AeroConf Mobile App - User Guide

Welcome to the AeroConf mobile application! This guide will help you get the most out of the app during the IEEE Aerospace Conference.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. User Types and Access Levels
3. Browsing the Conference
4. Managing Favorites
5. Kudos - Live Presentation Feedback
6. Downloading Papers
7. QR Codes for Meals
8. Business Card Sharing
9. Contacting Authors, Speakers & Organizers
10. Privacy Settings
11. Adding Events to Calendar
12. Push Notifications
13. Providing Feedback
14. Offline Access
15. Troubleshooting

1. Getting Started

Logging In

To access all features of the app, we recommend logging in with your conference website credentials:

1. Open the app and tap on the Login button
2. Enter your username and password (the same credentials you used for conference website)
3. Tap Sign In

Guest Access

You can also browse the conference schedule without logging in by selecting Continue as Guest. However, some features will be limited (see User Types section below).

2. User Types and Access Levels

Your access to app features depends on your user type:

Guest Users (Not Logged In)

Logged In Users (Not Registered for Conference)

If you have an account but have not completed conference registration:

Registered Participants

If you have completed conference registration and paid the registration fee:

Note: Your registration status is determined by the conference registration system. If you believe you should have registered access but the app shows otherwise, please contact the conference registration desk.

3. Browsing the Conference

Schedule View

The Schedule tab shows all conference events organized by day and time. You can:

• Swipe between days using the date tabs at the top
• Scroll through events chronologically
• Tap any event to see full details
• During the conference, the app will automatically scroll to the current or next upcoming event

Browse Tab

The Browse tab provides multiple ways to explore conference content:

• Tracks - View all conference tracks and their sessions
• Sessions - Browse individual sessions within tracks
• Papers - Search and browse all technical papers
• Speakers - Find speakers and their presentations
• Rooms - See what's happening in each conference room
• Plenaries - View plenary sessions details
• Electronic Presentations (EPH) - Browse electronic poster presentations. Poster papers include video presentations that registered participants can watch directly in the app (see below)
• Junior Conference - View junior conference papers. Registered participants can download junior paper PDFs during the download period (same policies as regular paper downloads)

Video Presentations (Poster / EPH Papers)

Electronic poster presentations include recorded video presentations that you can watch in the app.

Requirements:

• You must be logged in
• You must be a registered conference participant

How to Watch

1. Open any poster/EPH paper from the Electronic Presentations section
2. On the paper detail screen, look for the "Watch Video Presentation" banner
3. Tap the play button to open the full-screen video player
4. The video will start automatically with playback controls

Video Availability

Videos are available during a specific period set by the conference organizers. You may see the following messages:

• "Video will be available soon" - The video access period has not started yet
• "Video access period has ended" - The video is no longer available for viewing

View Statistics

Each video shows viewing statistics including total views and unique viewers, so you can see how popular a presentation is.

Searching Papers

Use the Search feature to find specific papers by:

• Paper title or keywords
• Author name
• Description content

4. Managing Favorites

Requirement: You must be logged in to save favorites.

Adding Favorites

1. Navigate to any paper, session, or plenary
2. Tap the star icon to add it to your favorites
3. You will be asked if you want to add the event to your device calendar

Viewing Favorites

Open the Favorites tab to see all your saved items. Your favorites are:

• Organized by date (Today, Tomorrow, etc.)
• Sorted by time within each day
• Highlighted if they are currently in progress ("NOW" badge)

Favorites During the Conference

During the conference dates, the Favorites screen will automatically scroll to show the most relevant upcoming event when you open it.

5. Kudos - Live Presentation Feedback

Kudos let you send real-time emoji reactions to presenters as a form of appreciation and feedback.

Requirements:

• You must be logged in
• You must be a registered conference participant

When Can You Send Kudos?

Kudos are time-restricted. You can send kudos to a presentation only during its scheduled time window:

• From the start time of the presentation
• Until 10 minutes after the presentation ends

Outside this window, the Kudos section will not be visible on the presentation detail screen.

Available Kudos Emojis

There are 10 themed emojis you can send, each with a specific meaning:

How to Send Kudos

1. Open a presentation detail screen while the session is in progress (or within 10 minutes after it ends)
2. Scroll down to find the Kudos section
3. Tap any emoji to send that type of kudos
4. The emoji will animate to confirm your reaction was sent
5. A checkmark will appear on emojis you have already sent

Removing Kudos

Tap the same emoji again to remove your kudos. The toggle works in both directions.

