Information on Social Events

One of the most difficult aspects of a conference to recreate online are the opportunities for social interaction. For NELS we are partially trying to address this by having the conference Discord as a persistent space where you can chat with other conference participants, continue questions into coffee breaks, or organize small group video meetups of your own!

But to help kickstart those more spontaneous social connections, we're also holding two more structured social events for all conference participants, the Thursday evening Meet & Greet and the Friday evening Trivia Social. (The third social event, the Student Mixer on Saturday, is only open to student attendees.)

Meet & Greet

This event starts at 6:15 Eastern on Thursday, shortly after the satellite talk has ended. This is the evening before the conference officially begins on Friday—the intention is that it partly recreates the atmosphere of meeting up the evening before a conference, if you arrive in town a day early. (But without the danger that travel logistics prevent you from attending!)

Our secondary goal is to provide a setting where people who are attending NELS for the first time have a chance to meet other attendees, before the talks start the next morning—a challenge of the virtual setting is that you can't strike up spontaneous conversations while standing in line for coffee, nor can socially-minded longtime NELS attendees purposefully draw newcomers into their circles of conversation.

For these reasons, the reception will be a mix of structured and freeform conversation on Zoom. At the beginning everyone will be put into breakout rooms with a semi-random selection of other people, for introductions and some initial conversation. After that initial period, though, everyone will be able to move freely between rooms, for casual conversation in groups of your own making.

Though this event officially ends at 7:15, the Zoom meeting can remain open later if people wish to remain.

Trivia Social

On Friday night at 6:00 Eastern there will be a Trivia Social! This is a team-based "pub-style" trivia competition: participants will be put on teams of 4-5 people, and you'll work together to answer questions over 5 thematic rounds. Some rounds may be language- or linguistics-themed, but there will also be more general themes.

The Trivia Social will make heavy use of the NELS 51 server on Discord, for communication within your teams. The link for joining the Discord will be sent to all registrants by email before the conference, and also posted during individual Zoom sessions.

You do not need to sign up with a team! By default, all participants will be randomly assigned to teams before the event starts.

Credit to Nicole Holliday, who has helped make this event possible by generously sharing advice on organization and technical details, and who is also responsible for one of the rounds of questions.

If you are excited about a linguistics trivia event, but do not want to compete yourself, you are welcome to get involved behind the scenes! In that case please contact Bronwyn Bjorkman directly by email (bronwyn.bjorkman@queensu.ca).

Update (Nov. 5th)

Teams for the Trivia Social event will be randomly built from the list of people that selected the "quiz" role in the "rôles-roles" channel on Discord and those who have answered an unambiguous "yes" in the registration form.
If you wish to participate, please make sure to have the "quiz" role in Discord.
Please do so before Friday at noon. After that, contact us by email.

<h1>Information
on Social Events</h1>

One of the most difficult aspects of a
conference to recreate online are the opportunities for social interaction. For
NELS we are partially trying to address this by having the conference Discord
as a persistent space where you can chat with other conference participants,
continue questions into coffee breaks, or organize small group video meetups of
your own!

But to help kickstart those more
spontaneous social connections, we're also holding two more structured social
events for all conference participants, the Thursday evening Meet & Greet and the Friday evening Trivia Social. (The third social event, the Student Mixer on Saturday, is only open to student
attendees.)

<h2>Meet
& Greet</h2>

This event starts at 6:15 Eastern on
Thursday, shortly after the satellite talk has ended. This is the evening before the conference officially begins on Friday—the
intention is that it partly recreates the atmosphere of meeting up the evening
before a conference, if you arrive in town a day early. (But without the danger
that travel logistics prevent you from attending!)

Our secondary goal is to provide a setting
where people who are attending NELS for the first time have a chance to meet
other attendees, before the talks start the next morning—a challenge of the
virtual setting is that you can't strike up spontaneous conversations while
standing in line for coffee, nor can socially-minded longtime NELS attendees
purposefully draw newcomers into their circles of conversation.

For these reasons, the reception will be a
mix of structured and freeform conversation on Zoom. At the beginning everyone
will be put into breakout rooms with a semi-random selection of other people,
for introductions and some initial conversation. After that initial period,
though, everyone will be able to move freely between rooms, for casual
conversation in groups of your own making.

Though this event officially ends at 7:15,
the Zoom meeting can remain open later if people wish to remain.

<h2>Trivia
Social</h2>

On Friday night at 6:00 Eastern there will
be a Trivia Social! This is a
team-based "pub-style" trivia competition: participants will be put
on teams of 4-5 people, and you'll work together to answer questions over 5
thematic rounds. Some rounds may be language- or linguistics-themed, but there
will also be more general themes.

The Trivia Social will make heavy use of the
NELS 51 server on Discord, for communication within your teams. The link for
joining the Discord will be sent to all registrants by email before the
conference, and also posted during individual Zoom sessions.

You do not
need
to sign up with a team! By default, all participants will be randomly assigned
to teams before the event starts.

Credit to <a href="https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com/">Nicole Holliday</a>, who has helped make this
event possible by generously sharing advice on organization and technical
details, and who is also responsible for one of the rounds of questions.

