If you’re purr-ticipating in the virtual Edmonton International Cat Festival Weekend taking place Caturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30 2021, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (both days), first of all—thank YOU!
100% of ticket proceeds will go to support Little Cats Lost, Second Chance Animal Rescue Society, and Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society.
Secondly, if you haven’t purchased tickets yet, please do so by clicking the link below! Tickets are $20, and 100% of proceeds will be donated to support cats in need! (You also have the option to donate more if you wish!) You can buy tickets right up to the start of the event (so, 9:59 a.m. on Caturday, May 29, 2020) but it’s nice to commit! 😉 Note: some CAT-ivity sessions require additional registration.
Finally, here are some tips you should know to ensure a smooth virtual festival experience!
Know Before You Virtually “Go” to the Cat Festival Weekend May 29 & 30, 2021!
To access the virtual festival, click below:
Make sure you are logged in (or log in) with the email address you registered with. If you see the view like the screenshot image above (the cat with computer, a countdown, the festival title, and access to the chat box, then you are logged in successfully!)
For the best possible experience, watch the festival programming with a computer or laptop.
Note: You can also access THE festival stream from your phone (iPhone or Android) but the view and engagement opportunities (chat, polls, questions) are just a bit harder to navigate on phone.
If you would like to use your phone, you can download the free Crowdcast Mobile app on iPhone and open the link within the app, or on Android, open the link from your Android phone web browser. Click here for more information about accessing from a mobile device.
But we do recommend you watch from a computer / laptop with a fuller screen to get the best experience!
How do you find the festival schedule and switch between sessions?
Find the full festival schedule here or easily access the schedule and toggle between sessions on the actual livestream page as well.
We’ve put together quite a jam-packed schedule for two days of back-to-back and simultaneous cat-themed PURR-gramming so you’ll want to reference the drop-down schedule on the livestream page to go back and forth between sessions.
When one session ends, you’ll need to click into another session. Follow these steps:
Note the screenshot below is an example from the 2020 event. The 2021 schedule and drop-down menu will look slightly different.
- From your computer, once you have the festival livestream link open, click SCHEDULE underneath the event title 2021 Edmonton Cat Festival (May 29 AND 30!) on the top left corner of the screen.
- When you click SCHEDULE, a drop down menu will appear that lists all sessions happening throughout the day. (See the screenshot image example).
- You will see you can choose from sessions that start at various times. There are three sessions going on at any given time!
- Just click whichever session you are interested in attending and it will load that session on your screen.
- Note: if it’s not yet time for the session to start, the window will show you a countdown of when the session will start. Come back when it’s the right session start time.
- Once a session is over, you need to click back into the schedule and select a new session to enter.
Note: You can still toggle between sessions from the iPhone app or Android web browser, the layout and configuration is just a bit different depending on your device (so again, we repeat: if you can, purr-ticipate in the festival from your computer or laptop for the best possible experience).
How can you experience sessions happening at the same time or watch replays?
- We’ve got a lot of PURR-gramming planned throughout the day and some sessions overlap with other sessions.
- Don’t worry—all sessions will be recorded and a replay will be available for UP TO THREE WEEKS following the weekend so you can BINGE YOUR OWN CAT FESTIVAL on your own time, catching up on all the sessions you missed or re-watching favourite sessions.
- The replays will be available to watch at the same virtual festival link above, and we’ll also send an email with links to each recording following the festival.
- Some sessions you may be able to “attend” both live by opening two Internet browser windows and having both open on your computer (think like a split screen). This might work if you also want to have Live Kitten or Cat Cams open while you attend a session with a formal speaker, however it may get confusing with overlapping audio going on in each session. For best experience, we recommend giving full attention to one session at a time!
What should you do if the session you’re viewing isn’t loading properly?
- If you’re in a session and the video or audio is lagging, or maybe chat box comments don’t appear to be loading or something looks or feels wrong—really, for any issue—the best thing you can do is to: refresh your browser window!
- With the system we are using (Crowdcast), refreshing the browser window or app solves almost all issues.
- You can also close the window entirely, re-open the browser window, head back to the virtual festival link and navigate to the session you want to see, but a simple refresh should do the trick for most errors.
- On the iPhone app, hit the three dots to open a menu that includes a Refresh button or if on a phone (Android) browser, hit the refresh button on the browser.
- We hope that there won’t be errors, or at least, as little errors as possible, but no system is perfect, Internet connections can be spotty, and live events are bound to have *some* issues, so we want you to be prepared if something does go wrong and we thank you for your patience!
How can you enter for a chance to win cat-themed prizes from our sponsors??
- We’re giving away cat-themed prizes throughout the day by randomly selecting people who leave comments or questions in the festival sessions, or post about the festival on Twitter/Instagram (tagging @YEGCatFest and #YEGCatFest).
- All you have to do is make sure you’re interacting in sessions and sharing about your festival experience throughout the day!
- You may also have other opportunities to win cat-themed prizes for specific sessions so listen to presenters and watch the chat box for instructions!
Click, here to see all the prizes up for grabs and how to enter!
We will announce prize winners at the end of day Closing Remarks and also post winners on our social media channels following the festival. If you have won a prize, you will be contacted via email or social media.
How can you shop the Virtual Vendor Marketplace?
- Check our main Edmonton Cat Festival website for a link to the Virtual Vendor Marketplace which will go live at 8 a.m. MST on Caturday, May 29, 2021. You’ll be able to shop all sorts of cat products for yourself AND for your cat! You do not need a festival ticket to shop!
- Plan your day, pre-pick your sessions.
- Check out the full festival schedule and plan which sessions you’re going to attend!
- Many sessions overlap, so we recommend planning ahead of time what sessions and at what times you’d like to attend (though you are able to switch in between sessions live as they’re happening, and you will have access to recordings of each session for three weeks after the weekend as well).
- Most sessions will be live however some may be pre-recorded or a mix of live with pre-recorded video.
- Some sessions also encourage you to follow along LIVE! Knowing what you need beforehand will help with that. For some sessions that offer materials, ingredients, or other things you may need if you want to follow along LIVE, those will be supplied on the website at least a week in advance of the festival.
THANK YOU!
By supporting the virtual Edmonton International Cat Festival, you’re helping raise money for three Edmonton area cat rescues. These three rescues are doing important work helping cats in need, and they need support more than ever. 100% of proceeds from the festival will be donated to local rescues, adding to the $117,000 that has already been raised for rescues at our annual events since 2014. We couldn’t help them without you, and we couldn’t celebrate cats, cat culture and cat people without you, so THANK YOU!
If you have any questions before the event, feel free to email: [email protected]
“See you” on Caturday and Sunday May 29 & 30, 2021!
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