Confirmation of how the PolConf works

Hi everyone,

As this is my first time at the Polyglot Conference, I just wanted to confirm how everything works: am I right in thinking that the videos/talks can be accessed at any time and that, other than that, most people will be spending time practising languages in the Earth Exchange? Are there any particular timings for practising languages in the Earth Exchange/Zoom rooms?

I’m asking as I’m a private tutor and some students have been asking me to still do some lessons during my ‘time off’ (which I took to attend the Polyglot Conference). As they know it’s my time off, they’ve indicated flexibility as to when the lessons happen, so I was wondering if there are any times I could suggest to them that would least interfere with my enjoyment/participation in the Polyglot Conference (I live in London so my time zone is BST or UTC + 1)! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Maybe an organiser or someone who’s attended the Conference before may have an idea? Or I can email the organisers if better.

Thanks very much,
Dhananjay

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I joined the conference late last year so I can’t speak for the talks, but I’ll throw in my two cents: there are scheduled practice sessions in the Venus room and Earth exchange, so you could plan sessions around those sessions, although more are probably going to be added to the schedule as the conference goes on. Last year there were also rooms open 24/7 for French, German, Mandarin, etc (basically the most common languages) and people would go in whenever they wanted to speak the language with whoever else was in the room. (I don’t see those rooms on the live environment yet, but maybe they’ll add it soon.) The Moon Cafe is also open 24/7 and used as a hangout room (which means conversations usually end up being in English), but if everyone has a language in common, you could suggest speaking in that language in there. Since the conference is global, there’s usually always someone in the Moon Cafe and practice rooms. I remember going into some of the Zoom rooms at 2 in the morning and speaking to people from Asia.

I only joined the conference towards the end last year, so maybe someone who was there for the entire run could also give their input.

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Thanks Steph, this is really extremely helpful!

Hi,
I have paid a donation, registered in the forum for the first time, but when I try to access the 2021 conference I get the message that my account must be approved by an administrator. I guess I should wait until Friday because it’s the middle of Thursday night in Europe?
Thanks for any help someone can provide,
Beth

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Hi Beth! Welcome! Yes, indeed, it’s one small difference in registration to the 2021 Live Environment this year. Richard will approve all those who registered when he wakes up.

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