If you forgot the username/email/password you used to register, please visit the MAA2021 Whova site (https://whova.com/portal/webapp/maoa1_202104/) and look for the "Forgot your password" link underneath the login form. If you receive an "Invalid User" error, it's likely that you still need to register for a Whova account to use the MAA site. Look for an email with the subject line "Ready for Medieval Academy of America? Download the Whova App?" for registration instructions.

If you would like to attend a session, visit the MAA2021 Whova site and click the "Agenda" link. Find the session you're interested in, and select "View Session" to open Zoom and enter the virtual meeting room.

If you are speaking in or chairing a regular session, we sent you a special invitation via email. The subject line will be "MAA - " with your session number (e.g. "4A", so search for "MAA - 4A") after it. The link in this email gives you special permissions to share your screen and answer questions.

If you are a participant in a plenary session, we sent you a special invitation via email. The subject line will be "Zoom webinar link". The link in this email gives you special permissions to appear onscreen as a plenary participant.

If you still need help finding your session-speaker or plenary link, please email glabe@indiana.edu for assistance.

To find the chat when you are viewing a session embedded in Whova’s web page, look for the “…” (three-dots) button near the “Leave” button.

If you have issues viewing chat and the session at the same time, it may be easiest to view the session in full-screen mode using the “view” button at the top right of the Zoom window. Use the “esc” key to exit full-screen mode.

MAA2021 offers live captioning and subtitles on request. Please use Zoom's chat feature to privately message your session chair to request subtitles.

• March 25: Registration deadline for attendees (includes chairs and presenters). Late registration fees apply for registrations after March 10.
• Between April 5 and 10: All registrants will be sent information about using Whova to attend sessions and virtual exhibitor booths
• April 15: Welcome to MAA 2021

• March 19: Exhibitor and sponsor registration deadline
• March 25: Exhibitor and sponsor "booths" complete

• April 1: Presenters will receive information on how to customize their presenter information, upload handouts, and access the presenter-only Zoom link for their presentation session

Please be prepared to arrive in your presenter-only Zoom session 15 minutes before your session is scheduled to start.

Why We Have a Professional Behavior Policy

The Medieval Academy of America (MAA) is committed to protecting all members of our community, especially those in vulnerable positions. Mutual respect is expected; neither harassment nor bullying will be tolerated. A Medieval Academy in which members behave professionally and ethically is an important component of the continued health of our field in the next scholarly generations. The principles and policy contained in this document apply to all attendees at our Annual Meeting and supplement the MAA's harassment policy for its employees.

Professional Space

The annual meeting is a place where people come to exchange ideas and build intellectual and professional networks. All interactive venues of the annual meeting—in person, through email and other electronic forms of communication, or on social media, and whether formal or informal—are shared professional spaces. Attendees should assume that all of their interactions during the meeting are professional, not personal. Keeping in mind that consent may look different to someone in a less secure position, the best practice is for all parties to agree freely and explicitly when interactions shift away from the strictly professional.

Respect

Professional respect is an ethical practice. In a professional space, attendees should comport themselves according to the values of nondiscrimination, dignity, and courtesy. Attendees also acknowledge the rights of all MAA members and other scholars to hold diverse values and opinions. The practice of mutual respect fosters a sustainable environment for freedom of expression and open inquiry. When a culture of mutual respect is not maintained, our profession suffers by the voices we lose and the diminished reach of the voices that remain.

Harassment

The Medieval Academy of America views harassment as a form of discrimination and misconduct by which the harasser asserts a relationship of power over the harassed through behavior that causes feelings of fear or distress. Harassment implies that an individual is not worthy of respect and that the views and person of that individual hold little or no value. Harassment may be overt or subtle, public or private, in-person or online, sexual or otherwise. All forms of harassment hurt the individual, the organization, and the profession in far-reaching and long-standing ways.

Harassment includes demeaning, humiliating, and threatening actions, comments, jokes, other forms of verbal and/or written communication, body language, and physical contact, based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, religion, physical and mental ability, or any other legally protected characteristic, and intersections thereof.

