IdeaFestival Bowling Green 2021
FAQ

Please contact us with a questions or concerns not addressed by this page.

Registration/tickets/cost

How much does the festival cost?
Tickets will be $8. Parents, teachers, and chaperones may attend for free if they are attending with their students.

Do I need to pre-register?
Yes; all participants should be registered and have paid by February 8 in order to attend.

How do I register, and when does registration start?
Registration will open on December 9; if you are on our email list, you will be notified when registration is open. You can click the Request Information button on our homepage to get on our email list. Once registration is open, there will be a Registration button added to our homepage that will take you to the registration form. Note: The Center for Gifted Studies will be closed for WKU's winter break December 19 - January 3. Any registrations received during that time will be processed when we reopen in the order in which they were submitted.

What will be the last day to register?
The last day to register and to pay will be February 8.

When will payment be due?
Payment will be due by February 8. For school groups, a purchase order sent to us by February 8 is satisfactory.

Is there a limit on how many students can attend from one school?
Because we are virtual this year, there is no limit.

What if you sell out?
Because we are virtual this year, we cannot sell out.

Do parents, teachers, and chaperones pay?
Parents, teachers, and chaperones may attend for free if they are attending with their students.

How big a group of students can watch and participate together?
As big a group as you can accommodate. We anticipate many schools will have a group of students watch together with a projector and large screen; there is no need to have them break into smaller groups to watch. (Note: you must purchase tickets for each student viewing.) 

 

Since we do not know if students will be attending school in person or virtually at the time of the conference, can students register individually instead of being registered through the school? 
Students can register individually if that plan works better for you. They can pay by check or card — details are given with the registration confirmation, and payment is due on February 8. They will each be sent the access code for the festival. If you end up being in person in school after all, then the students who signed up individually can gather together to watch.

On the registration form, each student should click on “Individual” rather than “School Group.” Under “Number of student (K-12) participants,” s/he should list “1.” If no adult will be supervising from home, the total number of participants should also be “1.” 

 

What if a different number of participants attend than the number I registered for?
Please be as accurate as you can when you register and notify us if your numbers change before the payment deadline of February 8. We cannot offer refunds after that date. If more participants attend than you anticipated, we will expect you to pay for the additional tickets as soon as you can. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Do you give refunds?
We can provide refunds before February 8 only, so contact us before that date if you need one.

 

If I will only be using one screen for multiple people to watch/participate in the festival, can I buy just one ticket?
We ask that you purchase tickets for as many participants as you will have, rather than the number of screens you will use. For in-person IFBG, each participant must purchase a ticket, so we are using that model this year as well. We decreased ticket prices from what we charged last year for an in-person IFBG to try to ensure all can attend who want to. However, if you have financial concerns, please contact us.

 

Online-related/technology

What technology will I need for the festival?
The basic requirement is internet access to get on the festival website and watch the YouTube livestream. If you are watching from a school, you will want to make sure that restrictions will not prevent you from accessing YouTube.

To be selected to participate live onscreen during activities, you will need access to a laptop or smartphone camera and to Skype.

To submit questions, photos, etc. you will need access to the internet and to Twitter or Instagram.

How will I access the livestream?
After we receive your payment, you will be given a passcode to use on a designated website on the day of the festival. We ask that you share the passcode only with paying participants. We will embed the YouTube livestream on that website. 

 

How much bandwidth will participants need?
Vid Monster Productions is producing our livestream. It recommends having triple "overhead space" (i.e., extra space to complete a function) when watching. Since the festival will be streaming out at 7mb/s, you will want a download speed of about 20mb/s. Speedtest.net is an easy and reliable one-click way to test your speed.

 

Will I have trouble accessing the video if my school restricts some YouTube access?
We don’t expect that you will have trouble, but you should consult with your school’s IT person to make sure because systems vary among schools. The video will be an embedded YouTube video; if you can access the videos on our YouTube page, then we expect you will be able to stream the festival. If you have further concerns on this issue, contact us.

