EGU21 - Convener guidelines and rules

Before the conference and last-minute duties

General guidelines and rules for conveners

Conduct and sharing

The EGU General Assembly provides a forum for scientists to present their work and discuss their ideas with colleagues in all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences. The EGU strives for an open and constructive scientific exchange, based on mutual respect. All attendees must adhere to EGU's Code of Conduct and the EGU General Assembly rules of conduct.

Please note that it is not permitted to take screenshots of any live presentation or text chat unless explicit permission is granted by the author. Presenters are asked to include symbols encouraging or not allowing screenshots and sharing on their presentation slide. Additional materials that abstract authors would like to share should be uploaded as display materials starting on 31 March.

Session materials and summaries

Conveners can upload 2 kinds of background material for their sessions: session materials and session summaries.
Session materials are meant to provide extra information to session attendees and give the conveners the possibility of uploading their introductory slides. While presented materials of authors/speakers accompany their abstracts, session conveners can do accordingly through session materials.
Session materials can be *.ppt/pptx, *.pps/ppsx, or *.pdf files. In addition, conveners can record an *.mp4 video file, upload this as session material, and Copernicus Meetings will transfer the video file to the EGU21 Vimeo channel.
Session summaries are uploaded before or after the session takes place. These files are meant to provide an overview of the session, a summary of the discussion, or any other issues raised during the live session.
Session recording: conveners of pre-recorded Short Courses will be contacted by Copernicus to upload their video. Please do not upload this video through your session materials. Sessions from the programme groups MAL, US, GDB, and SC (except for the pre-recorded ones) are run through Zoom Webinars and will be recorded. These recordings will be organized by Copernicus and linked from the session in the programme for on-demand viewing. This is in addition to possible session materials or summaries.

The session material upload is available from 12 April to 31 May 2021 and will be linked from here.

Before the conference and last-minute duties

Session modification: log in to your session dashboard. Here, you can edit your chairpersons, add public information to your session to be shown to the people reading the online programme, and find the mailing list of your corresponding authors for final information you would like to provide.
Contact your authors and chairpersons by email. Please make sure that they are all attending. Let them know of any planned events associated with your session.
Emphasize that authors of vPICO sessions must upload their presentation file at least 24 hours before the session starts. Other session formats use screen sharing for presentations.
Authors being not able to present during the live session are asked to upload a pre-recorded presentation so that session attendees will have the chance of seeing the author's presentation.
If authors cannot be present at all, they should indicate their absence in the system in order not to be judged as no-show.

Please note that all individuals involved in your session, i.e. convener, co-conveners, presenting authors, co-authors, as well as chairpersons, must be registered for the conference in order to obtain access to the live session. This is also required for authors of solicited presentations. Please spread the word that the registration is open.

Running vPICO sessions

The link to the live session page will appear in the conference programme 15 minutes prior to the session's start. Enter the live session and find your green access button "Enter BBB video chat". You will join the BigBlueButton (BBB) platform in your role as moderator.
In parallel to the BBB access of conveners, co-conveners, and chairpersons, a conference assistant is present in the BBB live video chat and all presenting authors are asked to join also 15 minutes early.
In the BBB live video chat, please check that the chairpersons and presenting authors of the current time block are present.
Follow the chairperson guidelines for the run of the session. The conference assistant will handle the slides.
Session attendees will follow the BBB live video chat by watching the stream on the live session web page. They have the opportunity of using a text chat to interact. After the round of live talks, they are able to enter the individual breakout text chats per abstract.

