Guidance notes for the organisers of hybrid/on-line academic events

When organising an academic event – e.g. an on-line conference, webinar, etc., you are strongly advised to engage the assistance of an Events Facilitator.

You can jump straight to the relevant section:

BudgetThere is a cost involved in taking on a Facilitator, and it is expected that this will be included in the budget for the event; there are no general faculty funds available for this support.  You can apply to the Law Faculty Research Support Fund for this cost. 
AdvertisingThe positions must be advertised on the vacancies page of the Faculty website for at least a week, following the same template as the RA advertisement.  An Events Facilitator may be a GTA or Classroom Facilitator already in post, or already on the Classroom Facilitator list, or could be a different person who will need to be engaged on a casual basis (but please note that if it is a new casual engagement, an appointment letter and right to work check are required before work commences). 
TrainingTraining for Zoom and Teams can be provided if necessary (for the time being by our Learning Technologist, Maria Robertson) but prior use of either Teams or Zoom or both will obviously be an advantage.
Eligibility of candidatesIt is expected that only graduate students in the Faculty of Law will be eligible for this work, which requires a reasonable level of understanding of the content of the events in order to effectively support the event organiser (e.g. monitoring questions in the chat).  The employment of students for such support is on the understanding that it is beneficial work experience for them. 
PayHourly rate of pay is the same as the RA rate (equivalent to the hourly rate at Grade 6 point 1), £15.37 per hour.  Hours of work must be agreed in advance with the academic/event leader, who must also approve the subsequent claim using our standard timesheet.   The hours of work will be based upon the event support hours required plus a reasonable amount of time for advance preparation and follow-up work (up to 4 hours). 

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What is expected of the Events Facilitator 

The Faculty supports the use of either MS Teams or Zoom for online events*.  In the advertisement, the event academic/leader should indicate the platform on which the planned event/s will be delivered, and which are planned to be delivered face-to-face, though not all of the face-to-face events will be hybrid.

The precise duties of the Events Facilitator may vary according to the event requirements of the academic/event leader.

*Please note, however, that the University still recommends Teams, and offers very little staff training or support for Zoom.

The following notes are intended as a guide for the academic lead and the Event Facilitator to work through together.

Well before the event

Confirm on which platform the event will be hosted, whether and online or hybrid.

If hybrid, book a suitable room/venue

If using Zoom, find out whether the academic/event lead already has a Zoom licence and if not whether there is an available Faculty Zoom licence (with webinar add on if required) available for use. If a webinar add-on is not available check that the cost for this can be covered by the event budget (there is a 500 and 1000-person add-on that can be purchased/used).

If using Teams, and if the event is to be recorded, the Facilitator may need to apply for permission from IT Services to record Teams sessions/events, or check that the academic/event lead has this permission.  

Set up a registration page using Microsoft Forms in advance to gather the details of participants, and send out joining instructions to all speakers and attendees the day before the event.

Create the event on the Faculty event page and to liaise with the Communications Team to discuss further publicity, if required.

Closer to the start of the event

Set up a test run with the event lead/speakers to ensure they can access the online platform being used and that they are confident in the use of the platform and all its functions (logging in properly using the app, sharing screen, turning camera and mike on/off)

Check in with the academic/event lead well in advance of the event, to discuss the format – who will attend, recorded or not, whether they want you to manage hands up, breakout sessions, slides, event norms, live social media, event writeup, etc. 

Any event that is not teaching should have a lobby/waiting room set up. The only people who should access the event directly should be speakers. This helps give all speakers and organisers private time before the start time without any attendees listening in to final minute preparations.
Hybrid Event Support – if applicable

Be physically present in the room for the duration of the event (normally up to 2 hours)

Arrive at the room 20 minutes before the start of the event (subject to the availability of the room)

In advance, ensure the hybrid equipment has been booked for the session, and is provided in the room on the day for the event.

In advance, obtain a list of the attendees signed up for the event and establish who will be present in person (ensuring room occupancy will not be exceeded). The EF counts against the maximum occupancy number for the room, and must sit at least 2m apart from the event leads and students. A face covering must be worn throughout.

Clean the AV equipment and presenter touch-points using the alcohol wipes provided.

Check the standard equipment is on and working (e.g. that the presenter’s PC is on, there is a clicker that works if needed, a tablet or visualiser if a whiteboard is needed, that the mouse works, etc.; and call the St Cross Facilities team if there are any issues)

Join the Teams/Zoom event well before the start time to check this is set up correctly.

Ensure any off-site attendees and event leaders are present on the Teams/Zoom platform before the event is due to start.

It will be the responsibility of the Facilities Management team to help manage queues outside the room, but the EF may telephone the Main Reception Desk if they have any concerns.

On-line Event 

In advance, obtain a list of the attendees expected to attend, and send the participants and speakers joining instructions the day before the event.

Be ready in the virtual event space before the start of the event (as soon as it has been opened by the host) to check for, or send, messages, ensure the speakers are all present, deal with any online access issues.

Work with the academic/event lead to check that everything is turned on, and working as expected.

At the start of the event, and during it

Monitor the attendee list to ensure only those signed up for the event are taking part, and check anyone who is not registered.

Once the event leader/s are ready to start, let the attendees into the event from the waiting room (if applicable – only used in Zoom) OR monitor the Lobby in Teams.

Ensure the off-site attendees can see the slides (if applicable), and respond to any technical or access queries raised by any member of the audience.

Ensure that the session is being recorded (if applicable).  NB Zoom allows the recording of a session to be pre-scheduled.

Be present throughout the event and actively monitor it

Support the event leader/s in managing hands-up, chat and other event functions, to enable them to deliver as interactive and inclusive an event as possible

Ensure the event leader/s or speakers address the online attendees by looking directly into the camera and directly         

Should the speaker prompt questions from the audience,  it would be advisable that some of those questions are aimed exclusively to online attendees.

The Event Facilitator should make it clear to the online attendees that they are there to support them so to report any issues with sound quality, clarity or speed of speech to them at any point in the meeting so problems can be addressed on the spot. It needs to be ensured that the online attendees do not receive a second-class experience just for being online, they should feel participants of the meeting not spectators.

Manage break-out rooms if required (available in Zoom and Teams)

Ensure that event norms are upheld, intervening where necessary to ask attendees to uphold these.

Discuss with the event organiser what expectations they have, if any, of any live Tweeting or other postings on social media. 

At the end of the event

Save the recording and upload e.g. to the Faculty YouTube channel (Steve Allen can advise on this) and - if using Zoom - delete the recording from Zoom.

Discuss with the event organiser if they would like a write-up of the event, e.g. for a news item on the Faculty website.

Separate notes on how to run a webinar are also available from the Faculty.

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CLV 30 June 2021

 

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