Dear SLA 2022 attendees and potential attendees,
We’re excited to let you know that the virtual track of SLA 2022 will be hosted in Gather.town. If you haven’t used it before, Gather is a quick-to-learn virtual interface that includes the important functions we’ve collectively gotten used to over the past 18 months (things like video, chat, and screen-sharing), but it also allows some of the participant structures that make in-person conferences so good. For example, you can wander in and out of smaller conversations, whisper to the person next to you during a keynote, unexpectedly run into an old friend in the hallway, and more!
New proposals for virtual panels and events, like proposals for the in-person/hybrid track, must be submitted through the main New Submissions link by February 14. We’re especially excited to see submissions that take advantage of everything Gather can do. For example, here are some fun things we’ve seen:
- ‘speed mentoring’ sessions where mentors stay put and mentees rotate
- seamless online poster sessions
- booth exhibition sessions
- post-keynote discussion sessions, with prompts
- traditional panels, roundtables, and large lectures
- social and networking sessions
- auditorium-style events with lots of small-group conversations throughout
In the coming weeks, we’ll also be announcing a virtual-only keynote happening exclusively on Gather! Stay tuned for those updates.
Have an idea you’d like to hash out with the virtual track co-organizers? Get in touch by emailing the three of us [jenabl@knology.org, jdelfino@bmcc.cuny.edu, and jdbabcock@uchicago.edu ] and we’ll help you brainstorm a creative solution. Need additional support to build out an idea on the Gather platform? Just let us know and we’ll find a time to customize rooms as needed in advance of the conference. Gather can embed Zoom links and links to other sites and platforms, so we’re confident we can collaborate to find solutions that work for you.
Feeling daunted at the idea of learning a new platform? The virtual track co-organizers have planned a suite of opportunities for you to explore the platform on your own, join a guided tutorial, or socialize with others at a Gather mixer before the conference kicks off on April 7th. We’re planning a few pre-conference happy hours and tours to walk everyone through the platform. Look out for our announcements about virtual-only keynotes, happy hours, tours, and lots more! We’ll be making a short video or two to illustrate what Gather can do and show off the space to you if asynchronous learning works best.
We’re looking forward to planning the SLA’s first-ever ‘virtual track’ with all of you!
Josh Babcock
Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein
Jennifer Delfino