Importing your program

Midspace’s import template enables you to use popular tools, such as Excel or Google Sheets, to quickly bulk-enter your existing conference program and import it into Midspace. This page provides the template and explanations of the column meanings, ways to use it and how to use the options provided by Midspace’s importer.

The template spreadsheet and importer provide a range of options to enable you to import your program in the configuration you desire. For example, whether to import sessions in single blocks in the schedule, or as individual papers. Each of the options is explained on this page.

The Template

Overview

The template is designed to support a number of standard conference program structures. These consist of Sessions, Presentations, Speakers, Authors and Content.

• Session: A session is a group of one or more presentations.
• Presentation: A presentation may be a traditional paper presentation or it may be a demonstration, workshop, Q&A for the whole session, a social, or a variety of other options. These are described in more detail below.
• Speaker: A speaker is expected to be “on stage” to interact with the audience during a presentation.
  • Speakers may upload content for their presentation.
• Author: An author is the name of a person who contributed to the creation of the presentation (or associated works) but will not be speaking at the conference.
  • Authors are not able to upload content for presentations.
• Content: Additional information associated with a presentation.
  • Content may include an abstract, text, videos, images, slides or a website link.
    • More content types are available after importing your program.
  • You may optionally allow speakers to edit the abstracts of their presentations within Midspace.
  • Content is typically uploaded to Midspace by speakers using Midspace’s purpose-built submissions system.

A typical conference will have one or more (parallel) tracks spread across several days. Tracks may be represented within Midspace using one of our advanced features (Rooms, Tags or Subconferences) depending on your conference structure. Within each track, sessions are scheduled.

Sessions typically focus on particular topics, research areas or social activities. A typical session consists of three presentations followed by a group Q&A (though many other formats are possible).

A typical presentation has one or two speakers and several co-authors. Speakers are commonly asked to provide an abstract, a pre-recorded video and a copy of their slides. We recommend using Midspace’s submissions system to manage content uploads, particularly video submissions which support automatic subtitling and speaker-editing of subtitles.

Additional advanced options exist to enable greater customisation of your imported program. Please refer to the Advanced Options section below for more information.

Data from external tools

If you have an external tool/system with existing data, it may provide a CSV, XML or JSON export. If you are familiar with scripting languages (such as JavaScript) you may wish to write a script to convert your existing data into the CSV format produced from Midspace’s template spreadsheet.

Using the template

We recommend starting with creating a few test sessions in the same structures as typical sessions at your conference. After importing and testing that the structure meets your expectations, you should then move on to filling out the import template with your complete conference program.

Getting help

For assistance with the template, please contact our support team. The dedicated support email address for your conference is available from the Management Dashboard of your conference.

Get the template

The template is available from Midspace’s Google Drive.

To start using it, Download a copy or Make a Copy of the template. Open your copy in Google Sheets, Excel or your preferred spreadsheet editor.

• Top tip: If you already downloaded or copied the Registrants Importer Template you do not need to duplicate this step. You will find the Program template as a sheet titled “Program” within that spreadsheet.

Using Excel

If you prefer to use Excel or another spreadsheet editing tool, you can download a copy of the template here:

Program Importer - Excel Download

Warning: Excel and Unicode

Excel does not work in Unicode, meaning accent characters, emojis and other unusual characters may become corrupted or lost if you copy data from other applications or from the internet. We urge caution when using Excel to process data that may contain special characters.

Using Google Sheets

If you have a Google Drive account and are logged in, you can make a copy of the template here:

Registrants Importer - Make a Copy

Getting started

1. Create a session

   1. Enter a title for the session.
   2. Enter a start time for the session.
      • This must be in UTC time (not your localtimezone)
      • Top tip: Use Google Search to quickly convert times, e.g. “10 am PST in UTC”
      • We are working on improvements to make this more flexible in future.
   3. Enter a session duration in minutes.
      • This must be a whole number.
   4. A session requires a Chair - sometimes known as a session organizer or moderator.

   During initial testing, we recommend you put your own name and email address while you test things out.

   • Midspace uses email addresses to identify chairs and speakers of sessions.
   • Chairs and speakers will be invited to join the conference using the email addresses you provide.
   • If a chair or speaker’s email address is inaccurate, it is likely to result in that chair or speaker being unable to access or properly manage their session or presentation.

2. Create presentations

   Presentations within a given session, start from the beginning of that session and occur back-to-back during the session. (Sessions may be listed out-of-order in the spreadsheet but presentations within a session must be placed in-order).

