Help
Questions delegates asked
These answers reconstruct the practical questions that came up before and during the 2020 virtual meeting. They describe the meeting as it was organized, not as a current event.
01Where did the 2020 meeting take place?
Entirely online. The society used Sococo for poster browsing, networking, and small group conversation, Zoom for plenary and minisymposium talks, and Slack for announcements and help.
02What did registration cost?
Preregistration was free through July 15, 2020. After that date the fee was 25 dollars. Two optional contribution levels, 50 dollars and 100 dollars, supported early career participation and a society travel award.
03Did I need to register if I was not presenting?
Yes. Registration was required for every participant, whether or not they presented a talk or poster. The registration record also controlled access to the virtual rooms.
04What were the poster requirements?
Posters were limited to 3 by 4 feet, or 91 by 122 centimeters, and submitted as a single PDF file no larger than 25 MB. Files were named with the presenter surname, first name, and subgroup code.
05Could an abstract submitted to the Heidelberg meeting be transferred?
Yes. Authors who had not yet transferred an abstract were asked to submit it again through the eSMB 2020 abstract process.
06Did the Heidelberg meeting still take place?
The European Society for Mathematical Biology planned to hold its meeting in Heidelberg in 2021. It was no longer a joint meeting with the Society for Mathematical Biology. The 2021 annual meeting of the society was scheduled for UC Riverside.
07Were talks recorded or live streamed?
The meeting offered the option to record talks for later use. Live streaming was not part of the plan. During abstract submission, authors could choose whether to permit recording.
08Could an abstract be updated after submission?
Yes. Updates were coordinated with the subgroup lead for the abstract. Abstracts without a subgroup affiliation were handled by the program organizers.
09Could an abstract be submitted without a subgroup?
Yes. The submission form included an option for work that did not belong to any listed subgroup.
10Could new minisymposia still be organized?
Subgroup leads were the first point of contact. Some areas, including mathematical oncology, had reached capacity and could not accept additional minisymposium proposals.
11When were abstract decisions announced?
Submitted abstracts were reviewed by the subgroups and the scientific committee after the July 15 deadline. Notifications for poster or oral presentation were sent before the end of July.
12How could an abstract be added after registration?
Registrants who had not yet submitted an abstract could send the title and abstract to the society membership team, which added it to the registration record.
13How should a virtual poster be formatted?
A landscape, single page PDF worked best for viewing on a computer or tablet. Presenters were asked to choose content and font sizes that stayed readable on a small screen.