Understanding Emoji Meanings

Long-press on any emoji to see its meaning in a tooltip, or tap "What do these mean?" to see a legend of all emojis and their descriptions.

Kudos for Presenters/Authors

If you are a speaker or author of a presentation, you can view the kudos received for your presentations after they are over. This acts as private feedback from your audience.

6. Downloading Papers

Requirements:

• You must be logged in
• You must be a registered conference participant
• Downloads are only available during the download period

Download Period

Paper downloads are restricted to a specific date range set by the conference:

• The download period typically begins a few days before the conference starts
• The download period ends a few days after the conference ends
• If you try to download outside this period, you will see a message indicating when downloads will be available or that the period has ended

Possible Messages

How to Download

1. Navigate to any paper
2. Tap the download icon (down arrow)
3. Wait for the download to complete
4. Once downloaded, tap the icon again to open the PDF

Download Options

You can download individual papers as PDF files from the paper detail screen.

Managing Downloads

Go to Settings > Cache Management to:

• View total size of downloaded papers
• Clear all downloaded papers

7. QR Codes for Meals

Requirement: You must be a registered conference participant.

Your Badge QR Code

As a registered participant, you will have a personal QR code that serves as your digital conference badge. This QR code is used for:

• Conference check-in
• Conference meal access (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Social events and receptions

Viewing Your QR Code

1. Tap the QR tab in the bottom navigation
2. Your QR code will be displayed large on the screen
3. Show this code at meal stations and event check-ins

Dietary Indicators

Your badge may show special indicators based on the options you selected during conference registration:

• Vegetarian - Vegetarian meal preference
• Dietary Restrictions - Other dietary restrictions on file

Guest QR Codes

If you registered guests with your conference registration:

• Swipe left/right to switch between your badge and guest badges
• Each guest has their own unique QR code
• Guest badges may also show indicators for Minor, Vegetarian, or Dietary Restrictions

Not Seeing a QR Code?

If you see "No QR code available" but believe you should have one:

• Make sure you are logged in with the correct account
• Verify your conference registration is complete
• Contact the registration desk for assistance

8. Business Card Sharing

Exchange contact information with other attendees by scanning each other's QR codes.

Requirements:

• You must be a registered conference participant
• You must enable business card sharing in Privacy Settings
• The person you are scanning must also have enabled business card sharing

Enabling Business Card Sharing

1. Go to Settings > Privacy Settings
2. Enable "Share my business card via QR"

Default: Business card sharing is disabled by default. You must explicitly opt in.

This is a mutual consent feature. Both you and the person you want to exchange cards with must have this setting enabled.

Scanning a Business Card

1. Go to the QR tab in the bottom navigation
2. Open the QR Scanner
3. Switch to "Card" mode using the mode toggle at the top
4. Point your camera at the other person's conference badge QR code
5. Their business card information will appear on screen

What You Will See

When you successfully scan someone's badge, you will see their:

• Full name and avatar (if available)
• Role badges (Committee Member, Session Organizer, or Track Organizer)
• Work affiliation and country
• Email address (with quick actions to copy or send an email)
• Bio (if available)

Saving a Contact

After viewing someone's business card:

1. Tap "Save Contact"
2. The contact will be saved to your device's address book in standard vCard format
3. On Android, the Contacts app will open directly
4. On iOS, the share sheet will let you choose where to save

You can also tap "Scan Another" to go back to the scanner and exchange cards with more people.

Possible Messages When Scanning

Privacy

Your business card information is only shared when you explicitly enable it. You can disable sharing at any time in Settings > Privacy Settings. Disabling it immediately prevents others from viewing your contact information when scanning your badge.

9. Contacting Authors, Speakers & Organizers

You can send emails directly to paper authors, speakers, and session/track organizers from within the app.

Requirements:

• You must be logged in
• For contacting authors and organizers: you must be a registered participant
• The person you want to contact must have the "Allow others to email me" setting enabled in their privacy settings

How to Send an Email

1. Navigate to an author, speaker, or organizer detail screen
2. If the person allows email contact, you will see a "Send Email" button
3. Tap the button to open your device's email app with a pre-filled draft
4. Edit the message as needed and send

Pre-filled Email Templates

The app opens your native email client with a helpful template depending on who you are contacting:

• Authors - Subject includes the paper title for easy reference
• Speakers - General message template referencing the conference
• Organizers - Subject includes the track or session name

You can freely edit the subject and body before sending.

Why Don't I See the Email Button?

