ll presentations will be pre-recorded and uploaded one week before the conference to a Google Drive folder where conference registrants can access
them, make comments, and submit questions which will be addressed during the live discussion sessions during the week of the conference. Authors can submit recorded answers before the live discussion session for their presentation or, if time zone differences are not problematic, can participate in the live discussions to respond to questions and comments through online video chat and screen sharing.
WHO CAN SUBMIT A PRESENTATION?
All presentations need to be submitted to the Scientific Committee for review and approval. All abstracts approved in February 2020 remain approved and do not need to be resubmitted.
For people who did not get an abstract approved, or who want to change the topic from what was approved last year, you can submit new abstracts as a Word or PDF file here; you will hear back within a week. Proposed presentations must have clear relevance to geostatistics; of the abstracts that were not accepted last year, most simply had no evident connection to geostatistics.
With machine learning algorithms becoming common for building spatial models in earth science studies, there is a growing overlap between geostatistics and machine learning. The focus of this conference is geostatistics, so participants in this conference will learn more from presentations that use the machine learning toolkit if they include comparisons with geostatistical methods or elucidate links between machine learning and geostatistics.
With this online conference freed of some of the space and time constraints of previous conferences in the series, it will be possible to accommodate more presentations. If you're keen to present something, but having a hard time figuring out a topic, you can check out suggestions shown here.
DO I HAVE TO WRITE A PAPER?
No ... but you can if you want. After the conference, a printed volume of conference proceedings will be compiled and published. Your original abstract will appear or, if you want to expand on that, you can submit an extended abstract or a complete paper.
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What we really want you to be committed to is uploading a great presentation no later than July 4th, a week before the conference starts. We recognize that getting your video fine-tuned is going to take more effort than is usually put into a live PowerPoint presentation, so we've decided that a paper is optional and voluntary.
CAN I SHOW WORK-IN-PROGRESS?
Definitely! This meeting of many of the world's best practical and theoretical geostatisticians will be a great opportunity to get feedback on work that has not yet reached a tidy, final conclusion. In many ways, work-in-progress is more interesting and stimulates more discussion than a study that has been entirely completed and put to bed.
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A presentation that shows the problem you're trying to address, your plan, and any preliminary or interim results could be very engaging, and elicit good discussion. Some people may have specific suggestions on things you could test that you might not yet have thought about. Others might be able to point you to related papers that you might not yet have come across. Or there might be people who are working on similar problems and who would be happy to communicate as you both make progress on your studies.
HOW WILL I FIELD QUESTIONS?
People who register for the conference will be able to review the presentations in the week before the conference. You will receive by e-mail all comments and questions received on your presentation. You will also be told, on July 6th, the time of the online discussion session the following week. If you are able to participate in the live discussion, you can answer questions then and can share your computer screen if that's helpful. If you will not be able to participate in the live discussion, you can send written comments to the person chairing the live discussion or can send an additional video if you prefer.
WHAT DOES PRE-RECORDED MEAN?
People checking out your presentation need to be able to press "Go" and enjoy your talk, eating popcorn while they watch and listen, so the Google Drive folder will contain MP4 video files (with an audio track). If you already know exactly how to do that, you can submit your presentation as an MP4 file. If you don't know how to make a video file, don't worry; you have two good choices.
Good Choice #1
Good Choice #2
You can submit a PowerPoint presentation that advances automatically from slide to slide, and that has an audio track with all the things you want to say. You can find instructions for how to do this here. Conference elves will convert this to an MP4 file and upload it for you.
You can sit at your computer and do your presentation, talking as you go through PPT slides or as you pan-and-zoom around a big PDF file that contains a poster presentation. Your screen, your voice (and even an inset of your talking head, if you want) can all easily be captured into a video. You can find instructions for how to do this here.
There is no meaningful distinction between oral and poster presentations for this online conference. Each presenter can decide how they want their video to look. A video that shows a PowerPoint presentation is fine. A video that pans and zooms around a big canvas with a poster presentation is equally fine. An animated cartoon with special effects is fine. Use your imagination. Make your presentation something people remember and talk about.
HOW long ARE PRESENTATIONS?
20 minutes (or less) ... and because you're pre-recording your talk, and can write out and practice your script, you won't go over 20 minutes, right?
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This is your chance to shine, to create a sterling example of a great presentation that puts you and your work in the best possible light. It is worth writing out a script, practising it and editing it so that you hit the 20-minute mark perfectly.
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If you're not sure about your presentation, and would like some free feedback, several people helping with the conference organization have offered to help with review of draft presentations. Send an e-mail using the Questions link at the top of the page if you want to be connected to someone who will be glad to provide comments on style (not so much on content).
CAN MY VIDEO USE SEVERAL PRESENTERS?
Yes. Definitely. Even if you don't have co-authors, you can bring in your 90-year-old grandmother to ask sweet questions like "tell me, dear, how does the use of a trend model mitigate the problem of non-stationarity?" ... The goal is to deliver a technical story in a way that engages the audience's interest. Use juggling monkeys if that helps.
HOW DO I SHOW A POSTER PRESENTATION?
Poster presentations can also easily be done as video files, with you showing and saying everything that you would show and say if this was an in-person conference. Some ideas on how to do that are shown here.