   The total duration of presentations within a session may be less than or equal to the duration of that session. The total duration may not exceed the duration of the session Midspace’s importer will detect this issue and highlight it to you.

   A “presentation” may be different to a typical paper presentation. For example, it may be a demonstration, workshop, tutorial, social activity, sponsor slot or group Q&A for the session. These options are described in more detail below.

   To set up a presentation, enter a title, type and duration. You should then enter at least one speaker’s name, email address and affiliation. If someone has no affiliation (or you are not aware of it), you may leave the affiliation blank.

   • Use semicolons (;) to separate names, email addresses and affiliations of multiple speakers.
   • If you have multiple speakers and do not know one of their affliations, enter an extra semicolon. E.g.
     • Names: “James; Julia; Hannah”
     • Affiliations: “Earth; ; Mars”.
     • Julia has no affiliation.
   • Speakers will be listed in the program in the same order they are listed in the Speaker Names column.
   • Be careful to list speaker’s names, email addresses and affiliations in the same order or they will become mismatched.
   • By default, speakers will be listed in the program before “other authors”

   During initial testing, we recommend you add a single speaker with your name or the name of one of your co-organizers while you test things out. You will also need their email address.

   During initial testing, we recommend you leave the remaining columns blank.

3. You now have a simple test program to try importing.

   Please follow the Preparing the file for import steps below as you must save your import data in a specific file format.

Types of presentation

A number of options are available for the type of presentation. Please choose the appropriate type for your requirements.

The type of presentation does not affect how people interact during the presentation. It is simply a label to help your attendees better understand your schedule.

• Demonstration: A practical exhibition and explanation of how something works or is performed.
• Keynote: A keynote presentation (a talk that establishes a main underlying theme of your conference).
• Paper: A presentation of a paper.
• Poster: A presentation of a poster.
• Presentation: A general presentation.
• Session Q&A: A group Q&A for everyone in the session.
• Social: A social activity.
• Symposium: A meeting to discuss a particular subject
• Tutorial: A small group meeting to discuss a topic led by a subject matter expert.
• Workshop: A small group of people meeting to engage in intensive discussion and activity on a particular subject or project.
• Other: Any activity that doesn’t fit into one of the available labels above.

Recommendations

We recommend the following:

• All presentations should be at least 5 minutes long, unless they are entirely pre-recorded.
• All sessions should be at most 90 minutes long
• For entirely virtual conferences, sessions in which papers are being presented should consist of several presentations followed by a group Q&A.
  • This has been a more successful format for virtual conferences than formats used at traditional physical conferences.
  • It reduces pressure on organizers, chairs, speakers and the audience. We recommend this format over the less successful “presentation followed by individual Q&A” format.
• All sessions should be scheduled with at least a 10 minute break afterwards.

Examples

Midspace supports a very wide range of program structures. Described below are some common use cases but please speak to us if you require help configuring your desired program structure.

Each of the following examples corresponds to one of the example sessions provided in the default template.

Please refer to the template spreadsheet in combination with this documentation.

Keynote

The example keynote generates a video-chat session starting with an introduction from the chair, followed by the keynote presentation and ending with a Q&A.

The keynote speaker is able to edit the abstract of their keynote via Midspace’s submissions system. Through the same system they can upload a copy of their slides and a link to their website.

After the program is imported, you (the organizer) or the keynote speaker can choose to temporarily hide the speaker’s uploaded slides until after the presentation is delivered. This will prevent the presentation from being spoiled or leaked ahead of the session.

This session is configured with a single chair and single keynote speaker.

Paper Session - Scheduled live presentations

The example paper session for scheduled live presentations is the most popular session format. It is a 45 minute session with 3 10-minute presentations and a 12-minute Q&A.

The session starts with a welcome from the chair. This gives the chair an opportunity to create a lively and engaging atmosphere for the session (which really makes or breaks the Q&A!) The chair may also briefly introduce the theme or topic of the session. The welcome also gives the audience some time to arrive and join in and for presenters to get comfortable. The welcome is followed by the main presentations.

This example session shows 3 paper presentations each of 10 minutes. Each paper is shown to have 1 speaker and 1 or more co-authors. The speakers are requested to upload a copy of their slides ahead of time. This can be particularly helpful for some members of the audience who might be unable to view screenshared slides or would like to familiarise themselves with the material ahead of time.

The session ends with a group Q&A for all 3 speakers. This lasts 12 minutes. It is common for questions to have been posted in the text chat during the preceeding presentations.

