AMTA 2020 | Quick Start Guide

For those already familiar with our conference systems, Swapcard and Microsoft Teams, we provide the following guide to quickly access our conference sessions. However, we do recommend that you also look over the Introduction for Attendees document as well, so that you don’t overlook something.

First, a brief reminder about conference etiquette: Please be mindful of how your participation in conference sessions affects the speaker and other attendees. Keep yourself muted and only participate verbally or via chat message when acknowledged by the session moderator. Use the private chat features in Teams and Swapcard to communicate directly with others.

Next, please be aware that all sessions at AMTA 2020 will be recorded and that the conference organizers consider attendance at any session as tacit permission for being recorded. If you are concerned about this, you may want to wait until sessions are over and then watch the recordings.

Swapcard

After registering for AMTA 2020, you will receive an e-mail from Swapcarda few days before the conference. Click on the Let’s get started button in the email to enter Swapcard. If you are unable to login to Swapcard and/or see the conference event, please send an email to amta2020@amtaweb.org. Help options are available in Swapcard, and the Introduction for Attendees document contains further details about using this application.

On subsequent logins to Swapcard, you should access this URL: https://app.swapcard.com/event/amta-2020-orlando

If Swapcard asks you to provide an event code, enter the one included in the initial email you received.

Microsoft Teams

Within a day or two after receiving an email from Swapcard, you will receive an e-mail from Microsoft Teams. Click on the Open Microsoft Teams button in the email. A browser page will open that gives you the option of opening Microsoft Teams in your browser or installing and opening the Teams desktop application on your computer. If you already have the desktop application installed, it will open automatically after a few seconds.

Please note: if you have a Microsoft Teams account for work, you will need to switch from your work account to the conference account that was created for you in order to have full access to AMTA 2020 content. This is accomplished by clicking on the dropdown in the upper right-hand corner of the Teams app or browser window next to your user icon and selecting Microsoft (Guest). If you do not see this dropdown, there’s a good chance you registered for the conference using an email address different from your work email address. If so, please contact business@amtaweb.org to ask that your registered email address be changed to your work email address. You will then receive another email at your work address and when you click on the link to open Teams, the dropdown should appear.

Finding and entering a specific session at AMTA 2020

In Teams, there is a separate channel in the AMTA 2020 Conference team for the conference tracks, keynotes, demos, tutorials, workshops, etc. Conference sessions are held as meetings in these channels. There are also channels containing ongoing meetings for each Exhibitor or Sponsor. While you can attend the conference sessions or visit Exhibitors or Sponsors by searching for and joining the meetings in these channels, there is a much simpler and better way. In Swapcard, do the following:

1. In Conference Schedule or My Schedule find the session you want to join.
2. Click on the session name to open the session details.
3. Click on the red link in the details that says XX Session Link.
4. Your browser will open and you will either be able to join the meeting in the browser, or if the Teams desktop application is installed, it will open automatically after a few seconds and you can join the meeting there.
5. In either case, after previewing your camera and microphone settings (please make sure you are muted when entering talk sessions!) click the Join now button.

Networking and Help

At the top of the main menu in Swapcard you will find links to Swapcard and MS Teams Public Help Desks as well as to the Networking Area. The Swapcard link will take you to a discussion in Swapcard. The MS Teams and Networking links will take you to ongoing meetings in the corresponding channels in Teams.

The Help Desks have an obvious purpose, but when you join the Networking meeting, you can see who is there by looking at the meeting participants. Then you can decide if you want to participate in any discussion going on in that meeting, or you can leave the meeting and invite someone into a private Teams chat. Or, you may want to start a meeting of your own right in the Networking channel by clicking on the Meet button in the upper right-hand corner, modifying the meeting title as desired, joining the meeting, and then inviting others to join.