MMSP 2021 as a Hybrid Event

IEEE MMSP 2021 is organized as a hybrid event. This includes in-person gathering in Scandic Hotel Rosendahl and online participation through the virtual platform ProspectumLIVE.

On this page, we discuss the COVID-related issues and the presentation format at different conference sessions. Instructions for presenting authors are also available here.

COVID-related information

We are closely monitoring the situation and restrictions in the Tampere area and we commit to follow all hygiene and safety instructions. We are quite optimistic about the success of the in-person gathering based on the current pace of vaccinations and declining rate of infections in Tampere region. However, rapid changes in the COVID-19 epidemic situation are still possible. In case the situation suddenly changes and prevents us from hosting participants locally, we will contact all registered participants immediately.

While we wait for a final deliberation from the authorities, and due to the fast-evolving scenario, the Chairs of MMSP have decided that in-person participation will be granted only to participants who are able to provide an official green pass or EU coronavirus passport or equivalent certification from their local authorities. We reserve the right to inspect these certificates if requested by the local authorities.

As we cannot guarantee that participants will be allowed in the conference facility without a certificate, we are ready to convert in-person registrations of such registrants to virtual-participation ones and reimburse the difference minus the fees charged by the card operator.

You can find out more about the safety rules at the conference venue and hotel on Scandic Rosendahl’s webpage. Please, do not come on-site if you are feeling sick or have any symptoms of a flu.

You can also find up-to-date information about the travel restrictions in Finland regarding the coronavirus pandemic on Finnish Government’s webpage. At the moment, persons who have received a complete and valid vaccination series may be granted entry into Finland from any country, provided that at least 14 days have passed since the last vaccine dose has been received. Also, travelers arriving in Finland from the EU and Schengen countries are not bound by travel restrictions. Detailed guidelines for people arriving in Finland can be found on the Finnish Border Guard webpage.

Format

The workshop consists of the following live sessions: keynotes, oral and poster sessions, a panel, a MAGICS network demo session and a grand challenge.

In addition to the physical event in Tampere, the conference is streamed trough a virtual platform (another site), where links to sessions and papers are provided. The platform also offers a one-to-one interaction tool where participants can directly connect with other participants and discuss and interact freely. All registered participants will receive their unique link to the virtual platform. Further instructions about how to fully use its functionalities are given at the platform. All papers (no matter if scheduled for oral or poster presentations) are available as 10 min pre-recorded videos at the E-posters area of the virtual platform. Participants are encouraged to visit that area at any time and get familiar with the works of their interest. Authors can be contacted by the one-to-one interaction tool at the platform.

In order to have the paper indexed in IEEE Explore, authors must present their paper live in the allocated session.

Keynotes, panel and oral sessions

The keynotes, panel and oral presentations are given at the main conference stage in Scandic Rosendahl and streamed on the virtual platform. An oral presentation is of the format 10+5 minutes, consisting of the presentation (10 minutes) and Q&A (5 minutes). Oral presentations have been assigned mainly to authors who had registered for in-person participation. In addition, all special sessions are scheduled as oral. In cases when the presenters are not in Tampere, they are connected remotely, and their interactive presentations are projected on the big screen at the conference room. The physical audience can ask questions either verbally or through the session chat. The remote participants can ask questions through the session chat, moderated by the session chair.

Poster sessions

The poster presentations have been assigned to participants who registered for virtual participation and are given through the virtual platform. Each individual poster is hosted in a separate virtual room. The poster presenter is the host of that room. He/she can share their computer screen and show a multi-slide presentation, or a single-slide poster or whatever is appropriate to illustrate the research done. Interested audience visits the room, e-meets the presenter, follows his/her explanation, asks questions, and discusses. Note that all posters are also available in the E-poster area, and they can be examined also there before or after going to the poster room. In-person participants at the conference venue can follow the poster sessions either on their laptops (as virtual visitors) or on TV-size displays. More specifically, each virtual poster room is shown on a big display operated by a technical assistant through a laptop equipped with a web cam and conference speakers. In-person participants can interact with the remote poster presenters through these multi-media poster booths.

Grand challenge

The grand challenge is run by its organizers on the virtual platform and the stream is projected on the big screen at the conference venue.