Hosting an Online Conference

• Zoom Events: For an all-in-one experience with
  • Contact Lorena Bidwell at DLiT to make arrangements for support and use of the university Zoom Events tool for up to 500 participants.
• Zoom Webinar: The Zoom webinar option can be used if you want to restrict audio and video from the participants.
  • Contact: Dan Hamstra to make arrangements for support and use of the university Zoom Webinar option for up to 500 participants.
• Zoom Meeting: The regular Zoom Pro account(s) can be used for a more interactive conference experience. Each meeting room holds up to 300 participants. Existing Pro accounts can be used, or additional purchased.
  • To request a Pro account, first sign up for a free account at Zoom.us using an Andrews.edu email address. Then email dlit@andrews.edu and include the IDC# to be charged. Currently Pro accounts are only available to faculty and staff.
  • Using breakout rooms within the Zoom meeting is an option, including the self-select breakout room option.
• Zoom Meeting to Facebook or YouTube. If your event consists of presentation and video and audio interaction isn't needed, you may wish to stream to Facebook or YouTube or both. The regular university Zoom Pro accounts include the capability of streaming to Facebook or YouTube (but not both at the same time). Some have worked around this by having a cohost stream to the other platform.
  • Zoom Facebook streaming instructions
  • Zoom YouTube streaming instructions
• Discuss your options. If you want some assistance thinking through how to host your conference and the various activities, each of us are available for a consultation:
  • Dan Hamstra, ITS Technical Operations Manager, for Zoom webinar and audio visual expertise
  • Janine Lim, Associate Dean, Global Campus, for interaction and conference experience design expertise
  • Carlisle Sutton, Research Services Coordinator, for research, peer review, and publication expertise
  • The Adventist Learning Community video team can also record and archive your whole conference on the ALC website, if desired.

• Digital Commons: Many Andrews University conferences are academic in nature and are research based.
  • Peer review process built-in
  • Presenters can upload their presentations
  • Recorded video can be uploaded or linked
  • Contact: Terry Roberston or Carlisle Sutton
• Zoom Events. The university has a subscription to the Zoom Events tool, which can be your all-in-one experience for hosting an online conference. Please reserve far in advance by contacting DLiT at dlit@andrews.edu. 
• Sched. Sched is another online conference tool some events at Andrews have used. You will need to use faculty Zoom accounts to create the meetings for the strands of the conference. Sched offers a mobile app as well.
  • Contact: Carlisle Sutton
• A page on your department website. For less complex events, a link to a Facebook or YouTube stream may be sufficient. This could be linked on a simple page about the event on your department section of the Andrews website. 

A backchannel can be used for organizers to communicate and troubleshoot during the event. Some presenters and keynote/plenary speakers like to use a backchannel chat for audience engagement. Options include:

• Zoom Team Chat: A channel can be created in the Zoom client (accessed via laptop or phone) for a group conversation with people who have Zoom accounts (whether on the Andrews enterprise account or otherwise)
• Microsoft Teams: Teams chat is great for events that have Andrews students, staff, & faculty participating. It is not recommended if you need to include participants outside of Andrews.
• 10 sites for creating a backchannel chat: Some additional options to explore.

These audience engagement tools can be used by participants in the same room or virtual or both to interact, vote, poll, comment, and ask questions. Within Zoom: Zoom polls and chat and non-verbal reactions

The university does not have university wide licenses for these additional tools. They are recommended since others have found them useful. DLiT may not be able to provide support for them.

• Poll Everywhere
• Kahoot
• Slido
• Mentimeter

• Recorded Training from March 2021