Virtual Symposium: Student FAQs

A virtual conference is hosted entirely over the Internet. It will allow attendees to access presentations from their computers. Attendees participate through a conference website designed specifically for the virtual conference. The site is where you will view poster presentations and pre-recorded oral presentations.

The conference is open to anyone to view and participate.

At this point there will be no live presentations, only pre-recorded videos and poster presentations.

To participate, you need an Internet connection and web browser. For the best viewing experience, we recommend that you join the symposium using a supported Internet browser, which includes Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not recommended as some functions, such as chat, are not fully supported. 

The virtual conference is free of cost.

The link to the virtual symposium will open on April 12 at 8:00 AM (PST). Convert to your local time here.

Please contact ug-research@nau.edu for technical help. First be sure that you are logged in to the Virtual Symposium website with your NAU CAS ID. Please be sure that your Internet connection is working. If you still need technical assistance, please email us as stated above.

Students from across the university present their work. Everything from exhibits with student paintings to an oral presentation of a play they wrote to posters talking about the correlation between social media and body image. Research asks the question “what’s next?” and anyone from any discipline that has work stemming from that question can participate.

Yes! We love to have visual and performing arts students participate in the symposium. You can register to exhibit photos of your work or videos of performances.  You can also upload an oral presentation outlining the creative and scholarly works you have created over the past year.

Most definitely! We would love to have you visit our virtual showcase of student projects. Log in to support your friends and classmates or simply visit the virtual gallery to see what all the talk is about. There is so much to see!

Yes, all presenters are required to register in advance of the conference. Presenters must register no later than April 1, 2021.  

Uploading a Presentation in OpenWater

You are responsible for uploading your final presentation (poster, oral, or exhibit) and materials. Providing your final presentation is essential to providing a quality symposium experience. Once completed, the collection is published on our website as part of the symposium proceedings and made available to other symposium attendees. 

The final date presenters can submit edits to their project titles or submit co-presenter information is Thursday April 8, 2021. Any changes submitted after that date will not be included in the virtual Symposium Program.

The last day to edit your abstract or upload your poster presentation with video, video, oral presentation video, exhibit video, or any other presentation materials will be April 1, 2021.

Your mentor is most likely an expert at preparing abstracts, so it is best to start by reaching out to them for help.  You can also find thousands of examples of project abstracts online.  One recommended site to visit is the NCUR Proceedings page, where you can search through a number of undergraduate abstracts that have been accepted for presentation.

You can make changes directly through the registration link. When you sign into the account that you created for your registration, sign in again and you will see the tab to the left “Applications,” where you will find your application and you can go in and edit anything that you need to fix.

Uploading a Presentation in OpenWater

If you need to cancel your registration you will need to contact the Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity directly at ug-research@nau.edu to inform us of your need to cancel.

The Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity does not require a final paper submission. Your presentation is your final product. We require presenters to upload a final presentation by April 1, 2021 to the presenter’s session page so that it is available to conference attendees. This material, along with the full abstract and information about the authors, becomes part of the conference materials that remain on the website.

If you are participating as part of a class requirement, your faculty may require a final paper related to your presentation. 

Yes, you can present more than one project. You will need to register separately for each project.

When you are registering, there is a question on the first page where you will input your faculty’s name and email. Once you’ve completed your application your faculty mentor will receive a confirmation email that you registered.

Unfortunately, no. Registration is open for two months, so that you have plenty of time to register. If you happen to miss the deadline, you will need to wait until next year to present.

**New this year:  For poster presentations, students are required to record and upload a video of themselves giving a 5 minute oral presentation on their research.  Any additional handouts or materials that you were going to provide at the in-person event can also be uploaded into the portal.  By April 8, 2021 you must have your POSTER AND VIDEO  uploaded.

Yes, we have templates for poster design and PowerPoint templates for oral presentations. You can use these templates to help guide you, but you can also feel free to get creative with your presentations.

You can use whatever format works best for you to present your work. You do need to have it uploaded ahead of time. The deadline to upload presentation material is April 1.

Because there will be no live presentations, you will only need to coordinate with your partner on the preparation for the presentation. We would recommend using Google Drive as a way to work on the poster together. For your video pitch or oral presentation, we recommend searching for a free video creation software, such as Powtoon: Video Presentation Builder, which allows you to easily edit presentations and videos. 

If you are on campus you can check out laptops from Cline Library. If you are not on campus and are in need of a laptop, we suggest you ask your local library or see if there are any other places in your town that you can borrow the technology you need.

In this virtual symposium and all presentations will be available April 12 through April 16.

You may upload any extra documents into your application portal that you wish people to have.

While this is a virtual event, you may still have the opportunity to Skype or Zoom with judges or other people with whom you may wish to network. Dress should be professional. Remember that this is a wonderful networking opportunity and take advantage of the time to get to know other people in your field.

Yes! The more the merrier. Please invite anyone that you feel would like to see what students have been working on throughout the year. The link to the virtual symposium will be open to everyone and we would love to have everyone join us.

We hope to let you know if you have won an award within a week.

The feedback will be available the Monday after the event. Your feedback will be available to you via the online portal that you signed up in.