We recommend the chair does not try to immediately accept a live (via video/audio) audience question as this can break the flow of the session (quite dramatically if the audience member has not prepared their camera/microphone or has stepped away from their computer since raising their hand).

We recommend the chair starts the Q&A with a brief explanation of how the audience can ask a question live via video/audio. They should then proceed by asking a question taken from the text chat, or if no questions have been posted, start by asking a question the chair has thought of ahead of time. Once the Q&A has begun to happen, then the chair can refocus their attention on choosing an audience member with a raised hand to accept their question live via video/audio.

Paper Session - Scheduled pre-recorded presentations

The example paper session for scheduled pre-recorded presentations is a popular and successful virtual conference format. It is a 45 minute session with 3 10-minute pre-recorded video presentations and a 12-minute live Q&A.

This example is the same as “Paper Session - Scheduled live presentations” but with two main differences:

1. The speakers are requested to upload a video ahead of time for their session
2. During the session, instead of live presentations, the chair will use Midspace’s Video Playback feature to play out the speaker’s videos in the desired order.

By setting a duration for each presentation, Midspace can automatically check uploaded videos fit within the available time.

Setting the order for presentations within the session will assist all participants, as well as the chair, when discussing the contents of presentations. It is common for the audience to refer to presentations by the order in which they occurred rather than their full (often long) titles.

Paper Session - Unscheduled presentations

The example paper session for unscheduled live presentations is single continuous video chat with no guiding structure. A summary of each paper is listed in the room (in an exhibition layout) and it is up to the chair to invite speakers to deliver their presentations or invite questions from the audience.

This structure is most commonly used as a placeholder when the program committee is still deciding upon the final structure or timing of sessions.

Poster Session (Scheduled session)

The example poster session shows a common format for 60-minute poster competitions. Each poster creator has 5 minutes to give a lightning talk followed by 25 minutes for a breakout period. During the breakout each poster has its own room and people can join a room to chat to an author about their poster. During this time, the judges evaluate each poster and presentation, ask follow up questions and decide upon the winner(s). The session closes with the announcement of the winner.

In this example, each poster speaker (aka creator) is requested to upload a pre-recorded video of their presentation, a copy of their poster and a link to a website to find out more.

This example session makes use of the advanced option for “Breakout video-chat” interaction mode. Please follow additional instructions below to complete the configuration after importing your program.

Poster Exhibition (Unscheduled session)

The example poster exhibition shows a common format for persistent / standalone exhibitions of posters. Each poster is displayed as part of the exhibition which can be accessed at any time by conference attendees. Each poster has a text chat for live or asynchronous discussion. In addition, after importing your program, you may choose to create a Discussion Room for each poster.

In this example, each poster speaker (aka creator) is requested to upload a video presentation, a copy of their poster and a link to a website to find out more.

Tutorial or Workshop - Unstructured

The example “Tutorial or Workshop - Unstructured” creates a single video-chat lasting 4 hours with a description of what the tutorial/workshop is about (an abstract). No additional structure is specified - the workshop organizer may use the time in whatever way they like.

This format is commonly used when a workshop or tutorial is organized by a 3rd party who are not members of the main program committee (and thus might not have a prepared or fixed schedule).

This format is also commonly used for flexible, free-flowing or open-forum workshops and tutorials, since there is no imposed schedule.

Tutorial or Workshop - Partially structured

The example “Tutorial or Workshop - Partially structured” creates a single video-chat lasting 4 hours with a description of what the tutorial/workshop is about (an abstract). Some structure is provided to highlight the main periods of the workshop, being the welcome, presentations, discussion periods, break and closing of the workshop. Within each period, the workshop organizer may use the time in whatever way they like.

TODO: Update this to document the networking period

This format provides some guidance to the audience about the session and the Presentation periods each have an abstract. This gives some space for the organizers to describe in more detail what will be presented and who will be doing so. The abstract for the discussion period may also be used to describe how the discussion will be managed/moderated.

This format is commonly used when a workshop or tutorial is organized by a 3rd party who are not members of the main program committee (and thus might not have a prepared or fixed schedule).

Advanced Options

The following advanced options are available for organizers who require greater customization of the program configuration. We recommend trying out Midspace and these options before choosing to use them. For more information, please contact our support teams.

Typically additional configuration is required after import to make these advanced options operate properly. We recommend configuring a test session directly in your Midspace Conference to fully understand the configuration required.

