Thread by @wiredferret

#strangeloop @cristalopes: The Future of Conferences — Crista Lopes

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Modern conferences probably started in the renaissance, as a way for (rich, leisured) men to exchange knowledge, especially before fast and free printing.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: When conferences were part of academic life, they supplemented and promoted scholarly articles and knowledge sharing.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Conferences are a big part of my professional identity, both as an organizer and an attendee.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Why are conferences valuable? When I started in the early 90’s, we didn’t have the internet easily accessible, and now it’s at our fingertips all the time. The rise of the net has made knowledge acquisition easier and less dependent on in-person confs.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: The second value has been networking, but as I became more senior in my career, and as the internet became more useful, that has become less important.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: The third value for me is paid time in nice places. This one has held steady across the years.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: What are the costs, personally? Time away from family, which was not a big deal until I had a kid, and then the “price” spiked. As she’s more independent, that has gotten better.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Second is “microharassment”. That has decreased as I’ve gotten older and stopped caring as much. But when you’re younger, it’s a big cost.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: The third cost, that I didn’t calculate early in my career, is the emissions cost of me travelling.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: In order to calculate and compensate for the climate costs of travel, we might tax ourselves and pay for remediation.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: So for example, we ran the carbon footprint of this conference. We found that there is a center of efficiency, based on (rich, technology heavy) population centers, mostly in the eastern US and northern EU

#strangeloop @cristalopes: And then the pandemic. We had 18 months of virtual conferences, whether we wanted them or not. We all scrambled to handle the needs.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: [OMG, @NaomiKritzer! the ACM virtual conference platform is called Clowdr!!!! (The rest of you, go read the Catnet books)]

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Here are some things we know: Video presentation are better than in person — the technical snafus are not crowd-participation, and it’s more inclusive because of async options, and closed captioning and other accessibility is better.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: 2) Livestreaming is possible, but the value varies [omg, you have to pay for pros to make this work, and it’s not cheap]

#strangeloop @cristalopes: 3) Live Q&A can be better than in person, if it’s well-moderated.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: But social networking at online conferences ranges from non-existant to… okish. The platform matters a lot. Chat, emoticons, bios, tags, all add to richness. Social rooms and shuffle rooms help with engagement.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Webinars are like the non-interactive bad baseline of online interaction. 1-to-many.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Paid breaks is a total fail. [this is actually a big deal — we don’t get the time away from work to be in the conference mentally]

#strangeloop @cristalopes: [sponsor booths was on the slide, but we skipped it. As a sponsor, though, woof, it’s grim]

#strangeloop @cristalopes: So, overall, online conferences are a great way to share knowledge and protect the environment. But they are a terrible match for our expectations of what a “conference” is.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Predictions: In-person events are not going to go away. Virtual participation is here to stay, and there is strong demand for it. So we will end up with more hybrid conferences.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: No one really knows what we mean by ‘hybrid’. Some options: Large online events/smaller physical events. Or large in-person conferences and small virtual events. Alternate between online and physical. Or hard mode: addressing both simultaneously.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: What do we value? What is the meaning of a ‘conference’? What costs are we willing to incur. How can we leverage technology to create something different, more worthwhile, not just a “faster horse”.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Technology is the easy part. Presence is the hard part — breaks from routine, mental spaces, timezones, reluctance about online interaction. The challenges are all social and psychological.

#strangeloop @cristalopes: Are we going to continue along the route the pandemic has set us on, or are we going to go back to our horses?