2021. Please check your spam folder if you cannot locate this email.
  • You can only access the CitSciVirtual group and workshop spaces by following the links in that email. Members already in CSA Connect will also need to click through the links in that email to access their bundles.
  • Once you have joined your workshop as a member, an event organizer will promote you to host so you can edit your space. Click to accept the invitation to become a moderator in your notifications in CSA Connect, or look for an email from csaconnect@mn.co.  

• When is the deadline to submit?
  • The deadline has been extended to January 17th, 2021 at 11:59 Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8). There will be no additional extensions beyond this. All presenters will be notified by February 15th, 2021 of their acceptance.

• Do I have to be a CSA  member to submit an abstract for posters or workshops?
  • Anyone can submit a proposal to CitSciVirtual- you do not need to be a member of CSA. CSA members will get a conference discount, but membership won’t be a requirement to attend. The event will take place in a brand new member space that we will give non-members access to for the month – we hope many people love it enough to stay with us longer term!

• Do I have to register to submit an abstract for posters or workshops?
  • Event registration is not required to propose a poster or workshop. When a poster or workshop is accepted, lead presenters for posters, and all workshop presenters will need to register to take part in the event. Registration rates are being set to keep participation affordable.