GA 2020 intro

12/10/2020
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The 2020 WMA
General Assembly
Cordoba
goes online
A briefing for attendees
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12/10/2020
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The CoViD-19 Pandemic has forced us to change the
Council Sessions, the Committee Meetings, the Meeting
of the Associate Members, the JDN and finally the
General Assembly to a virtual event.
The Scientific Session 2020 is postponed with the
intention to be staged as an in-person conference in
Cordoba during Spring or Summer 2021.
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COVID-19 pandemic forces us to go online with
the 1xx Council Meeting and the General Assembly
With Delegates coming from nearly every time zone in this world, a suitable time window
for an online meeting during the day is rather short
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Other then usual webinars or video presentations our meetings are
rather complex. They are:
• Highly interactive
• With a large number of participating attendees with different status,
changing from session to session
• Being held in four languages with simultaneous interpretation
• Include text work and
• Elections as well as
• Frequent and weighted voting at the General Assembly
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In order to accommodate for those circumstances the Executive
Committee has recommended a number of modifications from our
usual procedure and schedules:
• With the global spread of attendees – to limit session time to 3 hours
per day
• To use a conference system which best allows the use of four
languages during the online conference
• To concentrate on those matters of work, which are statutorily
necessary or have a high chance to be adopted
• To use software that permits designated Delegates and Council
Members to cast their votes
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Council 180
Council 180
08:00
12:00
14:00
15:00
Tuesday Wednesday Friday Saturday
Thursday
18:00
17:00
16:00
10:00
11:00
09:00
13:00
Executive
committee
Finance
Group
Work
Groups
Medical
Ethics
Socio-
Medical
Affaires
Luncheon
Session
Scientific
Session
Scientific
Session
Assoc. Members
Members
General
Assembly
Work
Groups/
Free time
Council
General
Assembly
Council
Work
Groups
Special Function
Council
19:00
20:00
Finance &
Planning
Credentials
General
Assembly
GA-Schedule
Reception
Special
Functions
Reception &
Dinner
Reception &
Dinner
, Oct 22
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Tuesday, Oct 27 Wednesday, Oct 28 Friday, Oct 30
Monday, Oct 26 Thursday, Oct 29
11:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
12:00
Council
Finance &
Planning
Socio-Medical
Affaires
Socio-Medical
Affaires
Council
General
Assembly
General
Assembly
Council
Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief
Chair & Staff debrief
UTC
Medical Ethics
Please check your local time here
GA-Schedule
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UTC Tuesday, Oct 27 Wednesday, Oct 28 Friday, Oct 30
Monday, Oct 26 Thursday, Oct 29
GA-Schedule
12:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
13:00
Council
Finance &
Planning
Socio-Medical
Affaires
Socio-Medical
Affaires
Council
General
Assembly
General
Assembly
Council
Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief Chair & Staff debrief
Chair & Staff debrief
Medical Ethics
Workgroup meetings, Executive Committee,
Finance Group and JDN meetings – as well as
the Associate Members Meeting will be
held in advance to the General Assembly
week.
Please check your local time here
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Presidential Election
• The deadline for nominations for
Election to the WMA Presidency for the
year 2021-2022 was October 9th.
• By this date only Dr Heidi Stensmyren
has been duly nominated.
• Dr Heidi Stensmyren will stand to be
accepted by acclamation as President-
Elect at the General Assembly on 30
October.
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Checklist for online participation
• Make sure that you are registered for the meeting (and if applicable that you are designated as voting delegate).
Non-registered persons will not be able to follow us.
• A laptop or desktop computer with sufficient internet bandwidth to run video chats.
• Ideal: a second screen or use a mobile device to run the CrowdCompass app for general information or voting
with NemoVote
• Google Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge as browser (required to use our conference system)
• Webcam and microphone – please use a headset
• A place with low background noise
• Lightsource from the front – reduce backlight
• Download the conference documents upfront
• Familiarize yourself with the browser-based voting platform NemoVote (voting delegates only)
• Bookmark the Conference Website
• Install the CrowdCompass app by Cvent on the mobile system(s) you will use
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Steps to get online
• Begin preparation well ahead of the General Assembly –
Participate in the mock session on 21 October at noon UTC! Please check your local time here.
