Guest;  Dr. Pat Patterson;  Topics:  The all 100% virtual SmallSat Conference for 2021.  Check it out at https://smallsat.org.

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We welcomed Dr. Pat Patterson back to the program to discuss the upcoming SmallSat Conference for 2021 that is now 100% virtual due to the Covid-19 virus.  Visit the SmallSat website at https://smallsat.org and to follow along with us during this 60 minute program.  Please note the conference is completely free this year but you have to register.  Later in the discussion, our guest described how the conference will work in the virtual format, the pre-recorded presentations, schedules, Pat's dissertation re CODA & Alaska, plus more.

As I have been doing with many programs of late, the easiest and most complete way to summarize discussion topics is to repeat the key words or tags here. 

Tags and Key Words:  Small Satellite Conference (SmallSat), Covid-19 and all virtual conference, pre-recorded speakers, SmallSat 2021 Free of charge, student competition, keynote speaker, speaker presentations, panel discussions, workshops, Utah State University support, Space Dynamics Lab (SDL), virtual conference features, conference registration, poster sessions, networking options, supplementary webinars, online star, conference customer service chat.  For the most part, we followed the order of topics from the Tags with few exceptions.

The program started with a comprehensive discussion with our guest focused on four main areas.  The first area was the process the SmallSat organizational group used to decide to go all virtual this year.  Don't miss this most interesting story.  The second area was why they chose to make the conference available for free and how they could afford to do that.  The third area focused on how they worked with speakers to get very high quality audio and video.  Finally, the fourth area Pat talked with us about focused on their lessons learned, what it means for other possible virtual conferences, and how SmallSat can possibly help other organziations finding out that they too need to go virtual with their events. 

Another important part of the discussion was knowing that all the programs will be uploaded and ready go to August 1 as the conference is August 1-6. By doing it this way, you can jump around with the programming and listen to whatever you want whenever you want.  You don't have to wait until the day the talk was scheduled.  For those having a problem or encountering some difficulty, there will be a real time chat window up and running staffed by SmallSat "experts" to help you with conference and website or streaming issues. 

Note what Pat said about Q&A sessions, new types of virtual networking, even company parties which will be held virtually.  As I understand it, party invites are issued by the businesses from the registration information.  I believe those who registered also get networking information for those registered and attending the virtual conference.   Another important part of the discussion focused on the virtual Exhibit Hall.  The website page for the exhibits is https://smallsat.org/exhibitors/descriptions.  Click on any of the exhibitors listed and it provides you with information about that company.  As you will hear from Pat, many will have attached videos to introduce you to their products and tell you about them.  A good way to do it since nothing is in person this year. 

We had a few listener email questions about the usual SmallSat preconference workshops.  All of those have been merged into this year's conference.  Don't miss what Pat said in response to those asking about these events.  As we were nearing the end of our program, Pat talked about his observations and conclusions regarding a virtual conference compared to pre-recorded talks versus live talks as part of the virtual event.  I think you will concur that pre-recorded was the way to go, especially since there were international participants along with all times zones even in the US being represented.  Before ending the program, we talked in some detail about the technology used by the speakers, how they got the approved technology in the hands of speakers that did not already have it, plus Pat listed the supporting technology and help SmallSat got from many including the SDL, Utah State, community services, cloud services, and more.

Please post your comments/questions for this program on our blog.  If you have questions about this year's SmallSat Conference, you can contact SmallSat at https://smallsat.org/our-team/contact.  You can reach our guest, Dr. Pat Patterson through me.