When you register for the convention you will eventually receive an invitation to register for Whova. You are welcome to download the app beforehand, however, you are unable to join the event until you receive an invitation code, which is sent by NC SHAPE's Whova App Team.
To Best Enjoy the Virtual Convention Use the Web Page App on Your Computer Along with the Mobile App on Your Phone (To avoid feedback, join using only the audio from 1 device.)
Whova Event App Guides & Help
Live streams are not fully compatible with all browsers. We recommend using the Whova web page on Google Chrome for a better streaming experience.
NC SHAPE does not recommend using an iPad for your convention experience.
Attendees must watch sessions directly in Whova to receive CEUs. We cannot keep track of attendee activity outside of the Whova platform (e.g. in Zoom).
Under Main Navigation click on Agenda. (See the image to the right.)
Once you are in the Agenda, click on View Session for the session you are interested in (e.g. Embrace the Journey, Recognition and Awards, etc.). [Clicking on the image below will open a new window displaying a larger version of the image.]
Once in the session, you will see a window ready to stream the Zoom live session or play the recorded session. [Clicking on the image below will open a new window displaying a larger version of the image.]
In live Zoom sessions, your microphone will be mute and screen sharing will not be allowed. Zoom chat is also disabled.
To ask questions of the speaker/presenter, please use Session Q&A.
Session hosts will moderate the Session Q&A during the session.
Speakers/presenters can answer questions before, during, and after their sessions!
The Session Q&A is available on both the Whova Phone App and the Whova Web App.
The session window also has a Chat feature. Attendees may use this feature for a casual conversation about the session or session topic.
Please note that Chat will not be monitored for questions.
Guidelines for Speakers
It is preferred that presentations are given live in Zoom via the Whova Web App. However, if the presenter does not feel comfortable in doing so, the presentation can also be pre-recorded and played at the scheduled time in the virtual conference room. If the presenter’s Internet connection quality is not sufficiently good to run a live presentation, a pre-recorded video of the talk must be played.
Speakers Giving Live Presentations:
Please connect to your session at least 10 minutes before the start of the session.
Once you are in your session you will be presented with the choice to join via Zoom or Whova.
We recommend you join in Whova if you would like to see the Q&A and Chat.
Join in Zoom if you are planning to share your screen.
If you plan to play a video during your presentation, it best to embed the video into your PowerPoint or Keynote presentation.
Once in the virtual room, the session host will change your role so that you will be able to activate your microphone and share your screen when it’s your turn to present.
Please keep your microphone muted whenever other speakers are presenting.
Speakers Presenting Via Recorded Videos: If you are not going to present live and are presenting via a recorded video, Whova is set up so that your recorded video will not be available until 15 minutes before your session is scheduled to begin. As with live presentations, Session Q&A is available on both the Whova Phone App and the Whova Web App. Yes, even speakers/presenters of recorded sessions can answer questions before, during, and after their sessions.
Instructions for Video Recording
Videos should contain a prominent view of the presentation slides along with audio of the spoken presentation. Optionally, videos may contain a shot of the speaker’s head for increased engagement (this shot should be thumbnail-sized and overlaid on the slide images as shown here). Many presentation software tools allow recording audio and video directly in the application and can export appropriate video files. Please see the notes below for detailed instructions for PowerPoint and KeyNote.
Video Recording with PowerPoint
Follow these instructions to add audio (and optionally video) to your slides.
Follow these instructions to generate a MPEG-4 (.mp4) file from your slides and audio/video.
Alternatively, you can follow this video tutorial which goes through both of these steps.
The presentation video must be in MP4 format, with a maximum resolution of 720p HD and bit rate less than or equal to 1 Mbps: to check the bit rate, right-click on the file name, click on properties, go to the Details tab, and look for total bit rate.
Please use the following naming convention: foreshortened-poster-title-presenter-last-name.mp4
Speaker Hub
Speakers and moderators have a special feature only available to them called Speaker Hub. (See the image to the right.)
The Speaker Hub is currently available only in Whova’s mobile app. (It may be available in the Web App in time for the NC SHAPE Convention.)
Click into it and speakers can see questions, pin questions, hide inappropriate ones, mark questions as answered, or reply to questions directly there too.
This addresses a conflict that occurs when someone is signed into Zoom and accesses the same session in the Whova Web App.
This way they speakers and moderators do not need to get into the live streaming at all on Whova, and thereby have no conflict with their Zoom sessions on their laptop/desktop.
Another way to handle this issue is to log into Zoom and Whova with 2 different email addresses.
Speakers are encouraged to follow-up their session by continuing to answer questions in the Speakers Hub and/or in the Session Q&A.