Running US, GDB, SC, or MAL sessions

US, GDB, SC, or MAL sessions run as Zoom Webinars. All webinar panellists (convener, co-conveners, chairpersons, and speakers) will receive an invitation email after 6 April. Through this link, they are asked to enter the Zoom Webinar 15 minutes prior to the session's start.
These 15 minutes are reserved for panellists to clarify last issues. A conference assistant is present and will open the webinar for general attendees as soon as all panellists are ready.
All panellists present by sharing their screen and running their presentations on their own device. They must un-mute their microphone only during their own presentation. Should individuals pre-recorded their talk due to their absence in the Zoom Webinar, the conference assistant will run the video.
Attendees ask their questions through the Zoom Webinar Q&A tool. The chairperson organizes the discussion round.
Follow the chairperson guidelines for the run of the session.
Please note that the sessions will be recorded for on-demand viewing by conference registrants afterwards. Convening, chairing, or presenting in such sessions implies the acceptance of the recording.

General guidelines and rules for conveners

Practical information
Presentation guidelines
Convener tasks and convener tools

1. Practical information

Conveners and co-conveners are assisted by the staff of Copernicus Meetings. Copernicus Meetings will inform you about all deadlines and milestones with regard to the organization of your session. Copernicus Meetings can be contacted at meetings@copernicus.org.
You will be asked to use the tools of the Copernicus Office Meeting Organizer online system for session proposal. For this purpose, you receive a user account (ID and password) during session proposal. If you have an account from before, please use the same email address as linked to the user account to avoid double registration (the user account can be updated at your personal data).
Only registered conveners can access the online system. Your ID should not be shared with others.
All links and related instructions will be given by email.
Please note that the programme lists the names of conveners and co-conveners for each session as well as their affiliation(s). Here, personal details such as telephone number and email are only displayed if permitted by the user. To do this, please log in to your personal data and mark the respective public directory entries. The programme committee strongly recommends displaying at least your email information so authors can reach you in case of questions or last-minute changes.
Conveners do not get discounts on abstract processing charges or the registration fee.

2. Presentation guidelines

The EGU General Assembly facilitates the presentation of scientific results in the form of virtual PICO presentations (vPICO). vPICO enables an equal status for all scientific presentations at vEGU21: Gather Online. This follows EGU's statement on scientific presentations at the EGU General Assembly.
Solicited presentations and convener talks: authors (first and co-authors) cannot have a solicited presentation in a session they (co-)convene.
One-abstract rule and EGU membership: first authors are required to be 2021 EGU member in order to submit abstracts to the EGU General Assembly 2021. Authors are allowed to submit either one regular abstract plus one abstract solicited by a convener, or two solicited abstracts, as first author. A second regular abstract can be submitted to a session led by the Education and Outreach Sessions (EOS) programme group (the maximum number of abstracts, including solicited abstracts, remains two). Possible submissions for first authors are the following:
- 1 regular + 1 solicited abstract;
- or 2 solicited abstracts;
- or 1 regular or solicited abstract + 1 abstract in EOS-led sessions (regular or solicited).

3. Convener tasks and convener tools

3a. Session submission

Session proposals can be submitted during the public call for sessions. When submitting a session, the following steps are required:
- Define your session with a title and a short description.
- Identify the lead conveners and co-conveners (more information below).
- Optionally, identify (co-)conveners as early career scientists (ECS).
- Select whether your session is proposed to be a virtual PICO session. This became obsolete for vEGU21: Gather Online where all scientific sessions follow the vPICO format.
- Only put your session proposal into one programme group.
- Avoid submitting session proposals that are similar to sessions already suggested. You may contact a convener team to discuss joining a session as a convener or slightly modifying the session proposal using the session proposal tool.
- Define keywords from the EGU General Assembly 2021 keywords list. The keywords are used to identify potential session similarity, during building of the session programme and during session scheduling. The main target is inter-programme group overlaps. Keywords are not used to characterize sessions for online search tools.
- Indicate whether your session might be considered for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Sessions (ITS). If yes, please read the ITS guidelines and select one of the ITS' sub-programme groups.
- Indicate other programme groups for co-organization.
- Indicate whether your session is to be co-sponsored by a colleague science organization. Please define whether this co-sponsorship's status is proposed or approved by the colleague organization.
- Consider organizing a special issue about your session in one of the EGU's open-access journals. A subject-based selection is given in the proposal form for further information. Please take a look on the list of EGU's topical journals as well as EGU's proceedings series Advances in Geosciences.
- Respect the session submission deadline. Last-minute submissions are difficult to handle in our large programme.
The programme group chair and officers build the session programme from the session proposals. You will be informed of acceptance of your session by email.
Apart from regular scientific sessions, during the call-for-sessions we accept proposals for the following:

3b. Convener teams and convenerships

EGU strongly encourages conveners to build their teams and organize their sessions considering and promoting under-represented demographics, in particular including: (i) multiple countries and institutes, (ii) different career stages, with particular attention to the participation of early career scientists, (iii) different genders and all other forms of diversity, and (iv) diverse scientific approaches.
A convener team consists of a minimum of 2 active conveners (1 convener and 1 co-convener) and a maximum of 5 conveners (1 convener and 4 co-conveners) per session.
Our rule is a maximum of 3 (co-)convenerships total, with one as lead convener. One additional (co-)convenership for Union Symposia and Great Debates is allowed (that is, a maximum of 4). Short courses are exempted from the rule on the number of convenerships. Please check with all co-conveners that they agree to take part in the proposed session.

3c. Session co-organization and co-sponsoring

Session co-organizing by programme groups: conveners can suggest other programme groups to co-organize their session on session submission. The chair of the programme group hosting the session is responsible for sending the invitations for co-organization to other programme groups. Acceptance of these suggestions lies with the receiving programme group chairs.
Session co-sponsoring by colleague science organizations: the EGU encourages session endorsement by other colleague organizations as a means of strengthening ties and encouraging collaboration. Co-sponsoring organizations will be listed in the session subtitle (automatically set by the system). Session co-sponsoring is expected to follow these guidelines: (i) endorsement is reciprocal, involving endorsement of sessions at meetings of both partners. (ii) The session has conveners from both organizations. (iii) The colleague organization agrees to session co-sponsoring. (iv) Session endorsement is intended for colleague scientific organizations and does not imply funding. An endorsing organization should furthermore not influence the work of the conveners or the content of the session. Programme group chairs decide on the endorsement of a session within their respective programme group. On session submission you will be asked to indicate whether co-sponsoring is a wish of or already approved by the colleague science organization.

3d. Advertise your session to your scientific community

It is the responsibility of conveners to advertise their session. The EGU and Copernicus Meetings will advertise the conference and the entire programme, but not individual sessions. Email lists cannot be provided.
We encourage announcements of special issues in EGU's topical journals or EGU's proceedings series Advances in Geosciences, but do not allow advertisement of special issues with other publishers.
Please use gender-neutral language in all communications, especially the pronoun "they" instead of "s/he". Some examples are at this link https://www.colorado.edu/cisc/resources/trans-queer/pronouns from the University of Colorado.

3e. Session modification

The session modification tool provides you with up-to-date information and statistics about the contributions to your session during the whole period of the session and programme organization. This web interface is also the starting point for other tools mentioned below. Please access the session programme and monitor your session. You are kindly asked to log in by using the convener login link.
From the start of the abstract submission until you are asked to implement your received abstracts in tool SOI (January), adjustments to your session (title, description, or conveners) can only be implemented by the programme group chairs. Please contact your programme group chair accordingly.
During the tool SOI in January, you will be enabled to modify the title and the description of your session. In addition, the lead convener can make changes to the co-convener team (including/deleting co-conveners, changing the order of co-conveners). Title, description, and co-conveners can be modified until the conference programme is published and the letter of schedule is sent to authors. Afterwards, you can still add public information which will be visible in the programme.
The session modification tool also provides a convener mail tool, which allows communicating session-relevant items to the authors of your session, for example updates to the schedule or a session social event. Please communicate only EGU-related topics.