 

Can I test the technology before the festival?
Yes; details to come!

Festival program

Is there a choice of speaker or activity sessions?
No; we have only one program planned.

 

What is the schedule for the day, and what if we cannot attend the whole time?

The festival will run from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. CST. We will be working with Bowling Green’s Vid Monster Productions to livestream speakers and activity creators from their locations. If you cannot be present for the whole event, you can come and go when you are able.

We will send out a program with specifics before the event, but it will look something this:

9:00 Emcee welcomes audience and introduces events for first hour
9:05 Speaker One talks and takes questions
9:25 Activity One
9:45 Activity Two
10:00 Emcee introduces events for second hour
10:05 Speaker Two talks and takes questions
10:25 Activity Three
10:40 Activity Four
11:00 Emcee introduces events for third hour
11:05 Speaker Three talks and takes questions
11:25 Activity Five
11:40 Activity Six
11:50 Emcee wraps up
12:00 End

 

How will the activities work?
Activity creators will guide the audience through short projects in this way:

• Before the festival, participants will be given a list of inexpensive and easily available supplies needed for the activities so that they can obtain them before the festival.
• Activity creators, filming from a location that will give audience insight into the creator’s field, will spend 10-20 minutes on their activity.
• During each activity, three to four students, selected ahead of time, will appear on-screen along with the activity creator via their own cameras (as in Zoom call, where you can see multiple people on screen at once).
• Depending on the activity, the audience will be asked to post written comments, photos, or videos related to the activity online, with the activity creator commenting of some of the submissions.

 

How can I or my student be selected to be onscreen? 
We will announce this process in January.

 

Will all speakers or activities be the same as last year?
No; our speaker line-up is all new. Our activities will feature some familiar faces, but the actual activities will be new.

What supplies will I need for the activities?
We are still developing the list of supplies needed for the activities; we will send out the list in late January. The supplies will be easy to find and inexpensive — for instance, one activity will require only paper and crayons.

 

General/other

How old do participants need to be to attend?
IdeaFestival Bowling Green is designed for middle and high school students and interested community members, but there is no age requirement. We ask that all participants be able to be mature enough to be respectful of others and contribute appropriately during interactive components.

 

Do I have to be part of a school or a student to attend the festival?
No, you do not — anyone can attend! Individual registration is available.

Does an adult need to be present if a student/s is/are watching and participating from home?
You may use your judgment if a young person is participating from home. We suggest that an adult be available in case there are any issues with technology, but our program will be middle and high school student-friendly.

May participants have their cell phones or laptops during the festival?
Yes; we trust our participants to use their technology sensibly and respectfully. In fact, we will be encouraging participants to submit questions, photos, and videos during the event via social media. We are on Twitter at @IdeaFestivalBG and Instagram at @ideafestivalbg. For all posts, use the hashtag #IFBG21.

What if I have questions about accessibility and accommodations?
Please let us know on the registration form if you or anyone in your group has any accessibility or accommodations questions or concerns. You can also contact us via email or phone at erika.solberg@wku.edu or (270) 745-3015.

 

I’m not available at that date and time; can I watch the video of the festival at a later time?

We will eventually have the livestream video accessible to view on our website for free. However, to encourage people to watch and participate live, we will not post it immediately (we are still working out the details).

 

Why can’t I just watch the livestream later?
You can — we will archive it on our website — but you will miss out on the most exciting parts of the festival: the real-time participation. We are specifically designing our event so that it is not just a video to click on later and watch by yourself, but an interactive, community experience. Speakers will interact with participants during their talk and afterwards answer participants’ questions, selected students will appear live onscreen with activity creators, and all participants will be able to share work with the creator. The festival will be virtual, but participants will be active!

 

How should participants prepare for the festival?
We will send out a packet in February with ways to engage your students before and after the festival.

Updated December 17, 2020.