If you are excited about a linguistics
trivia event, but do not want to compete yourself, you are welcome to get
involved behind the scenes! In that case please contact Bronwyn Bjorkman
directly by email (bronwyn.bjorkman@queensu.ca).<h2>Update (Nov. 5th)</h2>Teams for the Trivia Social event will be randomly built from the list of people that selected the "quiz" role in the "rôles-roles" channel on Discord and those who have answered an unambiguous "yes" in the registration form. If you wish to participate, please make sure to have the "quiz" role in Discord. Please do so before Friday at noon. After that, contact us by email.

<h1>Événements sociaux</h1>

L'un des aspects d'une conférence qui est le
plus difficile à traduire en ligne est tout ce qui relève des possibilités
d'interaction sociale. Pour le NELS, nous essayons en partie de répondre à cet
enjeu en utilisant le serveur Discord de la conférence comme espace permanent
où vous pouvez discuter avec d'autres participant·e·s et avec les présentateur·trice·s,
poursuivre en quelque sorte la période de questions pendant les pauses café ou
organiser vos propres réunions vidéo en petits groupes!

Pour briser la glace et pour initier ces interactions
sociales plus spontanées, nous organisons également deux événements sociaux
plus structurés pour tous les participant·e·s à la conférence, la rencontre
d’accueildu jeudi soir et le quiz social du vendredi soir. Un troisième
événement social, la rencontre d’étudiant·e·s du samedi, n'est ouvert
qu'aux participant·e·s étudiant·e·s.

<h2>Rencontre d’accueil</h2>

Cet événement commence jeudi à 18h15 (heure
de l'Est), peu après la fin de la conférence satellite spéciale, c’est-à-dire
la veille du début
officiel de la conférence, vendredi. L'idée est de recréer en partie
l'atmosphère de la veille d'une conférence lorsque vous arrivez en ville un
jour plus tôt (Sans le risque que la logistique du voyage ne vienne contrecarrer
vos plans d'y assister!)

L’objectif secondaire est de fournir un environnement
dans lequel les personnes qui participent au NELS pour la première fois ont la
chance de rencontrer d'autres participant·e·s, avant que les présentations ne
commencent le lendemain matin. Ce cadre virtuel pose un défi; pas possible en effet
d’engager des conversations spontanées en faisant la queue pour prendre un
café, ni pour les participant·e·s qui cumulent plusieurs NELS derrière la
cravate d’attirer délibérément des nouveaux venus dans leurs cercles de conversation.

Pour ces raisons, l'accueil sera un mélange
de conversation structurée et libre sur Zoom. Au début, tout le monde sera
placé dans des salles de réunion avec une sélection semi-aléatoire d'autres
personnes, pour faire les présentations et une première prise de contact. Après
cette période initiale, cependant, chacun pourra se déplacer librement d'une
salle à l'autre, pour des conversations informelles dans les groupes de votre
choix.

Bien que cet événement se termine
officiellement à 19h15, la réunion Zoom pourra rester ouverte plus tard si quiconque
souhaite y rester.

<h2>Quiz social</h2>

Vendredi soir à 18h00 (heure de l'Est), il
y aura un quiz social! Il s'agit d'un quiz en équipe comme ceux qui se
donnent dans tout bar digne de ce nom : les participant·e·s seront réparti·e·s
en équipes de 4-5 personnes et tenterons ensemble de répondre aux questions des
5 rondes thématiques. Certaines rondes risquent très certainement de comporter
une thématique langagière ou linguistique, mais le quiz en lui-même ne sera pas
exclusivement centré sur ce domaine et des thèmes plus généraux sont au menu.

Le quiz fera un usage intensif du serveur Discord
du NELS 51 pour la communication au sein de vos équipes. Le lien pour rejoindre
Discord sera envoyé à toutes les personnes participantes par courriel avant la
conférence, et sera également affiché pendant les séances sur Zoom.

Nul besoin de vous inscrire avec une équipe
choisie d’avance! Par défaut, tous les participant·e·s seront réparti·e·s dans
des équipes au hasard avant le début de l'événement.

Un énorme merci à <a href="https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com/">Nicole Holliday</a>, qui a contribué à rendre cet
événement possible en partageant généreusement ses conseils sur l'organisation
et les détails techniques, et qui est également responsable d'une des rondes de
questions.

Si l'idée d’un jeu-questionnaire
linguistique vous enthousiasme, mais que vous ne voulez pas y participer
vous-même, votre implication est la bienvenue dans les coulisses! Dans ce cas,
veuillez contacter directement Bronwyn Bjorkman par courrier électronique
(bronwyn.bjorkman@queensu.ca).<h2>Mise à jour (5 novembre)</h2>Les équipes pour le quiz seront constituées aléatoirement à partir de la liste de personnes ayant sélectionné le rôle "quiz" dans le canal "rôles-roles" sur Discord ou qui ont répondu par un oui manifeste dans le formulaire d'inscription. Si vous souhaitez participer, assurez-vous d'avoir le rôle "quiz" dans Discord avant vendredi à midi. Passé ce moment, contactez-nous par courriel.