Sexual harassment includes but is not limited to unwanted sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature; offensive or suggestive jokes or remarks; inappropriate personal questions or conversations; unwelcome or nonconsensual physical contact, such as patting, hugging, or touching; display of sexually explicit, offensive, or demeaning images except for scholarly analysis; leering or ogling; sexual remarks about someone’s clothing or body; repeated requests for dates after having been told no; and retaliatory behavior.

Bullying

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (link: https://www.cdc.gov/features/preventbullying/index.html) consider bullying a serious problem. Bullying includes 1) intentional aggression, physical, verbal, or social in nature, direct or indirect; 2) a power imbalance between aggressor and victim, distinguishing bullying from other forms of peer aggression; and 3) either a single serious incident or repeated incidents.

Bullying is often a result of envy and resentment of what is perceived as special treatment. The Medieval Academy is comprised of scholars from all over the world, and is thus a racially and ethnically diverse group. We should take special care to use our meetings to welcome and come to understand in more depth the richness that this diversity brings to our organization.

In a professional setting, such as within MAA, bullying of any sort can be considered workplace violence. In academia, the workplace includes the expanded space of conferences, digital communication, publication forums, and the like. New, virtual work spaces are increasingly exposed to cyber bullying, sexual harassment, stalking, threats, and other forms of interpersonal violence. Bullying may include refusal to recognize diverse cultural meanings and personal constructions of work, work environments, and interpersonal relationships based on race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender expression, nationality, language, religion, career stage, and other dimensions and intersections of difference.

Microaggressions

Microaggressions (link: http://www.microaggressions.com/) need not be intentional. They are seemingly casual behavioral acts that denigrate members of traditionally marginalized groups. They may seem minor to the one who commits them, but the target may be on the receiving end of a constant barrage. In a professional space, microaggressions undermine mutual respect and equitable exchange of ideas.

Social Media

The MAA asks that attendees at annual meetings observe the principles of consent and respect when using social media. Express permission to post or tweet conference speakers’ work, images, and audio or video recordings must be secured in advance through session organizers or presiders (copyright law may well require this). Speakers reserve all rights to their work and related materials. The MAA Annual Meeting hashtag is a representation of both the academy and members using it; as such, the virtual medium is an extension of the professional space. Due to its immediacy and brevity, live-tweeting or blogging must strive for accuracy and avoid misrepresentation, misappropriation, and misunderstanding. Members participating in online conversations or public forums pertinent to annual meetings should practice respect and collegiality. The MAA considers doxxing, outing, and online harassment or stalking antithetical to its core values.

Violations

The Medieval Academy of America will not take breaches of professional or ethical behavior lightly. Any violations of these policies should be reported to the Executive Director of the Academy, who will speak to the parties involved and take action appropriate to the particular context, in consultation with any members of Council delegated for this task* and in accordance with our status as a membership organization and the policies of the host institution.

* In addition to the Executive Director, the Advocates will consist of one elected Councillor and the Graduate Student Committee Chair. The names of the Advocates will be published in the Annual Meeting Programme and made known in advance. 

All of our participants--exhibitors, speakers, chairs, and attendees--need to register.

Registration costs for speakers and attendees range from $15 to $50 USD. Additional late-registration fees apply for registrations after March 10.

Register as a Speaker or Attendee by March 25

Exhibitors and sponsors can read our full exhibitor and sponsor guide at https://maa2021.indiana.edu/exhibitors/

Register as an Exhibitor and/or Sponsor by March 19

If you are having technical or payment difficulties with your registration, please email glabe@indiana.edu.

If you forgot the username/email/password you used to register, please visit the MAA2021 Whova site (https://whova.com/portal/webapp/maoa1_202104/) and look for the "Forgot your password" link underneath the login form. If you receive an "Invalid User" error, it's likely that you still need to register for a Whova account to use the MAA site. Look for an email with the subject line "Ready for Medieval Academy of America? Download the Whova App?" for registration instructions.

If you would like to attend a session, visit the MAA2021 Whova site and click the "Agenda" link. Find the session you're interested in, and select "View Session" to open Zoom and enter the virtual meeting room.

