Canada’s largest interdisciplinary conference, the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, took place last week at UBC’s Vancouver campus, and more than 140 IT staff contributed to support the conference. “UBC and thousands of global delegates benefited from the work of IT staff, and they should take great pride in their contributions and impact which was felt Congress-wide,” noted UBC Project Manager for Congress 2019 Carolina Cerna.
How did IT make an impact?
- 400 classroom and session spaces were outfitted with AV upgrades, 200 laptops were ready for use, and wireless connectivity was set up for approximately 10,000 delegates.
- 1,200+ AV-required sessions were supported including video capture, video recording and publishing, and simultaneous interpretations.
- Creative Media Studios created digital signage and wayfinding signs around campus.
- The Cybersecurity team engaged in pre-work to ensure visitors and guests had the proper credentials to access WiFi and other services on campus.
- Pay for print service was set up across campus libraries, with additional assistance at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
- Desktop Services were set up at the Nest, the main hub of campus during Congress.
When it was announced that extra AV support was needed, 120+ IT volunteers stepped up to assist. The hard work of IT staff did not go unnoticed on Twitter and users chimed in to express their gratitude.
In addition to ensuring the smooth operations of meetings, presentations, and panels for more than 10,000 academics over seven days, IT support was also required for public programming, including the Big Thinking lecture series and other events that were free for the public to attend. “IT worked tirelessly behind the scenes to lay the blueprint for a well-built conference and the entire team brought their considerable skills to the project,” said Cerna.
