Hello VTC2020-Spring Delegate,

With the current COVID-19 global health crisis, the VTS Board of Governors has made the decision to convert the upcoming VTC originally planned for Antwerp into a fully virtual event. While not ideal, it is the prudent decision to ensure the safety and well being of all constituents.

As a current registrant for VTC2020-Spring, please take note of the following information regarding some necessary changes:

• The conference will take place as an on-demand, fully virtual event during its scheduled week.
• Only registrants will have access to the virtual conference.
• All authors will be required to complete a pre-recorded presentation of their paper(s) and instructions are attached.
• All authors will also be required to upload their pre-recorded presentation(s) to the ON24 commercial platform licensed by IEEE by 11 May (current extension) and these details will be forthcoming once the virtual platform is completed.
• Tutorials will now be offered for free to each delegate during the entirety of the conference. Anyone who has already paid for a tutorial will be refunded the cost of their tutorial selection(s).
• Delegates who registered for additional social functions or extra copies of the proceedings will be refunded for these additional items.

VTS will also allow the following, which must be requested by 16 April.

• Spring delegates also planning to attend VTC2020-Fall in Victoria can request that their current spring registration be transferred to the fall conference (subject to approval). While authors who select this option will have the opportunity to participate and present their work in Victoria, they are still required to provide a pre-recorded presentation for the spring conference and to actively engage in any Q&A initiated by attendees. All papers remain as part of the spring conference proceedings and program and will enter the Xplore database as such.
• Any non-author registration can be cancelled without penalty until 16 April.

Note that tutorials, workshops, keynotes, industry panels, and technical sessions are still expected to be available to delegates. Question and answer interactions will be made possible by the use of live message boards, through which authors, presenters, and delegates are expected to monitor and engage.

One final point, the VTS Board has also approved partial refunds to the current registrants for VTC2020-Spring. As the planning and organization of VTC continues, VTS will work to minimize costs so as to try and maximize partial registration refunds. Since the organization of VTC2020-Spring is ongoing, more updates on refunds will be forthcoming.

Should you have any questions, feel free to email the Conference Administrators, Rodney Keele or Cerry Leffler, for assistance.

I look forward to meeting you virtually as well as in person once the future allows.

May you and your families remain safe and healthy.

Kind regards,
JR
Professor J. R. Cruz
Director and Tilley Chair
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Oklahoma

For virtual presentation guidelines:  Presentation Instructions_VTCSpring-2020_for_delegates – Final 4-2-2020