How the hybrid IEEE IUS is working to bring a quality conference experience to all participants
However you are best able to attend, we look forward to building many bridges of communication within the ultrasonics community during IUS 2022.
As the IEEE IUS abstract deadline (April 8th with NO extensions) draws near, we would like to share with you some of the inside information about how the conference is organized to ensure an enriching experience for all participants – both those joining via the virtual platform and those attending in-person.
Oral Presentations
Prerecorded versions of all presentations will be available asynchronously, starting at least 2 days prior to the conference and for at least 4 weeks after the conference closes. Oral presentations will be live-streamed during scheduled talk times with live question-and-answer sessions. Session chairs will attentively include questions from off-site attendees during these live exchanges.
Poster Presentations
All poster presentations will benefit from a short prerecorded oral presentation that will be available asynchronously starting at least 2 days prior to the conference and for at least 4 weeks after the conference closes. Posters presented by remote authors will be printed and displayed on-site during their sessions to attract attention to the work. These posters will display a code allowing on-site attendees to easily access the associated prerecorded oral presentation and/or set up an online meeting with the authors.
Posters will be hung for just the date of their presentation (except for student poster finalists) – please hang them up by 9:00 AM. You must remove your poster at the end of your assigned date by 6:00 PM or it may be discarded. Poster presenters with an ODD paper number (ex: 9 in Th5.9) should plan to be at their poster from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM and poster presenters with an EVEN poster number (ex: 8 in Th5.8) should plan to be at their poster from 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM on their presentation date. *Student poster finalists should plan to attend both poster sessions on Tuesday.
Each oral presentation and poster will be associated with a dedicated online forum open throughout the conference and up to 4 weeks post-conference so that attendees can continue to ask authors questions.
Short Courses
Short courses will also be hybrid and are planned to make sure that at least one instructor is on-site. Short courses will be recorded during live-streaming at their scheduled time and made available to registered students 24 hours later for 15 days. Live question-and-answer sessions will take place during each course and remote attendees will have online access to submit additional questions to instructors. A technical assistant will be on-site for each short course to alternate views appropriately between screen sharing of slides and a larger room view to display information presented in the classroom and during question-and-answers and to make sure that all in-room speakers will be heard by virtual attendees and vice-versa.
Challenge
This year’s IUS 2022 has the pleasure of hosting the Ultrasound Localization and TRacking Algorithms for Super Resolution Challenge. A hybrid session on Wednesday 12th of October between 11 am and 2 pm CET will be dedicated to the presentation of 4 to 8 of the best algorithms.
Networking
Of course, one of the biggest challenges is to provide opportunities for networking between on-site and virtual attendees and exhibitors.
Additional cameras, microphones, and technical assistance have been reserved so that virtual attendees can fully see, hear and interact throughout oral presentations and short courses.
The CONFlux meeting system used for the virtual platform provides a continuous chat forum for the discussion of each oral and poster presentation as well as for contact with each exhibitor so that questions can be asked and answered throughout the meeting and individual online meetings can be set up to discuss in greater detail.
Several rooms will be available from 8 am to 8 pm CET with video conference capacity, to be used for meetings between onsite and virtual participants. (Use will be free but it will be necessary to pre-reserve the rooms at the conference registration desk).
Many networking events (Student Pitch Competition, WIE event, Industry Workshop, WIE, Student Professional Networking…) are being organized to maximize contact between on-site and virtual attendees.
Key events have been scheduled during the time slot that is most commonly accessible throughout a large region of the world (12 pm to 3 pm CET) to make it easier for virtual attendees to participate during live-streaming.
Registration Costs
Virtual registration costs will be lower than on-site registration fees and we plan to provide group registration rates for virtual attendees similar to those offered in 2020 and 2021. There will also be a discounted registration rate available for in-person attendees from Low-Income and Lower-Middle Income countries. Participants unable to travel for visa issues or travel restrictions can request to switch the onsite registration to virtual registration with a partial refund (the difference between registration fees) at any time before Friday 23rd of September.
Other Points of Interest
A very exciting plenary talk entitled ‘Waves in time dependent systems’ given by Sir John Pendry will be live-streamed between 2 and 3 pm on Tuesday 11th of October. It will be recorded live for on-demand availability within 24 hours.
There will be at least 8 parallel sessions held between 8 am and 6 pm CET.
The on-demand prerecorded content will allow all attendees to see more of the presentations that interest them within the multi-track program.
For those planning to attend in-person, it is easy to arrive at the Marco Polo airport in Italy from anywhere in the world and we anticipate participation on-site from many countries.
We are keeping a close eye on travel requirements related to COVID-19, and if pre-travel testing is still required, we will work with local organizations to make this as easy as possible for attendees.