FAQs

The Global Conference on Biodiversity and Monitoring will be held between October 10-13, 2023 in Montreal, Canada.

The conference will be held at:

Centre Mont-Royal

2200 Mansfield St

Montreal, Quebec H3A 3R8

Telephone: +1 (514) 844-2000

Email: info@centremontroyal.com

Website: https://centremontroyal.com/

The conference in Montreal will be conducted fully in person. Plenary sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the GEO BON YouTube channel after the conference.

The Centre Mont-Royal is located in downtown Montreal, minutes from Peel metro station. The venue has direct access to the metro entrance. Montreal is serviced by the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL), which is about 20 kilometres from downtown Montreal. The city centre can be reached by bus (747 line), taxi, and Uber. More information will be provided in a separate Information Note for Participants.

Participants are kindly requested to make their own hotel reservations. A list of nearby hotels will be provided in the Information Note for Participants upon registration.

You will be asked your dietary preferences in the registration form.

In October, temperatures in Montreal usually range between a maximum of +17°C and a minimum of 3°C. Please bring warm clothing for chilly weather. Updated weather conditions in the area can be found here.

Wireless Internet access is available throughout the conference venue. The wireless network and password will be provided on site.

Due to low demand, child care services will not be provided during the conference.

All visitors entering Canada will be required to present a valid passport. In addition, some visitors might require an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) or a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) depending on their nationality.

To check the entry requirements by country, and the need for ETA or TRV, please visit Immigration and Citizenship Canada.

Please see additional information and procedures for visa application here.

All visitors must ensure that they have all the necessary documents in their possession before entering the country.

If you require support to apply for a visa, please register for the conference and contact us at conf2023@geobon.org. We will provide you with an invitation letter.

You are encouraged to register for the conference and apply for a visa to Canada as early as possible to ensure the visa process can be completed in time.

Register for the conference following this link.

The registration covers in-person attendance from 10 to 13 October 2023 at Centre Mont-Royal.

The registration fee includes:

- Attendance to all conference sessions (4 days)
- Morning and afternoon coffee breaks (4 days)
- Lunches (4 days)
- Access to the exhibit hall & poster sessions

Registration fees must be paid in full to gain access to the conference.

To make the GEO BON Global Conference more accessible, we offer a reduced fee for the following groups:

- Students from all countries: proof of student status (copy of valid student ID, letter from your university registrar's office confirming your registration or an official transcript of the courses you are taking). Please email one of these documents to conf2023@geobon.org when you register.

- Participants from Low, lower-middle or upper-middle Income Countries (to see if your country is eligible, please consult the World Bank Country Classification)

Please find GEO BON's Global Conference full cancellation and refund policy here.

On-site registration will not be possible.

We encourage all attendees to register for the conference in advance. This allows us to plan accordingly for the appropriate number of attendees and manage food and drinks arrangements. As a bonus, GEO BON offers an early-bird discount for those who register by the designated deadline.

We know sometimes plans are made at the last minute and we will allow general registration until September 25th, 2023. The day passes will be available for purchase until October 3rd, 2023.

A small number of travel awards is available for students and researcher from low and middle income countries sponsored by ESA - European Space Agency and GEO BON

Please see conditions and application form here.

To apply for the ESA - European Space Agency Travel Award you need to satisfy ALL of the following conditions:
- You need to be from an ESA member state
- PhD Students and post docs
- Use of Copernicus or Earth Explorer satellite data
- Accepted paper (oral or poster)

To apply for the GEO BON Travel Award you need to satisfy ALL of the following conditions:
- PhD Students and post docs (any country) OR Researcher from LMIC countries
- Accepted paper (oral or poster)

To apply for the iBOL Travel Award you need to satisfy ALL of the following conditions:
- PhD Students and post docs (any country) OR Researcher from LMIC countries
- Use of DNA technologies
- Accepted paper (oral or poster)


If you are not able to access the from, please send the following information to conf2023@geobon.org :
- Which award you are applying for (ESA or GEO BON)
- Name
- Country
- Affiliation
- Motivation (max 200 words)
- Attach proof of enrolment or letter from supervisor

The conference will have a mixture of regular and flash talks. Regular talks may be 10-12 minutes + 2 minutes of Q&A. Flash talks are 5 minutes. Refer to your acceptance notice from Fourwaves for your talk length and/or contact your session organizer(s) for further details.

Posters must be in portrait orientation. Dimensions should not exceed 91.44 cm wide by 121.92 cm long (36" wide by 48" long).

Posters should be printed and brought to the venue for display on Wednesday October 11th. Posters will be organized by presentation ID number. Finding the display location for your poster will be indicated at the venue.

Poster presenters are encouraged to also upload an electronic version (e-poster) to the conference webpage (Fourwaves) for additional exposure and engagement.

No, poster printing is not offered at the venue. If you need to print your poster in Montreal, there are several printing services around the venue and surrounding McGill University campus, like Copie Nova. We recommended that you contact printers yourself to get more details on their service.

1. Log in to your conference submission account (email message from organizer@fourwaves.com).

2. Open your profile and select “My Submissions”, then "View form".

3. Scroll to the dotted box to upload your slides or poster (.pptx for slides; .pdf is recommended for posters).

As early as possible. No later than Wednesday October 11th.

To avoid complications, the earlier the better!

Ideally, slides should be uploaded to Fourwaves by Friday October 6th.

However, we understand that you may be making last-minute slide preparations.

Yes! Student presentations and posters will be evaluated by voluntary judges. Awards will be given to the best student oral presentation and poster.