Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2020

Dear all,

We are delighted to announce the final version of the programme for virtual MedRen . Beyond withdrawing your paper, no changes can be made to the final programme. Please go to https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/medrenconference/ to view the programme, register and access the virtual conference. We are still waiting onone final link for the new ePay registration system, so please do check back afew times this week if registration is not immediately available. Registration is £20, or free for PhDs, PostDocs, unwaged, or those badly affected by Covid-19. Once you have registered, you will be given a password to access the portal.

FAQs:

How do I record my paper for MedRen?
If you are a speaker, you should have just been emailed a document for help and advice onrecording a presentation.

How will MedRen work?
You can watch the papers for MedRen in your own time. Just follow the links through the portal and watch where and when you like. You can also leave questions in the comments box at the bottom of each session andthe speakers will be encouraged to respond to these in the same way. These are open for the whole conference, so do keeping checking back throughout. Many ofthe papers also have a live Q&A session (see programme). Obviously, it is helpful to have watched the relevant paper(s) before the live Q&A session. Here, you will be able to have a live discussion with the panel members about their sessions.

We have a number of receptions planned throughout which will allow for more informal face-to-face conversation. These will work by havingeveryone together in one large live session, but then divided into smaller ‘breakout rooms’. These will be randomly assigned initially but people are thenable to move about these rooms to talk to different people.

For more details, see the website.

I’m a chair – what do I do?
You will be chairing both the asynchronous comments-based questions and the live voice and live-chat based questions. Please continue to check on the comments section for the recorded videos throughout theconference, even if they live Q&A has already passed. You might like to start things off here with your own written questions. If you feel any questionsare unfair or need to be removed, please contact the medren email address ([email protected]) so one of the conference team can moderate. Everyone’s first comment will be moderated by the conference team before it is posted (all subsequent are automatically accepted) so you should not need to deal with spam in this feed.

For the live Q&A, a member of the conference team will make sure that you are designated as the chair of the meeting – this means that you can call on people to speak, allow certain people to screen-share and, if necessary, remove people from the room. There should be a member of the conference team on-hand should anything go wrong. You and the speakers will be sent a calendar invite to your email address for the Q&A session, and will be able to join through clicking on that. At the start, you might like to welcome people to the virtual room and introduce each of the speakers. Some of the audience may be using mic and we**am – others might just be listening and typing. The audience do have the facility to raise a hand in order to answer aquestion. You might like to use this in order to control the discussion. There is a live text-chat feature which works simultaneously with the video and mic. It might be easier, if the audience struggle with the hand raising, to use this for people to ask questions.

For any other questions, do get in touch.

This email will go out through the usual MedRen Jisc, AMS-Announce, Musicology-all etc., but please do help us to share this email around through your own networks to ensure that it reaches everyone.

Best,

The MedRen Team

Dear MedRen Delegates,

We are very pleased to be able to release the draft programme of Virtual MedRen 2020! As with the previous version, the separate days are marked as sheets on the Excel spreadsheet, and appear as small tabs at the bottom of the page. All times are given in GMT+1/BST. We are still working to finalize some of our virtual events, but these will occur in the evenings - probably after 18.00.

As we are sure you can imagine, organizing live Q&A panels for over 85 delegates, spread over 18 time zones, all with different commitments and constraints, was incredibly challenging. As such, there is very little room for manoeuvre within the programme. Given that the maximum time commitment is only one hour, and your own slot 15 minutes, we hope that this will be workable.

We realize that many of you will have questions, which we have tried to preemptively answer.

Q. Is it possible to change my slot?
A. Only if there is a completely unworkable conflict. We are not able to take into account preferences for morning, afternoon, or day.

Q. I filled out the Google Form, but my name is not on the programme - what should I do?
A. We had periodic problems with the form. Please e-mail us.

Q. I forgot to fill out the Google Form! Can I still deliver a paper at MedRen 2020?
A. We regret that due to the complexity of the programming, we cannot add further names. We announced our participation deadline previously via email and all our social media channels.

Q. I have had to withdraw my paper. Do I have an automatic acceptance to MedRen 2021?
A. All of the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conferences are organized separately. The 2021 Organizing Committee has informed us that you can resubmit your abstract with a note mentioning that you could not deliver your paper due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. They will take this into account during the assessment.

Q. I am suffering financial hardship due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and am not sure whether I can cover registration.
A. Registration for MedRen 2020 is free for students, unwaged, and postdocs. This category includes those whose incomes have been adversely affected due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Q. I am not sure how to make a video. Can you help?
A. We will post a document with tips to our website (https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/medrenconference/) by 1 June 2020.

Q. Is it possible to attend MedRen 2020 without giving a paper?
A. Yes! This has always been the case, and it isn't changing.

Q. When does registration open?
A. Registration opens on 1 June 2020.

We would like to thank you all for your support of Virtual MedRen 2020. As you will see from the programme, we have much exciting scholarship to look forward to this July! Thank you for working with us to ensure that our annual meeting, which means so much to us all, can go ahead. We look forward to receiving your paper-presentations via e-mail by 12 June 2020.

With all best wishes for your health and safety,

The MedRen Organizing Committee

Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2020 – The website of the Edinburgh Medieval and Renaissance Music conference.