Although we were disappointed that we cannot meet in person in Vienna again this year, we have tried to make the virtual format of vEGU21: Gather Online as attractive and as interactive as possible. One distinct advantage of vEGU21 is the ability to interact with each other for two full months, rather than just a few days.

This is because, in addition to participating in the hundreds of scientific vPICO sessions that will take place from 26-30 April, the authors of each abstract can also upload display materials prior to the start of their session. For all who choose to opt in, you can also receive (and respond to) comments about these materials by other registered attendees up until the end of May.

Here’s everything you need to know about commenting and displays to help you get the most out of vEGU21!

For a quick summary, please watch our 4-minute How to upload display materials and comment! video.

Displays
Displays are, quite simply, whatever you want them to be! Prior to vEGU21, the authors of each abstract will have up to 50 MB of space to upload whatever materials will most help them share their research with the community. This can be one graphic, a series of slides, a poster, or even a full pre-recorded oral presentation; it just needs to be in a .pdf, .ppt/pptx, .pps/ppsx, .png, or .mp4 format and conform to EGU’s current Code of Conduct.

Video materials (in .mp4 format) will be uploaded to the Vimeo channel dedicated to vEGU21 and only visible for conference participants. The file size of .mp4 videos is limited to 200 MB. In addition, you can provide a DOI or URL linking to a video you have submitted to a portal like YouTube. You can also provide a link to display material in .html format hosted on your own infrastructure.

The display materials will be available for viewing and commenting from as soon as they are uploaded until the end of May. Whilst uploading of display materials should be done prior to the start of vEGU21, modifications are possible throughout this 2-month period.

Specific presenter guidelines are available here.

Commenting
Abstract authors can choose to allow comments and feedback on their display materials when they upload them. Commenting is only enabled for meeting participants who are logged in with their Copernicus/EGU user IDs, and their names are disclosed. When someone comments on your materials, you’ll receive an email notification so that you’re able to reply and start a dialogue. This feedback option will also be open through the end of May.

Licencing
Each abstract submitted to vEGU21 received a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to ensure the research is properly attributed to the listed authors and the researchers’ ownership of it is protected. You can choose to submit your display materials under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0) or to restrict their reuse. In the latter case, please clearly indicate this in your file (e.g., © Authors. All rights reserved). All display material submitted under the CC BY licence will be archived on EGUsphere after the end of May, while material with a difference licence will be erased.

According to the CC BY 4.0 License, a registered user may download display materials and share them as long as the authors are cited, whereas sharing is not allowed for materials on which rights are reserved. In either case, however, authors grant Copernicus Meetings the right to hold the presentation materials online for viewing and download by individuals.

The sharing of abstracts and display materials to vEGU21 does not impact their future publication. Journals usually encourage authors to discuss their work at conferences prior to submitting a manuscript, and most allow posting on a not-for-profit preprint server, such as EGUsphere, prior to submission. Examples of these policies can be found at all EGU journals, Nature, AGU, and Science.

More information about the CC BY 4.0 License and Open Access publishing is available here.

• Video: How to upload vEGU21 display materials and comment!
• vEGU21 presenter guidelines
• vEGU21 registration
• vEGU21 programme