How to Attend AHEAD2020

AHEAD is using Zoom to present all of its Plenaries, Featured Presentations, Concurrent Sessions and Meetings

Conference attendees must have a Zoom account in order to participate. If you don’t have one, you can find and create a free account at Zoom

Conference sessions use the Zoom Webinar and Meeting platforms. Links to each session will be provided to you by AHEAD.

You will be placed immediately into the Webinar or Meeting once you click the link. The two platforms are slightly different as described below.

Learn more about attending a Zoom event and using audience controls

Learn more about accessibility features in Zoom.

Conference Help Desk

Zoom Webinar displayed on a laptop

Zoom Webinars

In a Zoom Webinar, audience members can only see the Presenters, Moderator, ASL Interpreters, if applicable, and any materials, such as a slideshow. You won’t see other attendees, and your audio will be silenced during the session.

The Moderator will announce instructions for asking questions, if that’s part of the presentation, and any other general information that attendees may need to know.

You can display real-time captioning by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen.

If you need technical assistance during the Webinar, you may use the Chat feature to contact a Zoom Host listed in the Chat drop-down. Be sure not to choose Everyone, as all of the attendees will see your comment.

You may also contact the Conference Help Desk for assistance.

Zoom Meetings

The Meeting platform is familiar to many people. This is the one where everyone in attendance has access to each other.

When you click on the link to the AHEAD Meeting, you will enter a “Waiting Room.” The Meeting Host will admit you into the Meeting and turn off your audio until the discussion or Q&A section begins.

Since Meetings will display everyone in the room, you can control what you see by clicking the button at the top right of the screen that says, Speaker View (which highlights just the active Presenter or other speaker) or Gallery View (which displays everyone). It’s a toggle, so you can go back and forth from one to the other.

You can display real-time captioning by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen.

To view Sign Language Interpreters, in Gallery View, look for the people whose video label says, “AHEAD Interpreter.” You can “pin” the Interpreter on your screen by clicking the small green box on the upper right corner of the Interpreter’s video display.

The Interpreter’s video will become larger and you will see a strip of videos on the side or top of the screen displaying a few other participants. You can adjust what you see by using the Slider bar, moving it right to left.  Learn more about this in the video from the National Center on Deafness at CSUN.

If you need technical assistance during a Meeting, you may use the Chat feature to contact a Zoom Host listed in the Chat drop-down. Be sure not to choose Everyone, as all of the attendees will see your comment.

You may also contact the Conference Help Desk for assistance.