3f. Abstract submission and TAN numbers for solicited abstracts (November to January)

During abstract submission you will see the abstracts submitted to your session when using the convener login link at your session (session overview). Solicited presentations provide a means to highlight a specific topic within a session. Our guideline is 1 solicited abstract per session. We ask conveners to consider diversity in country, career stage, gender, and scientific approaches when soliciting a presenter and when encouraging colleagues to submit abstracts to their session.
Authors are allowed to submit either one regular abstract plus one abstract solicited by a convener, or two solicited abstracts, as first author. A second regular abstract can be submitted to sessions led by the Education and Outreach Sessions (EOS) programme group (the maximum number of abstracts, including solicited abstracts, remains two). Since the system limits submissions to one, authors will need to provide a transaction number (TAN) when submitting their second abstract, whether this second abstract is the solicited or regular one. TANs have to be provided by the convener of the session of the solicited abstract. That means, you can generate 1 TAN for your session through your session overview, send an email to your solicited author naming this TAN, and keep track of TAN assignment and usage.
We suggest sending the TAN as early as possible to your solicited author to avoid last-minute problems. If you are the convener of session X and your solicited author submits first their regular abstract to session Y and then the solicited abstract to your session X, the TAN of your session X is actually used for the submission to session X. However, if the author submits first their solicited abstract to your session X (system does not ask for a TAN yet) and then submit their regular abstract to session Y, the system will ask at session Y for a TAN since it is the second abstract. Then, the author must use the TAN obtained from you for session X at session Y and must not ask the convener of session Y for a TAN.
Please note that the actual abstract status solicited will be defined later in the process during presentation sequencing (SOIII).
Our guideline is 1 solicited abstract per session. If you expect a large number of submissions to your session (i.e., at least 40), you can ask your programme group chair for another TAN, but please note that the number of TAN available per programme group is limited.
The vPICO session format foresees 2-minute presentations for 20 authors per time block. One of these 20 presentations can be granted a 10-minute introductory presentation. Conveners are free to use this prolonged slot for their solicited speakers.

3g. SOI – abstract implementation (January)

Automatic cancellation of small sessions: sessions with five (5) or less abstracts after the abstract deadline will automatically be cancelled. Authors of abstracts in withdrawn sessions will be given the opportunity to send their abstract to another session.
SOI tasks: during the abstract implementation phase, you are asked to review abstracts originally submitted to your session, those that are suggested to be transferred to your session, as well as abstracts without an assignment. If necessary and under certain conditions (see below) you may upload late contributions by the strict deadline of 26 January 2021, 13:00 CET. Please note the guidelines for late abstract submission. The outcome of this tool is the final list of active contributions to be scheduled in your session.
Late abstracts: please note that late contributions uploaded by you require approval by the programme group chair in the subsequent programme committee tools. Late abstracts have a strict deadline which is the end date of the SOI tool. Abstracts sent by authors at a later stage cannot be accepted.
Late contributions uploaded by conveners have an increased abstract processing charge (APC) and also need to be paid. Payment is by these options: (1) author's credit card (the author gives the convener the details), (ii) convener's credit card (conveners cannot be reimbursed by the EGU), or (iii) the convener may request the author to pay the APC. In the latter case, a PDF invoice is sent to the author by email. Please remark that first authors are required to become EGU members in order to submit an abstract. Since conveners cannot acquire an EGU membership for authors due to GDPR restrictions, you must ask the first author to immediately acquire an EGU membership before you can submit the late abstract.
Abstracts of public interest: in SOI, conveners have the opportunity to select 3–5% of abstracts in their session of greatest relevance to a broad audience. The abstracts of public interest check box allows you to select abstracts to be highlighted to the public.
Session mergers: all technical sessions at vEGU21 will run in the virtual PICO (vPICO) format. This places different and more stringent constraints on the number of abstracts in a session than for an in-person GA, where different session types (oral, PICO, poster) co-exist. Ideally, all sessions should have between 15 and 20 abstracts, or multiples thereof (e.g., between 30-40, 45-60, etc.). Please do not initiate session mergers without communicating with your programme group chair or science officers. They may also contact you with a request to merge sessions. Once a session merger has been decided, and after informing the authors and giving them some time to request a transfer to a different session, please follow this procedure:
1. Discuss between all conveners which session is going to be used as the basis for the new session.
2. Update the title, abstract, and list of conveners of the base session.
3. Mark all abstracts in the other session for movement into the new session.
4. Accept all those abstracts in the new session. The result is that the base session for the merge now contains the abstracts of both sessions, while the other session contains no abstracts and can be withdrawn, i.e. removed, in the next stage.
It is recommended that the convener list, session title, and description be adapted (in the session modification tool) in the case of a session merge. Also make sure that the merged session remains co-organized by the same programme groups as the original sessions. This is to guarantee the best representation of the ideas, topics, and targeted communities.

