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What to Expect as an Attendee of the 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting

Attending in Person?

The 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting in-person experience is a vaccine-mandated meeting (with your final dose received on or before October 9). INFORMS is working with ShareMy.Health, a HIPAA-compliant software system that allows attendees to upload their vaccination record in a protected, secure environment to help ensure the safety and well-being of event guests. All in-person attendees will be required to upload their vaccine card to ShareMy.Health via the link they received in an email. If you have not received an email from ShareMy.Health, please notify us immediately at informs@informs.org, and you will be sent another link.

If you have not uploaded your vaccine card prior to arrival on site, your badge will be held at Registration where you will show your vaccine card to an INFORMS staff member. Once verified, you will receive your badge. No attendees are permitted to attend events without a badge.

If you arrive on site without ShareMy.Health verification or completed vaccine card to show, you WILL NOT be permitted to attend the in-person experience.

For assistance with ShareMy.Health, please contact: events@sharemy.health.

COVID-19 Protocol

Click here to learn more about the INFORMS COVID-19 protocol, as well as those for the Convention Center, Marriott Anaheim, and the state of California.

Questions regarding accessibility and on-site services in Anaheim? Click here to learn more about accessibility and on-site services at the meeting.

All meeting attendees have access to the virtual platform for the duration of the meeting, plus an additional three months. Thank you for your participation in the 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Hit the Ground Running with our Quick Reference Guide

From Exhibit Hall and INFORMS Center Hours to can’t-miss social events to the WiFi password, check out our Quick Reference guide to help you navigate the in-person Annual Meeting. You will also receive a physical copy of the guide when you check in at Registration and pick up your meeting badge.

View the Quick Reference Guide

Attending Virtually?

Accessing and Exploring the Meeting Lobby

The platform opened for attendees on Monday, October 18, to provide you time to familiarize yourselves with the meeting platform. You should have received an email with a link and login instructions (you will use your INFORMS login to access the virtual meeting platform). You will not be able to view the recorded sessions at this time, however, you will be able to build your meeting schedule by adding sessions you are interested in attending to your meeting playlist.

Whether attending sessions or connecting with fellow attendees, we recommend you use either Chrome or Firefox and update to the latest version to ensure a seamless meeting experience!

Attending Sessions

In addition to a preview of the meeting lobby and sneak peek of the Virtual Career Fair, we have added a walk-through of a sample meeting session to the Tips for Attendees page. Highlights include:

  • How to access sessions from the meeting lobby
  • An explanation of how to search the session schedule
  • How to watch and navigate through a session’s individual presentations
  • The location of the “Add to Playlist” button
  • Chat functionality, including how to attend the live Q&A

Each session will play at its scheduled time during the meeting and will include the opportunity to participate in a 15-minute face-to-face Q&A with presenters via Zoom at the end of the session.

If you encounter any issues navigating the virtual platform, INFORMS staff and volunteers are standing by to help, utilizing:

  • A help desk, located in the lobby and navigation of the meeting platform
  • Chat monitors in every session chat and live Q&A
  • Help desk link in the Annual Meeting group on INFORMS Connect
  • INFORMS customer service available at informs@informs.org or 443-757-3500

Reporting Hotline

INFORMS is committed to a culture of openness, trust, safety, diversity, and inclusion. That is why we have both a Code of Conduct and an Ethics Code. These codes are part of our efforts to advance professional and ethical conduct and a safe environment for all involved in INFORMS activities.

Whether you are attending in person or virtually, INFORMS has engaged Lighthouse Services to provide an anonymous code of conduct and ethics hotline that will ensure anyone wishing to submit a report anonymously or otherwise can do so.

Please note that the information you provide may be the basis of an investigation. Your anonymity will be protected to the extent possible by law, by Lighthouse, and by INFORMS. Investigations, when required, will be conducted by a third-party company, Operations Inc.

The Lighthouse Services toll-free number and other methods of reporting are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.