With
technical conferences going virtual during the current COVID-19 situation, it
would bring many benefits and would pave the way for wider participation. I registered for a top conference which is conducted in virtual mode this year and liked the experience. Just penning some of my thoughts on its advantages and possible challenges.
Advantages of virtual conferences:
1. One can watch videos of all papers and need not be limited to attending only one track at a time.
2. No hassles of visa/travel which saves a lot of time and money. It should significantly benefit institutions that do not have generous funding. Even in many reputed MNCs, employees have to literally beg their managers to approve conference travel. All such hassles would go off and it would encourage more people to submit papers.
3. It reduces the cost significantly - conferences charge an exorbitant registration fee ranging from $500-$1000, primarily because of the cost of the premium hotels used as the venue. Virtual conferences should bring down the cost.
4. Saving the overhead of organizers - Organizing a physical conference is a significant burden on the organizing team. There are always unexpected logistic issues that arrive. With virtual conferences, such a burden would be lessened. Even the organizers would get an opportunity to participate in the sessions.
5. No disruption to a regular routine - a professor can take classes, a researcher can continue his research while engaging in the conference. No jetlags.
6. It will improve inclusivity: specially-abled people who are not able to travel or people who have to attend other commitments like child-care or elderly-care or those who fell ill close to the travel dates could also participate from the comfort of their homes.
7. In some emerging fields, registrations reach a very high number and participation has to be limited due to the capacity of the venue. Such restrictions would go away and a larger audience could be accommodated.
8. If you miss out some important concept during the presentation, then you can go back and watch it again to understand better.
7. In some emerging fields, registrations reach a very high number and participation has to be limited due to the capacity of the venue. Such restrictions would go away and a larger audience could be accommodated.
8. If you miss out some important concept during the presentation, then you can go back and watch it again to understand better.
However, in my opinion, some of the experiences of a physical conference like networking could not be replicated as it is. Many-times such networking translates to job offers or collaboration. It would be challenging to support such networking in virtual mode. The exhibitor booths are interesting and provide information about the latest developments in the industry. Though there are attempts to support them in virtual mode, it would be difficult to match the physical booth experience. Contrary to the advantage that I mentioned earlier, some of the interesting travel experiences would be missed.
Overall, it would be interesting to see how conferences evolve as the pandemic subsides.