• Make sure that you have a good internet connection. (Test the speed at
https://interprefy.speedtestcustom.com/)
• Have a look at the WMA General Assembly information in the Conference Website and the
mirroring CrowdCompass app. You can use a mobile device as an adjuvant system e.g. for
voting or display of text. Interprefy works ONLY on laptop and desktop systems.
• Connect to Conference Website and/or the CrowdCompass App for and navigation before and
during the Sessions.
• Familiarize with the Interprefy instructions. Interprefy is the main conferencing system we will
use.
• If you are a voting delegate please read the NemoVote instructions on how to vote.
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When it Comes to the Sessions
• If you wish to make final editing suggestions, you should send them to the WMA
Secretariat 48 hours prior to each session. Please remember motions can only be made
by council members. So please make sure that a Council Member is prepared to move.
• Cross check for your local time when the session starts – remember times are given in
Universal Time Coordinated UTC – not your local time. You may wish to adjust the
CrowdCompass app to your local time zone, otherwise please check your local time here.
• Please log-on to Interprefy 15 min before the session starts. The direct link to each
session will be available from the CrowdCompass App/Conference website.
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The General Assembly
Website an the
CrowdCompass App
• The Registration system will send you a link to
download the CrowdCompass app and to verify
your registration.
• The CrowdCompass app and the Conference
Website help you to navigate the event, to reach
the documents, to access the session and (for
committee/council members and voting delegates)
to reach the voting platform.
• We recommend to log-in to Conference Website
through your browser on the same computer you
will use to participate in the meeting. This will give
you facilitated access to the sessions and the
voting platform.
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Interprefy is the Main Conference System
• Interprefy is browser based (Google Chrome, Firefox or
Microsoft Edge) conference platform and similar to other
online conference systems. However, it is specialized for
multilingual conferences and events.
• Check the Interprefy User Guide.
• Be online and connect well ahead of time (15 min)
• Make sure you have a good internet connection use a
headset whenever possible
• You can raise a virtual hand in order to speak and you
can use the chat-function to address the Chair to make a
point of order
• Make use of the mock session on 21 October
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Voting during the online
sessions
• During Council and Committee Sessions Council Members
have the right to vote, at the General Assembly the
designated voting delegate of each delegation.
• The Conference Website or the CrowdCompass app will
guide those eligible to vote to the browser-based voting
platform NemoVote.
• At Council and Committees, each vote has the same
weight. At the General Assembly the vote will be weighted
according to the voting rights of the Constituent Member.
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Voting with NemoVote I
• During our sessions when motions are being put
to the vote, the Chair usually asks who is in
favour and who is against and he or she may ask
for abstentions.
• In order to save time during the online sessions
the Chair may reverse the order and ask the
Council Members (in Council or Committee) or
the designated voting delegates for objections
first. At this point only attendees allowed to vote
may speak. If there is no objection, the motion is
accepted, if there is and the opposition cannot
be cleared immediately, the Chair will start the
online voting with NemoVote.
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Voting with NemoVote II
• NemoVote must be opened in a browser window
with the link and the voter credentials you have
received from the secretariat. (Non voting
attendees will not be able to log in.)
• Once you are logged-in, you will be informed on
the screen when there is a new vote open for you.
You than can vote and confirm your vote. The Chair
will only see who has voted, but not what (except
when the vote is unanimous, of course). If enough
time has passed the chair will close the vote and
announce the result. (Voters will see it on
NemoVote as well.)
• After that you may have to refresh the screen in
order to be prepared for the next vote.
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Guides Available
Meeting Documents Depository – Users Guide
GA Delegate Orientation / GA Delegate Orientation Presentation
Overview of WMA Parliamentary Procedures
Council and Committee Chair Orientation Guide
New Council Member Orientation Guide
Using the Conference Website and the CrowdCompass App for the
WMA General Assembly 2020
Interprefy User Guide
Voting with NemoVote
These guides are likewise available on the
Conference Website and the CrowdCompass App
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Contacts when technical problems
• In case of problems with Interprefy:
Gorica Ivanovic at gorica.ivanovic@interprefy.com
• In case of problems with NemoVote:
Florian Tischler at f.tischler@nemocontra.de
• In case of problems with CrowdCompass and general issues:
secretariat@wma.net
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www.wma.net
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