2020 International Convention, Virtual Conference – (formerly Hotel Bernardin), Portorož, Slovenia

The 63rd SWST International Convention was held July 12-15, 2020, as an onlhttp://www.dev.swst.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SWST-2020-Proceedings-Final-4.pdine Convention.  The overall theme was “Renewable Resources for a Sustainable and Healthy Future“.  Registered participants: 656 from 58 countries (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Origin of registered participants.

Participants attending the online conference (on at least one day): 459 participants from 52 countries (NOTE: 50 participants did not declare country of their origin). The countries with most participants were:

Presentations:

At the convention there were 96 regular session presentations (oral presentations given as 3 minute video or 5 minute PowerPoint presentation with voice over), 27 ESR presentations (1 minute video or PowerPoint with voice over), 1 keynote, and 75 posters (20 student and 55 other) published on the SWST web page.  Videos are available on YouTube on a channel called Society of Wood Science and Technology https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRb5T_N9fSwlDojz_CFBBvg?view_as=subscriber

You can search by the title of the presentation, by the link above, or by the Convention session title. They are not referenced by the presenter’s name.   If the video isn’t there, it is because we were asked not to share it.  It will be helpful if you use the final program from the Convention to search http://www.dev.swst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SWST-2020-VirtualConf-Programme-Final.pdf

During the convention, a Slack workspace for the participants of the 63^rd SWST International Convention was set up. 75 participants of the Convention registered to use Slack. The channel stayed opened and should be used in the future as well.

Dear SWST 2020 Convention participants,

Recently, SWST announced its 2020 Convention will be held online. We are positive that the SWST online Convention will be a great experience for everyone. In the past weeks, we have brainstormed solutions to ensure a smooth transition to a digital conference. Many aspects of our traditional conference will be maintained. The Convention will start with Welcoming Reception on Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 18:00 (Central European Summer Time), we will still have presentations given in sessions, and we will keep both the Early Stage Researcher and Poster sessions as well as hold the Student Poster Competition.

One significant change will be the timing of the Convention. Monday, July 13, Tuesday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 15 the main sessions of the conference will be held between 16:00 to 19:30 (Central European Summer Time).

We will share a detailed program by June 15, 2020.

There will be some other changes to the presentation format and requirements to ensure the online conference is executed smoothly. The key changes are below:

The online convention will be free of charge in 2020 but you must still register. Included in the registration is 1-year free membership in SWST, but you must participate to receive this membership.

All presentations must be recorded.

• Full oral presentations can be either
  • a Powerpoint slide presentation with recorded voice-over (max 5 minutes), OR
  • a 3-minute video that explains your work (in the lab, forest, or other location – creativity is encouraged!)
• ESR presentations will be 4 slides with 1-minute voice-over
• Poster presentations will be a PDF of your poster. These will be available on-demand and shared online as well. Because options will be limited for discussion about your poster, be sure it is clear and accurate. There will not be a poster presentation Q and A session for the poster competition. They will be judged on layout and content.  Poster should be oriented vertically. The poster dimensions are 77 inches high x 35 inches wide (195 cm x 90 cm).

All presentations must be submitted by July 1, 2020. The organizers will do quality checks and ensure the presentations are delivered smoothly. Presentations should be uploaded to the “Presentations” area on https://swst2020convention.exordo.com/

All speakers are expected to be present on the Zoom webinar during their presentations and available for Q and A. We will arrange live Q and A and a method for follow-up discussions. Live Q and A will be handled through the Zoom platform and instructions will be provided to ensure it goes smoothly. Follow-up Q and A, as well as conference chat, will take place using the SWST2020 Slack workspace. Everyone will be invited to join this workspace and hopefully carry on some of the hallway chat and over-drinks chat that make SWST special. The entire Conference will be recorded on Zoom and available later for sharing. When you register, you will be asked a question to confirm the recording option. If you do not want to be recorded, you will not be able to make the presentation.

We would like to ask all presenters (oral, ESR, Posters) to confirm they are still willing to participate in this new format. Please register by May 20, 2020 to confirm at the following link:

https://swst2020convention.exordo.com/

If you would like to withdraw your presentation, we will be sad to miss your presentation, but please send a message to vicki@dev.swst.org to let her know.

Some of you who had previously registered received a notice that your registration was cancelled.  This was due to the fact that we need everyone to go back in and fill out their information and answer all questions.  Sorry for any concerns.

For all other participants, registration will remain open until June 30^th. We need to have a good estimate of how many people will join so we can manage the logistics of the event, so you are encouraged to register sooner. The Proceedings of the SWST 2020 Convention will include papers that are submitted through the Ex Ordo system. If a full paper is not submitted, the original abstract will be included in the Proceedings. No powerpoints or pdfs of presentations will be accepted for the Proceedings. All papers are due June 1, 2020.  Upload at the “Final Submissions” link on

https://swst2020convention.exordo.com/

All registrants will receive information on how to join the event by July 6. There will be an option to try to connect to the platform on July 10^th to work out any technical issues.

Please let us know if you have further questions or if you would need support in producing the recordings of your presentation. We will soon share some guides on making these types of presentations.

Looking forward to meeting you on-line in mid-July,

Andreja Kutnar

Chair of the 2020 SWST Convention and President-Elect of SWST