You do not have to use your University network username or password if you choose. Regardless of your choice, you are responsible for remembering your username and password. If you forget the information, it is not retrievable. No one will have access to your username and password. When you open the conference, you'll probably initially see a list of forums and threads.
Forums are like clusters of people talking at a party.
Threads are like the conversations the various clusters are having, each one with its own starting point. People enter and exit threads according to their interest in reading or participating. If you're the quiet type, you can just browse around without any obligation to post messages. What you'll probably do first when you enter a conference is click on a thread that looks interesting so you can read the messages that are inside. However, you may not see any forums or threads at first.