• Interaction mode:

  Ordinarily all presentations take place via Video Chat - which is a typical video chat, similar to Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet or other platforms

  This option enables you to take advantage of Midspace’s more advanced interaction modes to create session formats such as networking, breakout groups, live-streams (webinars) and events hosted outside of Midspace.

  • Video-chat: The default. Real-time (near 0 latency) video conversations/presentations.
    • Controls are available for chairs/presenters to manage who is speaking.
    • Controls are available to manage recording, timing and more.
    • Suitable for audiences up to 250 people.
      • The size limit may have increased since this documentation was written. Please refer to the information provided within Midspace’s interface for accurate limits.
  • Live-stream: Live-stream (webinar) interaction.
    • The audience watches a stream while presenters join the stage to deliver their presentation.
    • This is most similar to YouTube live-streaming.
    • Midspace supports ingesting RTMP input streams from physical venues, Zoom or other sources.
    • Midspace supports egressing RTMP output streams to destinations such as YouTube, Vimeo and any other RTMP-capable destination.
    • This is suitable for audiences up to 10,000 people.
      • The size limit may have increased since this documentation was written. Please refer to the information provided within Midspace’s interface for accurate limits.
    • The audience typically asks questions via text chat.
    • As with all live-streaming, there is a delay between the Stage (where the presenters are) and the video stream the audience sees. The lag for any given member of the audience varies depending on their location in the world. For presenters and audience members unfamiliar with live-streaming, this can be particularly confusing.
    • Additional training for chairs and presenters will be necessary to familiarise them with online streaming, Midspace’s backstage environment and to get comfortable with the lag between saying something and the audience responding via text chat.
    • Rooms must be used to limit the number of generated live-streams.
    • Please talk to our support team to discuss your planned program before using live-streaming mode.
  • Breakout video-chat: Using an exhibition, multiple video-chat rooms are available for the audience to choose which one they wish to join.
    • This requires additional configuration after import to set up the items and rooms within the imported exhibition.
    • You should use the Midspace Content Management interface to find each item in the exhibition and, for each item, click the button to create a Discussion Room.
    • Note: The functionality of this mode is subject to change. Please discuss with our support team prior to using this mode.
  • Networking: Randomised one-to-one or group “shuffle” networking.
    • This requires additional configuration after import to set up the networking queues.
  • External Event: An event hosted outside of Midspace.
    • This requires additional configuration after import to set up the “External event link” to provide the audience with a clear button to click (i.e. place to go) in order to join the event.

• Room Name: It is possible to schedule multiple sessions into a single room. In this way, rooms may be used to represent tracks.

  • The same room is used for each presentation in a session.
  • Two sessions in the same room may not overlap in time.
  • By default, rooms are allocated automatically.

• Tags: Tags may be used to group presentations by theme, topic or track.

  • Separate multiple tags using semicolons.
  • We discourage tagging presentations by type - this isn’t very helpful to attendees trying to find presentations on particular topics.
  • By default, presentations are tagged by the title of the session.

The Importer

Overview

Documentation regarding using the importer will be made available soon.

Preparing for import

To prepare your spreadsheet for use with Midspace’s importer, you must save it as a .CSV file (Comma-separated Values).

Note: The file must be a comma separated values file. Some tools incorrectly export CSV files separated by semicolons. The Midspace importer will not correctly process such files. Values which contain commas must be escaped using double quotation marks.

Google Sheets

1. Open the File menu (top-left corner)
2. Open the Download submenu
3. Select “Comma-separated Values (.csv)”
4. Save the file to your computer

Excel

1. Open the File menu (top-left corner)
2. Open the Export submenu
3. Select “Change file type”
4. Select “CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)”
5. Click “Save As”
6. Save the file to your computer

Using the importer

Documentation regarding using the importer will be made available soon.

Options

• Session:
  • You can choose to import sessions as either:
    • Single blocks in the schedule containing details of each presentation
    • Or a separate block for each presentation
  • You can choose to record sessions as:
    • A single recording for the whole session
    • Or separate recordings for each presentation

Identifying changes

Documentation regarding using the importer will be made available soon.

Errors

Documentation regarding using the importer will be made available soon.

• “Presentations exceed session duration”

  The total duration of the presentations within the highlighted session exceed the duration of the session. Either increase the duration of the session or reduce the duration of one or more of the presentations in that session.

FAQ

Documentation regarding using the importer will be made available soon.

• How can I schedule presentations for my sponsors?

  We recommend scheduling sponsor sessions/presentations within Midspace after importing your main conference program. This will enable you to associate sponsors with their presentations. It is not possible to do this via the importer.