Welcome to Reaching Forward Illinois! We look forward to seeing you at Reaching Forward South (April 15-16) and Reaching Forward (May 7). This page will give you all the information you need to participate.
Statement of Appropriate Conduct
All participants are expected to observe the rules and behaviors described in the Statement of Appropriate Conduct in all conference venues.
Full Program Schedule
How to Attend the Conference
Reaching Forward Illinois (RFI) will be held on the PheedLoop platform.
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For the best conference experience, it is recommended that attendees use Google Chrome viewed on a laptop or desktop computer versus a handheld device.
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Ensure your computer speakers are turned on for presentations.
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All registered attendees will receive an email from PheedLoop with a link to the virtual meeting platform and login credentials on Tuesday, May 4. Reminders with this same information will be sent by email prior to the event. Please bookmark the link and keep your access password info handy in order to join the sessions.
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Log into the conference platform ahead of time and familiarize yourself with the system.
Prepare for a Successful Conference
Watch this video to learn more about the platform and how to maximize your experience.
- Logging in and basic virtual event portal navigation
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Session participation, chat, personalization, check-in surveys, and streaming
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Networking one-on-one, group networking, push notifications
Attendee Profile
Update your attendee profile under Account in the menu on the left.
This profile will be live in the Networking area where other attendees can look you up and chat with you during the conference. (Note: you can also control whether or not you would like your profile to be visible in the Networking Section)
Sessions
Program sessions in Pheedloop are listed under Sessions in the menu on the left
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Sessions are listed in chronological order.
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You can add programs to your schedule by clicking on the "+" to the left of program names. To access your personal schedule, click on "Filter" next to the "Search Bar" and then click "Personal Schedule" – all of your programs will be listed here. You can also filter and search for programs by track, audience or dates.
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Click on the title of the program you want to attend. The live feed for each session will be streamed when it starts. Note: When trying to attend a session, you may receive a message that pop-ups are blocked. Make sure you enable PheedLoop pop-ups in order to properly view content in PheedLoop.
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All sessions will be presented via Zoom. If experiencing technical issues with the live feed of any session, click on the gray button under the live feed which provides a direct Zoom link. You will then be redirected out of the virtual meeting platform, but you will be able to view the session directly in Zoom and not miss a thing.
- Closed captioning can be enabled for individual sessions once the session has begun by watching the video in Zoom instead of the PheedLoop platform. To do this, click on the “Experiencing Issues? Click Here for Additional Live Stream Options” below the video and choose to watch the session via Zoom.
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Speaker information and handouts are available under each session.
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After the live sessions, the recordings will be posted within two days business days after the conference.
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Recordings will be available through August, 2021 via the conference platform PheedLoop.
How to Engage During Sessions
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Each session has its own public chat area on the right-hand section of the screen. You can post public comments and engage with other attendees.
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Click on the icon representing a group of people at the top of the chat window to see who else is viewing the session with you.
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During the live session, ask the panelists a question using the Q&A feature in the window of the live feed. The public chat on the right is a discussion among participants, but if you want to ask the speakers or moderator something, do it in the Q&A window of the live feed.
Networking
The Networking area allows you to have private conversations with individuals or small groups of up to five attendees.
Evaluations & Certificate of Attendance
- You will be asked to complete an evaluation in the last 10 minutes of each session you attend.
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Attendees will receive an email after the conference with a link to download a PDF certificate of session attendance.
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Reaching Forward Illinois does not provide Continuing Professional Development Units.
Questions about your registration, accessing or navigating the conference platform?
Contact the Illinois Library Association via email at ila@ila.org.
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