One of the main targets of the conference is to take contributions through the submission process: peer-review, camera-ready validation, proceedings assembly, and publication in a free access digital library. Sometimes, for different reasons, even before the pandemic, some contributors were not able to attend in person. Instead, they provided a pre-recorded presentation and/or presentation slides to be shown on their behalf.

The registration fees mainly cover the above activities, which are not related to travel or hotel booking, i.e., not related to a physical presence. By the time the conference takes place, your contribution would have already been published. In addition, the on-site services are paid for based on the total number of registered participants (without knowing how many will opt to not travel to the event).

The event is scheduled and resources booked for the conference to take place on-site. The final scenario might be either on-site, hybrid (mix of on-site and virtual), or fully virtual (.pdf slides or pre-recorded presentation videos) depending on the traveling legislation and safety conditions in place. To cope with different time-zones, presenter availability and the connection reliability, a special procedure will be adopted and timely communicated to those registered. For handling these inconveniences, we advocate free access to the posted materials (not live), with the advantage that both the article content and associated presentation (slides, videos) for any particular contribution will be simultaneously accessible (off-line) and can be alternatively browsed by an interested reader according to personal schedule.

In any scenario, if an author cannot come in person, the author’s registered contribution will be published along with either a pre-recorded presentation or presentation slides.

The process of selecting the awarded papers and invitations for expanded versions to IARIA journals will not be affected by the adopted scenario (pre-recorded or in person presentation). The committee and the logistics will evaluate the presentations and papers, and select the best papers to be awarded.