How to navigate the virtual 2021 Tucson Festival of Books: Do's and don'ts

The 2021 Tucson Festival of Books will be an all-virtual event. Instead of standing in line, you’ll need to do a bit of homework before you sit down with your favorite author. You can attend sessions or view them later. Here are some tips:

Do:

• Get a free Crowdcast account ahead of time, this will make it easier and faster to get into your sessions when it’s time — look for tips on how to do this on tucsonfestivalofbooks.org

• Find links to your sessions on the online schedule on tucsonfestivalofbooks.org. The schedule will be on the homepage under the header “schedule” for quick access. These links are the only way to get into sessions.

• Plan your author events ahead of time. Use this guide and find sessions not to be missed.

• Plan to watch some sessions live and some later. There are many to choose from. All can be accessed live or later.

• Use the Q&A box early for questions, the moderators may not be able to get to the ones at the very end.

• If a presenter experiences technical difficulties and you move on to another session, make sure to check back, you will likely be able to see the session later as most technical issues are resolved quickly.

• Try a different browser (Google Chrome and Firefox work best) or device if you can’t log in with your phone, tablet or browser. Usually it’s a browser or device issue. Additionally, some tablets and phones won’t allow access to the chat or Q&A features.

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• Join us on Friday night. The Friday night event will be available to the public this year for the first time. It will feature Scott Simon, Billy Collins and Lisa See. Look on tucsonfestivalofbooks.org to learn how.

• If you would like to sample one of the Crowdcast sessions done last fall, a library of Wednesday programs is available on the festival website, tucsonfestivalofbooks.org

Don’t:

• Panic if your internet freezes or goes out, just reload your browser window. The worst case scenario is that you will have to watch your sessions later. They will be available for you when you get things working again.

• Be surprised if your battery wears down fast, you may need to plug in if you plan to watch more than one session.

• Post about your technical issues in the chat, if a presenter has technical issues, the festival will post information there to let you know.

Melanie Morgan

Executive Director

Tucson Festival of Books