3h. SOII – session tagging (January)

During SOII – session tagging, you are asked to provide the programme committee with your scheduling requests. These may include requests for no-overlap or back-to-back scheduling, or any other information that you consider to be useful. Conveners are also asked to estimate the potential number of participants. Missing information from the SOI or SOII tools will be filled in by the programme committee.
The programme committee will schedule your session in terms of day and time. Authors will receive a letter of acceptance/rejection by email.
Publishing proceedings of special issues in EGU journals: please consider a publication of your session's proceedings in the EGU's open-access journal Advances in Geosciences or as special issue in one of the EGU's thematic open-access journals. You can indicate your interest during session proposal or later in SOII – session tagging. The editorial support team of Copernicus Publications will be informed and will contact you for further processing.

3i. SOIII – presentation sequencing (February)

The programme committee will schedule your session and you will be informed by email of the day/time when your session is assigned. EGU strongly encourages conveners to organize their sessions considering and promoting under-represented demographics, in particular including: (i) multiple countries and institutes, (ii) different career stages, with particular attention to the participation of early career scientists, (iii) different genders and all other forms of diversity, and (iv) diverse scientific approaches. In SOIII you will be asked to do the following:
- Due to the general vPICO session format for EGU21, all abstracts of your session have been assigned the default presentation type of 2-minute live presentation. You could leave it like this, but you could also assign the solicited presentation types 2-minute solicited presentation, 5-minute solicited presentation, or 10-minute introduction to 1 abstract per time block. Please note that authors (first and co-authors) cannot have a solicited presentation in a session they (co-)convene.
- If your session has been assigned more than 1 time block due to the number of abstracts, the tool SOIII pre-allocates the abstracts by splitting them up equally among the time blocks. If your session has been assigned only 90-minute time blocks, this is fine. However, some sessions have been assigned a single 90-minute time block and a single 45-minute time block. We foresee a live presentation time per TB of 2/3 of the TB time and 1/3 is saved for the breakout chats with individual authors. That means 90-minute time blocks allow for 60 minutes of live presentations and 45-minute blocks allow for 30 minutes of live presentations.
- In general, you can adjust the sequence of your abstracts and you can also shift abstracts from one time block to another, should your session have been assigned multiple time blocks.
- If you aim to structure your session, you are able to add subtitles and position them in the list of abstracts. As a special feature, you can add a single 5-minute convener introduction to the start of your session.
- As a final task in tool SOIII, you are kindly asked to define at least 1 chairperson per time block. Please select either from the list of convener and co-conveners or add a colleague that is neither convener nor co-convener, if applicable. New colleagues are added by first name, last name, and email. The system will assign the correct user ID or, in case this email address is not part of any user account, set up a new user account and notify the person.
What's next? Your entries in tool SOIII will generate the draft programme which will be finally approved by the programme group chairs and published online afterwards. The authors will then receive the letter of schedule, informing them about the details of their presentation.
After SOIII, the session modification tool will stay available to modify chairpersons or to provide public information about your session. The tool allows you to send emails to all authors of your session. Please note that your added chairpersons must be contacted individually.