2021 Hybrid Plan
Message from the LOC: We have learned a lot from attending virtual conferences over the past year, and from many years of attending in-person PME-NA conferences, but this is the first time we’ve tried to envision a truly hybrid experience. Our goal is that in-person and virtual attendees will both feel fully involved in the entire conference and will have plenty of opportunities for formal and informal learning, mentoring, and networking. Although we share them now for your planning purposes, the following plans are tentative. Many specifics are still to be determined, as we continue to explore the limitations and affordances of both our conference app and our equipment budget. No matter which way you attend, we look forward to seeing you in October!
Planned Options for Virtual Attendees:
- For Research Reports and Brief Research Reports – We will use the conference app/website to facilitate virtual attendees to participate in both in-person and virtual presentations. Each conference room will be equipped with some videoconferencing equipment, which will allow virtual attendees to join live using the conference app in a Zoom session. Virtual attendees can ask questions live via Zoom or using the chat feature.
- For Posters – Virtual attendees will be able to view the uploaded poster pdfs and optional videos, and comment via text/chat using the app, as described above. Virtual interactions with posters (both those presented in-person and virtually) will be entirely asynchronous.
- For Working Groups – We will ask each group to designate a technology liaison, who will work with us to make their Working Groups accessible to virtual participants using the web conferencing technology equipped in each conference room.
- For Plenary talks and the Business Meeting – We will use a “webinar” style zoom session through the conference app/Zoom and more sophisticated streaming equipment, which will allow virtual attendees to watch a livestream and comment or ask questions using the chat feature.
- For Informal Discussions – We are planning several different activities for virtual attendees to feel fully embedded in the conference experience. For instance, we are planning informal discussions around mathematics education research topics and questions, each hosted by a scholar in the field (more info on this to come!).
- For Mentoring – We will also offer small-group mentoring opportunities facilitated through the conference app.
Planned Options for Virtual Presenters:
- For Research Reports and Brief Research Reports – Authors attending virtually will present their work live to one of our hybrid-enabled rooms (and streamed live through the conference website and app). It will also be possible to have some in-person and some virtual presenters in the same talk. In-person attendees can attend these talks in a physical conference room where they can interact with presenters using videoconferencing technology, while virtual attendees can interact through Zoom. All participants can also utilize a chat feature to ask questions.
- For Posters – We will ask all poster presenters (virtual and in-person) to upload a PDF of their poster to the conference app/website. All poster presenters will also have the option to record a video up to 5 minutes and post it to the app. Attendees (both in-person and virtual) will be able to interact with these virtual posters using app functionality. We are planning 3 poster “sessions”: a Friday in-person session; a Saturday in-person session; and a Virtual session. The Virtual session will be asynchronous.
- For Working Groups – Some Working Groups may be held entirely through Zoom and facilitated through the app, using a meeting-style Zoom room. For those Working Groups with some virtual presenters, these will be presented in person, but allow the virtual presenters and participants to interact with attendees through the app.