The "Send Email" button will not appear if:

• You are not logged in
• You are not a registered participant (for authors and organizers)
• The person has disabled the "Allow others to email me" setting in their privacy preferences
• The person does not have an email address on file

10. Privacy Settings

The app includes privacy controls that let you manage how other participants can interact with you. Go to Settings > Privacy Settings to configure these options.

Available Settings

Important Notes

• Email is opt-out: By default, other participants can email you. If you prefer not to be contacted, you need to disable the "Allow others to email me" toggle.
• Business card is opt-in: By default, your business card is not shared. You must explicitly enable it if you want to exchange contact information via QR scanning.
• Changes take effect immediately. Disabling a setting instantly hides the corresponding feature from other participants.
• These settings are synced with the server, so they persist across devices and app reinstalls.

11. Adding Events to Calendar

You can add any scheduled event to your device calendar:

From a Paper/Event Detail Screen

1. Open the paper or event details
2. Tap the calendar icon
3. The event will be added to your default calendar with a 15-minute reminder

When Adding to Favorites

When you favorite an event, you will be prompted to add it to your calendar. You can:

• Add to Calendar - Adds the event with a reminder
• Skip - Adds to favorites only, no calendar event
• Don't Ask Again - Disables the calendar prompt for future favorites

Time Zone

All events are displayed and added to your calendar in Mountain Time (America/Denver), which is the conference time zone.

12. Push Notifications

Stay updated with push notifications for your favorited events:

Enabling Notifications

1. Go to Settings > Notifications
2. Enable notifications when prompted by your device
3. Toggle Favorite Event Reminders to receive alerts 15 minutes before your favorited events start

What You Will Receive

• Reminders before your favorited sessions start
• Conference announcements from organizers
• Schedule changes affecting your favorites

13. Providing Feedback

Conference Evaluation

Help improve future conferences by submitting an evaluation:

1. Go to Settings > Feedback
2. Select Conference Evaluation
3. Rate various aspects of the conference
4. Provide comments and suggestions
5. Submit your feedback

Note: You can submit conference evaluations without logging in.

Volunteer Application

Interested in volunteering for future conferences?

1. Go to Settings > Feedback
2. Select Volunteer Application
3. Complete the volunteer interest form

Note: You must be logged in to submit a volunteer application.

14. Offline Access

The app works offline once you have loaded the conference data:

What Works Offline

• Browsing the schedule, tracks, sessions, and papers
• Viewing speaker information
• Viewing your favorites
• Opening previously downloaded papers
• Viewing your QR codes (cached when online)

What Requires Internet

• Initial data sync on first app launch
• Refreshing conference data
• Downloading new papers
• Syncing favorites to the server
• Sending Kudos
• Scanning business cards
• Submitting feedback forms

Syncing Data

Pull down on any list screen to refresh the data when you have internet connection. The app will automatically sync your offline actions (like adding favorites) when connectivity is restored.

15. Troubleshooting

I can't log in

• Verify your username and password are correct
• Check your internet connection
• If you forgot your password, visit the conference website to reset it

Downloads are not working

• Verify you are logged in
• Confirm you are a registered participant
• Check if the download period has started/not ended
• Ensure you have a stable internet connection

QR code is not showing

• Make sure you are logged in
• Verify your conference registration is complete
• Try pulling down to refresh the QR screen
• Contact the registration desk if the issue persists

Kudos section is not showing

• Kudos are only available during a presentation and up to 10 minutes after it ends
• Make sure you are logged in and are a registered participant
• Check that you are viewing the correct presentation at the right time

I can't see the email button on a profile

• Make sure you are logged in and are a registered participant
• The person may have disabled the "Allow others to email me" option in their privacy settings
• The person may not have an email address on file

Business card scan is not working

• Make sure you have enabled "Share my business card via QR" in Settings > Privacy Settings
• The other person must also have sharing enabled (mutual consent is required)
• Guest badges do not support business card sharing
• You must be a registered participant to use this feature
• Make sure you are in "Card" mode on the scanner (not "Conference" or "Meal" mode)

App is showing old data

1. Pull down on any list to refresh
2. Go to Settings > Cache Management > Refresh Data
3. If issues persist, try logging out and back in

Notifications are not working

1. Check your device settings to ensure notifications are enabled for the app
2. Go to Settings > Notifications in the app and verify settings
3. Make sure you have favorited some events

Need Help?

For additional assistance:

• Visit the conference registration desk
• Check the conference website for FAQ and contact information
• Report app issues at the conference help desk

Thank you for attending IEEE AeroConf! We hope you have a great conference experience.