Social




Hang out and meet other attendees on Gather.town

MAIN 2020 will include Social events and networking opportunities, which will be held in a virtual space on Gather.town. This is an opportunity to meet, interact and have fun with other participants at the event!

➤ How do I join?

The social event of MAIN 2020 conference is happening in Gather.town at this address:

https://gather.town/app/IWg4Qc6npeSDsrTc/MAIN2020

The space is open during the three days of the event (Dec 1-3) for the whole day. We preferred to keep the space open all day long to serve our attendees all over the world! :)

Essential info to enter the social space at MAIN 2020:

  • You must be registered at MAIN to enter the Gather.town space.

  • Entry is first-come-first-serve. If at first, you are not able to enter, check back again, as people will be coming in and out of the Gather.town space, just like any in-person space.

  • You can move your avatar around and have spontaneous conversations with those around you. This can be either one-on-one or in small groups of people.

Important: MAIN is committed to hosting this virtual conference in a safe and welcoming environment for all. All MAIN events, virtual and in-person, aim to be inclusive for all, regardless of race, age, health status, ethnicity, ability, religion, political affiliation, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Be considerate, respectful, and collaborative in speaking and listening. Any discrimination, intolerance, harassment, or aggression will absolutely not be tolerated. Please take a minute to read our Code of Conduct.


Troubleshooting

  • If you have video, audio, or internet connection issues, please note:

    1. Gather.town cannot be used with Safari (only Google Chrome and Firefox).

    2. Close Zoom and/or any other video-conferencing platforms, as Zoom on Windows takes full control of your camera.

    3. If none of the above suggestions helped, please follow these common troubleshooting steps and/or take a look at Frequently Asked Questions.

  • If you have trouble viewing a map, you can adjust the zoom of your screen. To adjust the page zoom with the keyboard: press Ctrl and ‘+’ to zoom in and Ctrl and ‘-’ to zoom out and locate yourself on the map.

➤ Useful information as to how to navigate in the town

Below is a general overview of the space, once you enter the link, you will be able to see the following picture as the main room. There are four different areas in this room. Each area has a specific purpose that we will explain in the next section. You can hold discussions with your fellows in any free space in this room.

You can see the list of people in the room by pressing the human’s icon on the bottom left of the screen (it’s shown in the following figure). There’s an option to locate people by clicking on their name and press ‘locate on the map’. You can search for the participants you would like to interact with. A direction line will show up, just follow that to reach the desired participant. Once found, you can press ‘stop locating’. Local chat is another way to interact in Gather town. Click on the name of the participant to chat directly. The local chat provides two options, individual and group chat. In the local chat, users can chat with people near them.

Every user has access to a control bar as follow:

Once you are in the virtual MAIN town, you can check the guidelines by pressing ‘x’ near the following booths:

Once you are in the virtual MAIN town, you can check the program by pressing ‘x’ near the following stands:

➤ The virtual MAIN 2020 town

Three main rooms have been designed for our social event:

  1. Main conference room (including lunch, music, dance, and zen areas)

  2. Game room (including Chess, Sudoku, and Pictionary tables)

  3. Spotlight area (prepared for our virtual live performance, the time will be announced.)

Let’s start with the main conference room.

1. Main Conference Room

There are four different areas in the main room:

Music room: In this area, attendees can go close to the TVs, press ‘x’, and listen to classical and jazz music with their conference buddies.

Dance room: In this area, attendees can listen to music and dance with their conference buddies. Press ‘z’ to make your avatar move.

Lunch room: During the lunch breaks, participants can have lunch with their fellows like an in-person conference!

Zen area: During the coffee breaks, attendees can gather in this chillout area and listen to relaxing music.

2. Game Room

All games are happening in private mode, meaning only people who are sitting on the chair around one particular table can hear each other.

There are four different games in the game room:

Pictionary Tables: The players have to press ‘x’, a window will pop up and asks to either join a room or create a new one. If you’re playing with a group of people, one person needs to create a room on skribble.io and share the link in the local chat with others.

When people join the game, they will see a window as follow and only need to press ‘Play!’ to start playing Pictionary.

To leave the game, press the ‘x’ button on the top right of your screen.

Chess Tables: by pressing ‘x’, players will see the following window. Press ‘enter’ and ‘ready to start the game’ and start playing.

Sudoku Tables: press ‘x’ near the table and start the game.

Poker Tables: Attendees need to create an account and an optional password to enter the game.

3. Spotlight Room

We will hold a live performance in the spotlight area. Since you are in this specific zone you should be able to hear the music from everywhere in the room. The timing of the performance will be announced soon.