Technical Procedure: Schedule and Moderate a Mini Symposium

The Mini Symposia are a vital part of ISSS operations.

They typically take place once a week, bypassing major holidays and the summer break. The ISSS President decides on the day and time. Some Presidents choose to organize repetitions over the same week to allow Members in different continents to attend, or they schedule some at a time more convenient for the USA-Europe and some for Australia-Asia.

One should take care of the time change during the summer months. For example, the United Kingdom uses Greenwich Mean Time (also known as Western European Time, UTC+00:00), but between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October shifts to British Summer Time (UTC+01:00, also known as Western European Summer Time).

It is advisable to report online only a single time zone, i.e., UTC, on all ISSS pages and calendars, and leave the responsibility for determining local time to the participants.

Steps to Schedule a Mini Symposium

1. Use the ISSS Zoom account
2. Have the ISSS_Zoom email handy in case Zoom asks for verification
3. Schedule the meeting. If it is the first in a season, set it to repetitive until the end of the season
4. Note that when you start the Zoom recording, it uploads and publishes it automatically at Vimeo)
5. Share screen with the ISSS Mini Symposium Cover slide

Starting and Moderating a Mini Symposium

1. Login to Zoom at least 10-15 min ahead. Let people in the Waiting Room enter, because this is a time Members enjoy informal talking.
2. Welcome everybody, mentioning the date, and terms like "mini symposium" and "ISSS".
3. Test your own screen sharing, as well as the main speaker's.
4. Introducing the speaker (in detail) and remind everyone the purpose and rules of Mini Symposia (using the second slide)

5. If you need to leave, make someone else "host" so the recording does not stop @Abel Mavura I will not be able to join, but you are in excellent hands.