If you are speaking in or chairing a regular session, we sent you a special invitation via email. The subject line will be "MAA - " with your session number (e.g. "4A", so search for "MAA - 4A") after it. The link in this email gives you special permissions to share your screen and answer questions.

If you are a participant in a plenary session, we sent you a special invitation via email. The subject line will be "Zoom webinar link". The link in this email gives you special permissions to appear onscreen as a plenary participant.

If you still need help finding your session-speaker or plenary link, please email glabe@indiana.edu for assistance.

Speakers and presenters will receive three links via email:

• A speaker page from Whova which allows you to upload a profile photo and any handouts you’d like to distribute
• A Zoom link which will let you participate as a speaker during your session. Look for an email from "IUC Virtual Conference". The link in this email gives you special permissions to share your screen and answer questions.
• An attendee link to the MAA Whova site which allows you to attend other sessions

Attendees who are not presenting will receive a single link to the MAA Whova site to attend sessions and exhibitions. 

All presentations will be delivered live, using a presenter-only Zoom link.

Keeping to time:

Each session is 90 minutes and will end promptly at time. To allow for Q&A with attendees, we ask that presenters honor the following paper-length limits:

• Papers in a 3-paper session should be no longer than 20 minutes.
• Papers in a 4 paper session should be no longer than 15 minutes.

Presenting slides:

The screenshare option in Zoom offers presenters the ability to share slides with the audience.

If you are new to using Zoom, the following links are useful guides:

• Zoom's official screen-sharing instructions: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203395347-Screen-sharing-a-PowerPoint-presentation 
• A 1-minute video tutorial from YouTube user Niyas C on sharing your screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q8N-79np4E 

Distributing handouts:

In addition to uploading a profile photo or bio to your Whova speaker page, you can add handouts to a specific Whova session in which you are listed as a presenter. These documents will appear as links for audience members who join that session.

• Whova tutorial on uploading documents to your speaker page: https://whova.com/pages/whova-speaker-guide/#session_info 

If you would prefer to share your handout live during your session, you may also post a link to a shared document in the chat during your session. Please be aware that attendees who arrive after that link is posted will not be able to access it.

Prior to April 10: Our program, https://maa2021.indiana.edu/program/, lists panel participants and institutional affiliations if you have lost the contact information for your session chair and have questions about your specific session.

After April 10: Please visit Whova using your attendee login and find the Agenda entry for your session. Your panel chair's email address will be accessible from that page.

As with in-person conferences, session chairs will

• keep the session running smoothly and on time. We encourage chairs to enforce appropriate time limits (15 minutes per paper for 4 papers; 20 minutes for 3 papers) in order to respect the work speakers have done in preparing their presentations and accommodate attendee questions. As with in-person conferences, we need chairs to end their sessions on time; the subsequent session will use the same Zoom accounts to host sessions just as we would use the same physical space to host the next session.
• set the tone for attendee conduct. Please ask your speakers if they have preferences for social-media and ensure that audience members are aware of those preferences. Sessions in MAA2021 will not be audio- or video-recorded.
• introduce speakers. Please ensure that you have speaker bios in advance.
• help moderate Q&A. To minimize confusion, session chairs should specify how attendees should queue for questions (in Zoom's chat screen, or by using the "raise hand" button) at the beginning of any Q&A.
• facilitate "hallway" conversations. Contact information for our participants--audience and presenter alike--is in the Whova platform. Please encourage participants who want to have "hallway" conversations after sessions to take note of attendee names and invite fellow participants to informal video-conference chats for post-session discussion. Our conference code of conduct still applies to these informal conversations.

To support session chairs with the virtual elements of MAA2021, the conference committee and IU's Medieval Studies Institute is working to staff each session with a graduate-student support person who can:

• assist in monitoring chat and helping queue attendee questions if requested by the chair
• help attendees and presenters with minor technical issues (questions about screen sharing, posting links to chat, etc.)
• liaising with the conference-management technical support staff for more complex technical issues