Updates 3/12/2024.
- Chairs received an email alerting them to limited availability of AV in session rooms, and asking them to encourage participants in rooms without AV to make use of our app for slide decks and accessibility papers or hand-outs.a
- Please check your room assignment on the Schedule and App.
Projectors/Roll-In Screens
UPDATE: We will have roll-in screens (probably not projectors) in 10 of the rooms that you can plug your laptop into. Everyone who requested AV at time of submission was given priority for a screen. We will have sound (microphone and speakers) in 5 of those rooms. You’ll need an adapter for an HDMI cable; we’ll have some adapters on hand but please bring your adapter if you can. See the “Rooms with AV” list below.
Speakers and microphones
We will have 5 “sound” rooms over the 3 days of the conference. Everyone who requested sound and/or microphones for their session was given priority for a “sound” room. This will provide us with approx. 65 rooms. See the “Rooms with AV” list below.
App Uses
We are using the Socio/Webex app again this year. You can upload a URL or PDF of your talk or slide deck here: Accessibility Copies Form. We cannot guarantee that documents will be uploaded if they are submitted later than 5pm of the day before the session.
Wifi and Internet
We will not have wifi in the breakout rooms.
Wifi is available in the lobby and in guest rooms for members of the free Marriott/Sheraton Bonvoy program or for a cost.
Rooms with AV
Visual and Sound Rooms: (visual – usually a roll-in screen you can plug your laptop into – and speakers/microphones)
- City Hall
- Davenport
- Huron
- Kent
- Birchwood (replaces Provincial S)
Visual Only Rooms: (visual only – usually a roll-in screen you can plug your laptop into with no sound support)
- Dufferin
- Elgin
- Kenora
- Simcoe
- Wentworth
Rooms Without A/V Equipment:
- Churchill
- Kensington
- Mackenzie
- Norfolk
- Peel
- York
- Special Use Rooms
- ASECS Office: Roosevelt
- Carleton: Quiet Room (open throughout the day to all who need a quiet space without noise)
- Oxford: Lactation Room (key available at ASECS registration desk)
- Provincial Ballroom N: Exhibit Hall and 18th-Century Cafés
History of Price Increases
AV equipment has become our most expensive budget item for the Annual Meeting in the last 2 years.
In 2019, ASECS paid approx. $20,000 for LCD projectors and low-bandwidth wifi (no speakers); in 2022, our first return to an in-person conference, that price doubled for that same level of service. In 2023, the hotel’s AV company presented us with a $99,996.61 bid for LCD projectors, 3 “sound” rooms (speakers and microphones); low-bandwidth wifi was included.
We operate our conference at a significant loss, which adds to our growing structural budget deficit. This bid was far beyond our resources. We utilized the services of another AV company for approx. $55,000, which included LCD projectors in every room and 5 sound rooms, but did not include wifi or hardwired internet for streaming plenaries or other sessions; we anticipate a similar situation this year.
We will not be offering virtual participation at this year’s Annual Meeting. For members who request virtual accommodations, chairs may permit registered conference panelists the option of pre-recording a session. If chairs permit that option, they should ensure that they have downloaded the video to their computer for them to play. Note that some rooms may not have AV.
As announced at the 2022 and 2023 Business Meeting and in our news circular and via our website, ASECS will host an all-virtual Annual Meeting in 2025.
App
We will again use an app from WebEx (formerly Socio). Print programs will not be available in order to save costs and minimize the disposal of thousands of pages of programs.
The app has the possibility of adding slide decks and papers to the session for accessibility copies or to provide extra information; presenters will receive instructions for how to upload their materials or provide a URL to the Business Office as the conference draws nearer.