#MEMSFest2020

MEMS Festival 2020Using Microsoft

Teams

MEMSFest will be hosted via the Microsoft Teams platform. Please find below a brief

guide to accessing and using Teams.

#MEMSFest2020

If the information below seems confusing, not to worry! We will run over the technical instructions at the beginning of each day and can post reminders and answer questions throughout the event. Please do not hesitate to get in touch via email or Twitter if you have any questions at this point.

What is Microsoft Teams?

For those familiar with the Zoom conference software, Teams is a similar platform for organising digital broadcasts and meetings. As Teams allows for multiple ‘channels’ to be set up within an event, we will be able to have multiple panels running at once, with attendees able to freely move between rooms (in the breaks between panels!). As each channel will have its own chat, we hope that the Teams platform will help us recreate the dynamic scholarly and social conference-going experience.

How can I join a meeting in Teams?

Shortly before the conference, you will be added into the MEMSFest2020 ‘Team’ which will allow you to access the channels for each panel or workshop. All you need to join is a link, which will be sent to you via email when you are invited to each panel. The easiest way to join the specific panel you are interested in attending is via the in-app Teams calendar.

Select the Calendar button on the left side of the app to see your meetings. Find the meeting you want, and then select Join.

If someone starts the meeting, you will also get a notification you can use to join.

We advise all participants to download the Teams app. There is also the option to join a Teams meeting from your web browser via the invite link, however this comes with limited functionality and you will not be able to participate as easily in any chat features, including posing questions to the panels.

How can I join a channel and find the panel I want to attend?

#MEMSFest2020

Once you have accepted the invitation to join the MEMS Festival ‘Team’, you will able to see a select the Team from the left side of your screen, using the Teams button.

From here, you will be able to access the channels set up for each panel, as well as the ‘General’ channel, in which you can ask for help or submit questions to the organisers, and the ‘general conversation’ channel, where you can socialise with others at the conference.

What can I do once I am in the meeting?

Each panel will be hosted by a chair, who will introduce each of the panel’s speakers. Just like at a conference attended in-person, you will be able to watch and listen to each of the speakers’ presentations and pose questions to one, some, or all of the speakers at the end of the panel using the ‘chat’ function. We ask that during the papers, everybody apart from the chair or the current person presenting keeps their microphone muted and waits until prompted by the chair to write their questions in the chat. Although it might seem simpler and not audibly interruptive to pose questions in the chat as they come to you, we ask that the focus remains on the speaker and that chat is kept to the end of the panel or to the ‘general conversation’ channel.