How to GEM

How to Attend GEM

GEM is not organized in the same way as the more traditional conferences you may have attended! So, how to navigate the GEM schedule, give a talk or poster, network effectively?

Overview of GEM structure

GEM is organized primarily under special topics, called Focus Groups (FGs), that rotate every 3-4 years with the goal of making progress on concentrated science objectives as they fit into the overall magnetospheric framework. The workshop itself tends to focus more on “workshop-style” presentations including interactive elements and non-traditional sessions such as Panels and crowd-sourced questions, while highlighting real-time debate and ad-hoc discussions. Student participation, attendance, and career development is a core emphasis of GEM.

GEM workshop format The main meeting, held each summer, is designed to have both Plenary sessions which invite the entire community to attend and Breakout sessions which are organized by the Focus Groups either solely or jointly with another FG. This FG structure is very different than a typical conference session! The way they solicit speakers, organize their time blocks within the meeting, and make progress on their stated goals over the years is highly unique to GEM. It may seem confusing at first, but hopefully this guide helps with a better understanding of the GEM structure.

The Plenary sessions usually encompass the first morning time blocks and the Breakout sessions cover the second morning time blocks as well as the afternoon blocks. Focus Groups are organized in a very grassroots way, with decisions for structure and presentation style driven by the Focus Group leaders. To present at GEM, researchers must email Focus Group leaders directly in the few weeks leading up to the meeting. Details about the goals and activities of all Active Focus Groups (and Past Focus Groups) can be seen on our main page: https://gemworkshop.org/focus-groups/ as well as on our Wiki page: https://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/index.php/GEM_Focus_Groups

GEM has been hosting a mini-GEM workshop the Sunday before AGU for many years. This is a great way to connect with the GEM community during the chaotic AGU Fall Meetings. The rest of this guide will concentrate on the main GEM workshop held each year in the summer.

How to navigate the GEM workshop schedule Each year, the GEM Steering Committee and various Subcommittees, together with the Focus Group leaders, plan for the timing and order of the Breakout sessions to account for the number of time blocks each FG requests and if they plan to hold Joint Breakout sessions with any other FG. This makes for a hectic eye chart of a schedule! To simplify the overview schedule, we use the FG acronyms within the time blocks. Those acronyms can be found in a key on the overview schedule itself. Each FG page on the Wiki should have their acronyms listed there as well. Each FG covers aspects of one or more Research Areas that have their own acronyms (https://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Organization_and_People#Research_Areas). If you’re unsure of what FG to attend, looking at these research areas can help guide you, e.g. if you’re interested in radiation belts, an FG that covers the IMAG research area might be a good choice. The schedule is published 4-6 weeks before the meeting on our main website: https://gemworkshop.org/

Note that the talks in each specific session will usually not appear until closer to the meeting time - sometimes just in the week or days leading up to it. There is no official channel to request an oral talk - you must contact the FG leaders and coordinate with them directly. This communication happens through the GEM Messenger announcements and only in the couple of weeks or days leading up to the meeting!

In general, the Plenary sessions are a great idea to attend each day in the mornings! They contain engaging presentations as well as announcements about the daily GEM activities and FG Breakout sessions.

The Breakout sessions are overlapping time blocks with far too much for one person to see, but pick your favorite FG topic and find them on the block schedule to plan out your days. (Don’t forget to take some time during GEM to just hang out and chat or relax on your own!) Burnout is real!

To decide which sessions to attend at a finer granularity, you need to wait until closer to the meeting starts (just a couple weeks before). Why? The FGs will solicit talks through the GEM Messenger email list or by reaching out to members of the community directly. Once they have some idea of their detailed schedules, they will publish that schedule on their respective Wiki pages as well as on the GEM App. The GEM App is a powerful tool for figuring out what to do hour by hour. See this presentation for how to use the GEM App: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQKwPAaHkJS7wdnlgg70vrQ2qkffUTTQ1hSMVOqeN-ewHJkJC75ObBpcGGPq25P9JKZMTzRPvfEmDuH/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.p The GEM App gets built each year ahead of the meeting and usually goes live in late May, accessible by a button on the main website homepage.

Stay in the loop The primary way the GEM community communicates is through our mailing list called the GEM Messenger. To subscribe, post an announcement or see archived email announcements, see this page: https://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/index.php/GEM_Messenger

The GEM Messenger comprises announcements about a variety of things: relevant upcoming meetings, job postings, miscellaneous opportunities, mission/project announcements, community telecons and events, agency-related updates and more. It also contains the announcements for deadlines and updates leading up to the summer GEM workshop and the mini-GEM workshops held prior to AGU.

In the late spring, early summer - ahead of the GEM workshop - FGs will send out announcements about their session and the structure of their sessions (such as specialized topics for their time blocks or plans for Joint Breakouts with other FGs). They will typically ask for volunteer presentations at this time. Thus, reading the GEM Messenger to get FG Breakout session updates is the way you request to give a short talk at GEM. You then email the FG leads directly to say you’d like to present relevant research results in one of their planned sessions. Again, this is very different than a traditional conference where you submit an abstract to a distinct session months in advance. GEM organization is quite casual and last-minute. This is intentional! It really enforces a more workshoppy style – less like a formal AGU talk and more like an update to a research group at your institution. You can read more here about Best Practices on How to Run a Focus Group if you’re curious about the guidance that is given to FGs! https://gemworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/How-to-Run-a-GEM-Focus-Group-Session-Discussion.pdf

Once or twice a year, a PDF newsletter is published called the GEMstone. This contains summaries of the summer workshop activities and FG updates, as well as updates from agencies and liaisons and an In Memoriam section. See back copies here: https://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/index.php/GEMstone_Newsletter

How to be engaged with GEM Present! This grassroots kind of workshop format can be very intimidating for first-time attendees and early career researchers who are still navigating how to do conferences in general. Here are the ways to present at GEM: Sign up for a poster. Poster sessions at GEM are wonderful! Everyone attends and it’s a very social environment. Students can enter the poster competition for a chance to have their work highlighted with an award. Every student is required to present a poster if they receive NSF support to attend the conference. But many non-students also choose to present a poster. The link to submit a poster is on the homepage of the workshop site (gemworkshop.org) with a typical deadline to sign up occurring in early June. Request to present an oral talk on relevant research within a FG Breakout session. The way you request a talk is to watch the GEM Messenger email list to get updates on how each FG is structuring their time in the upcoming meeting and check where your results may be most relevant. You must contact FG leaders directly to get a talk at GEM. This organization happens in the last few weeks leading up to GEM, so it’s highly last-minute and ad-hoc. This grassroots style of organizing is very different than larger conferences led by professional organizations but has a very special effect on the atmosphere and style of the meeting.

Network! There are many social events and Plenary activities during which you can engage with a large cross-section of magnetosphere and magnetosphere-adjacent researchers. Some of these include: the GEM Banquet, the GEMEE mentor/mentee program, coffee breaks, special lunchtime sessions/events, and after-hours community-driven events. Most of these special activities will be announced prior to GEM as well as during the daily Plenary sessions.

Student Participation The student Discord is one way in which students can stay connected – but if you’re a student you will hear all about this and other resources for students at Student Day, which is very useful to attend both to hear about resources like that and to meet other students. Student Day is always held on the Sunday preceding the main GEM workshop. Student GEM Wikipedia page: https://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/index.php/GEM_Student_Forum

Student support is traditionally offered to attend GEM. Depending on funding availability, this changes year to year, but usually there is at least some student support!