FORMAT | PRESENTATIONS | REGISTRATION | SPONSOR | ABSTRACTS | SUBMISSIONS | AWARDS | CONTACT | 2021 FMCS Virtual Symposium
April 12-14 2021
Back to the Future: The Virtual Unknown

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 FMCS Symposium will be held virtually from Monday, April 12 through Wednesday, April 14, 2021. This is a new concept for many of us and we will be interested in what members think about it. We thank the Portland Symposium Committee for the hard work they have already put into planning an exciting meeting and we look forward to them hosting a “normal” FMCS Symposium in 2023. Also, we thank the Michigan Symposium team for being willing to slide their standing proposal to host one of our symposia back to 2025.

CLICK HERE FOR FMCS 2021 SYMPOSIUM WEB PAGE
(The FMCS 2021 Symposium website still under construction.  Currently the website has the shell with the home page, schedule at a glance and landing pages for the contributed presentations.  Contributed presentations will be visible only from 8 am on Monday 12 April 2021 through 8 pm on Wednesday 14 April 2021.


SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM - HERE

IMPORTANT NOTE
On Monday 4/5 at 8 am EDT, and each day of the FMCS 2021 Symposium, we will send out an email with two important files linked:
1- FMCS 2021 Symposium Program
and
2- Quick Guide and ZOOM Info. It is important that you save both of the files to help navigate the virtual symposium and the "Quick Guide and ZOOM Info" file has the live video links.
If you do not receive this email, please check your spam/junk folder.
If you have questions please contact Alan Christian at adchrist@clarkson.edu.


SYMPOSIUM FORMAT

The 2021 Virtual Symposium will consist of a mixture of live (synchronous) and web-posted (asynchronous) contributed oral and poster presentations and events. Live events via ZOOM will occur between 11 am and 5 pm Eastern time (U.S.) each day. Participants MUST be registered for the Symposium to attend live events via ZOOM. Registered participants will be given ZOOM meeting ID’s and passwords for each ZOOM session and event prior to the meeting.
The live ZOOM events will include a Board meeting, a plenary session, two breakout-room committee meeting events, two theme-based networking and social breakout-room events, and the Business Meeting. During the registration process, we will be asking participants to propose topics for the theme-based networking/social breakout-room events. Networking or social events proposals can include mollusk research topics associated with contributed oral and poster sessions (e.g.: Conservation, Contaminants & Ecotoxicology, Ecology, Genetics & Phylogeny, Life History, Methods, Monitoring, Propagation, Status, & Trends, etc.), or social topics that could enhance virtual interactions (e.g. music, beer making, mentoring). We will be seeking breakout-room moderators for research topic during the registration process; social event proposers will be asked to moderate their breakout-rooms. We also are exploring the idea of having a live auction to help support future student travel. More information about these activities and the rest of the virtual meeting will be updated on the Symposium webpage.


CONTRIBUTED ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS

The asynchronous contributed oral presentations and posters (videos and images) will be posted on the Symposium web page during this virtual meeting. All presenters will be asked to record their presentations and convert the videos to YouTube for posting. The contributed presentations will be organized by traditional areas of mollusk research (e.g. Conservation, Contaminants & Ecotoxicology, Ecology, Genetics & Phylogeny, Life History, Methods, Monitoring, Propagation, Status, & Trends, etc.); however, the planning committee also is encouraging the presentation of recorded videos of facility tours and/or field trips.
Contributors of oral and poster presentations will have three options: 1) a traditional 12-minute YouTube video presentation, 2) a 5-minute lightning YouTube video presentation, or 3) a traditional poster presentation JPEG image with an associated 3-minute YouTube video. FMCS will provide intructional handouts on how to create presentation videos, posters, and poster 3-minute messages, and how to convert the videos to unlisted YouTube postings.
The Symposium web page with the contributed presentations will only be visible from 8 am Eastern (U.S.) on Monday, April 12 through 5 pm Eastern (U.S.) on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Presenters and registered attendees will be able to view the presentations 24 hours a day during that time. Registered attendees will be able to post questions or comments on all recorded videos. Presenters will be asked to monitor those comments or questions and respond to them several times a day during the Symposium.

The local symposium committee has made the following instructional handouts to help guide presenters in making their
1) traditional 12-minute YouTube talks,
2) 5-minute lightning YouTube talks, or
3) traditional poster JPEG image with associated 3-minute YouTube message.
Please click on the links below to see the following instructional handout PDFs:


01 - FMCS Virtual Presentations Checklist
02 - FMCS Virtual Presentations Overview
03 - FMCS Virtual Traditional Talk Presentation
04 - FMCS Virtual Lightning Talk Presentation
05 - FMCS Virtual Poster Presentation
06 - Microsoft PowerPoint to Video
07 - ZOOM Presentation and Recording
08 - Elements of Posting a YouTube Video
09 - ECHO360 Presentation and Recording


INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISCLOSURE CONCERNS

The risk of intellectual property disclosure during this meeting will be similar to the risk during a traditional meeting. The opening and closing of the Symposium web pages and the “unlisted” privacy setting of YouTube posting will add additional intellectual property protections. Somewhat separately, however, the Outreach Committee is interested in having some YouTube presentations from the Symposium available for posting on the FMCS website after the Symposium. Thus, during the submission process, authors will have the option to “opt-in” to allow later Society use of their videos.

REGISTRATION

Registration for the 2021 FMCS Virtual Symposium will open on the Events/Symposium page of the FMCS website in late December/early January and will close at 11:59 pm Eastern time (U.S.) on April 1, 2021. Registration fees for this virtual symposium will be nominal $20 for regular members ($100 non-regular members - includes 2-year membership), and $5 for students ($45 for non-student members - includes 2-year membership), with proceeds going toward student travel awards for future workshops and symposia. There also will be the traditional option to join the Society or renew your Society membership during registration. Please find the REGISTRATION link at the top of this page, OR CLICK HERE.

SPONSORSHIP

You want to make FMCS great again :) and make sure we don't bankrupt FMCS then show us the money! Sponsorships will be used to cover expenses and the specific levels are listed below, but unfortunately have been increased due to rising hotel fees. We understand grants and budgets aren't what they use to be but we need all the support you can provide and we appreciate any and all donations.

TO BECOME A SPONSOR,
CLICK HERE


ABSTRACT DEADLINES

Abstracts for this Virtual Symposium will be due by 11:59 pm Eastern time (U.S.) on Monday, February 1, 2021.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND SUBMISSION, CLICK HERE


CONTRIBUTED PRESENTATIONS SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Submission of pre-recorded (“unlisted” YouTube) contributed oral and poster presentation URLs will be due by 11:59 pm Eastern time (U.S.) on Sunday, March 28, 2021.

TO SUBMIT, CLICK HERE


STUDENTJUDGING AND AWARDS

Judging of student presentations will occur as in the past. Beginning students (i.e. first year students with no or limited datasets) are encouraged to present their ideas or early findings in in any of the three presentation options, but especially either a poster with a 3-minute video or in a 5-minute lightning talk video. Students will be asked to identify themselves as students during the abstract submission process for award consideration.

THE 2021 VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM LOCAL COMMITTEE

The 2021 FMCS virtual Symposium local committee consists of Steve McMurry and Alan Christian as co-chairs, and the remainder of the committee includes Alexa Maine, Patty Morrison, Matthew Patterson, and Jeremy Tiemann. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this new-to-FMCS concept, please contact Alan Christian at his Clarkson University email address: adchrist@clarkson.edu.


FMCS CODE OF CONDUCT