Digital and On-Site Sessions: How the Congress Will Work

Digital Attendance

The Ceremonies, Plenaries and Symposium will be hybrid event (both digital and physical), with live presentations and discussions. Some speakers will present live from Rennes, France, while others will present remotely from their homes. All these sessions will be both accessible online and on-site (in Rennes) with a translation service provided in English and in French.

Forum Sessions and Workshops

3 main Forum session types (130 sessions of 90 min. in total) will be available online:

• “Normal” Forum Sessions (90 min): the pre-recorded* (audio+video) presentations attributed to the session will be broadcast at the beginning of each related session (about 1 hour of presentations in a row), followed by a 30-minute live online discussion between presenters and participants, facilitated by a moderator. This means that all presenters will have to be connected during their session time to participate in the live discussion and answer questions digitally.
  (*Pre-recording presentations will allow us to reduce the risk of technical bugs and connectivity issues during the Congress, but also to make each of the 400 presentation recordings are available for replay to participants for 3 months after the OWC).
  
  
• Workshops, Leadership Forum and exchange sessions of the Stakeholder Forum: 90 minutes of completely live, digital interaction between speakers, presenters, and participants.
• E-posters will be accessible at any time on the digital OWC platform. Participants will also be able to contact and chat with their authors.

The OWC Digital Platform

Swapcard is the official Congress digital platform. It will be will open and be accessible to participants 1 week before the congress. You can now find the OWC detailed programme here.

On-Site Attendance in France

For those who registered for a physical participation in Rennes, the congress will take place at the congress centre The Couvent des Jacobins.

What will happen in Rennes?

• The ceremonies, Plenaries and Symposium will be hybrid events and all accessible at the Couvent des Jacobins (see digital attendance).
• For each of the 6 congress Forums and for each time slot, there will be one dedicated “projection room” (2 rooms for the Science Forum) where the online session will be broadcast on a screen in a dedicated room. Participants in these “projection” rooms will have the opportunity to comment or ask questions through their connected device (smartphone, tablet, or laptop) during the live discussions on Swapcard.
• The Culture & Education Forum will propose 5 face-to-face workshops on-site at the Couvent des Jacobins. These will complement digital sessions with in-depth discussions on current global challenges, from cultural, philosophical, spiritual, educational, and training perspectives.
• There will be a dedicated “quiet room” with WIFI access where you can go to participate in digital sessions, especially if you are a speaker or roundtable moderator.
• Some Workshops and Exchange sessions of the Stakeholder Forum will be held on-site at the Couvent des Jacobins.
• Networking and informal meetings during coffee and lunch breaks, which can also be facilitated by the Swapcard app.

Side Events On-Site in Rennes, France

• During and after the congress, meet people of the regional organic movements and agriculture: more than 60 events are already presented on Voyage en Terre Bio's website, a dedicated Brittany organization set up to broaden the impact of the Congress to the general public: markets, tables or banquets, circuits to discover organic local actors, discussions and conferences. Many events will take place on the 11th of September, so if you plan to stay a bit in France to visit, this is a great opportunity to meet the local actors!
• Business, cultural, patrimonial, and sightseeing tours and visits are proposed by our local partner “Destination Rennes”. More information, registration and fees here.

Important Information for On-Site Participants

• Please, if you have one, don’t forget to bring your smartphone, tablet or laptop, to attend online sessions and/or facilitate interactions with other participants. Also remember to bring your headset/earphones!
• A Sanitary Pass is compulsory! The French authorities require the presentation of a health pass to access the event in Rennes and be able to access to the OWC2021 venue, Couvent des Jacobins. More information here: https://owc.ifoam.bio/2021/covid-19