Exhibiting at SOMA
Special thanks to Jack Mitchell for writing the instructions for JAWS
We'd love to know about your experience as an exhibitor! Please fill out the following form:
Welcome! We're very pleased you've decided to exhibit at SOMA's conference with our intaractive platform! Click here for the schedule, and read below for information to make your experience go smoother:
Entering and navigating your booth
SOMA sent you an email message with the link to your booth.
When you click on the link, you may go straight to the platform, or you may be asked to sign in -- if you sign in with email, make sure you use the same address that you use to correspond with SOMA.
Navigating your booth visually
If you used your booth link to get on the platform, you may see something similar to the screen to the left, with the name of your booth in the upper left of the screen.
If you got on the platform another way, look on the left of your screen and click on "booths" and then choose your booth and click on "enter."
You are now standing at your front desk, and you need to enter your booth.
Ignore the bottom text that says "join front desk" and instead click on the word "rooms" on the right side of the screen, as shown in the picture to the left.
Now you should see "Board Room 1" with a blue "Enter" button to the right, and below that is "Board Room 2" with its own "enter" button.
Choose either of the rooms (they're both the same) and click on "enter."
After a few seconds, you can see yourself on the screen, sitting in your booth, ready to receive your visitors! Below your screen you now can see buttons for your mike, your camera, and a button to share your screen.
Now you are ready to set up your booth, using the buttons along the right side of your screen.
- Panelist has the names of exhibitors.
- Handouts - if you click on this and then look toward the bottom of that box (as shown in the picture here), you can click on the button "manage Handouts" to load material for people to browse in your booth.
- Guestbook is where you and your visitors can chat and leave messages. Your messages will be saved throughout the conference.
- Rooms -- Your booth can have as many board rooms as you want to handle larger crowds. If your booth has more than one board room, you can click on "rooms" to go into another room (you would still be in your booth, and can invite visitors into either board room).
- Wait list is where you can see the names of people in your waiting room -- click on their names to invite them into your booth.
- Info is where you can write a paragraph to be posted on your booth's icon when people are looking at the list of booths.
- Settings -- if you click on this and then click on "personalize" you can make a different background (what they call the "room skin"), including uploading a photo as your background.
Inviting people into your booth
When someone enters your waiting room, you will hear a "ding."
Click on "Wait List" to see who is there, and click on the invite button to the right of their name.
If your room is getting crowded, you can have someone go into the other Board Room and invite visitors from there.
If you need more rooms, contact Dona Sauerburger -- you can have as many as you need.
Uploading fliers and documents
Exhibitors can upload files (flyers, brochures, etc.) that visitors can peruse in the waiting room and inside your booth.
The files must be in pdf format, and SOMA policy requires that those files must be accessible to everyone, including people who are blind or visually impaired and use screenreaders such as JAWS.
You can make your pdf files accessible easily with Adobe Pro, by simply clicking “scan and OCR." then click "recognize text," or
generate a txt file by the following: file-> export to -> text (accessible). More information is in their guide
If you would like someone to see if your file is accessible, send it in an attachment to Anthony Lanzilotti -- allow at least a day for him to check it out.
Navigating your booth with JAWS screenreader
Getting to and entering your booth
Once you're on the platform, go to "booths" -- starting from the top of the page, navigate by button (press B repeatedly to locate the booths button).
Then navigate by headings by pressing "H" repeatedly until you get to your booth, down-arrow to "enter" button, then you are standing in front of the booth.
To go into your booth and be ready to accept visitors, you need to go into the "board room."
Use JAWS find (CTRL-F) to search for "board room." Then down-arrow to the "Enter" button and press it.
Inviting people into your booth
When someone enters your waiting room, you will hear a "ding."
Either navigate by button to "wait list" or use JAWS find.
If you still have someone on the wait list, you will hear the "ding" again when you open the wait list.
- Tap L to jump to the list, and JAWS will announce how many people are waiting.
- Tap i or down arrow to the first name on the list. [NOTE: Right now, hovering the mouse is required to click on the "invite" button but we have been assured that by the time of the conference, you can down-arrow to find it and click on it to invite people in.]
Uploading fliers and documents
Exhibitors can upload files (flyers, brochures, etc.) that visitors can peruse in the waiting room and inside your booth.
To upload them, navigate to the handouts button (in the right side menu which begins with "guestbook".)
Then navigate by button to the manage handouts button, and down arrow to the link to upload your handouts.
The button to close the handouts list is marked as "unlabeled zero button."
The files must be in pdf format, and SOMA policy requires that those files must be accessible to everyone, including people who are blind or visually impaired and use screenreaders such as JAWS.
Buttons and their purpose:
Click here for a list of the buttons in your booth and their purpose. Some can help you enhance your booth, such as "info" and "settings".
SCHEDULE (all times are Eastern / New York)
Click here for the full schedule at a glance
SUNDAY EVENING, December 13, 2020
SOMA SOCIAL 6:30-9:30
We expect several hundred people to come to the social.
We are keeping them busy throughout with orientations, our opening session, and games, but some people may be curious and explore your booth -- if you're there, they will be pleasantly surprised!
MONDAY and TUESDAY, December 14-15, 2020
Both days have the same schedule. The first session starts at 10:00 AM
Breaks:
- 11:00 - 10-minute break
- 12:10 - half-hour break
- 2:10 - half-hour break
- 4:10 - half-hour break
- 5:55 - 20-minute break
- 7:30 - last session ends