Silica Sessions – What is the future of conferences?

by Sarah Spaulding |

Presenter: S. Spaulding
Moderator: B. Bixby
PR: A. Burfeid

Conference travel came to a halt in 2020, forced by the pandemic. That “push” of the pandemic caused people to realize the dirty little secret of conferences; air travel is an environmental disaster. The carbon footprint of holding a traditional conference is over 95% that of an online conference. Furthermore, many people do not want (or are not able) to afford the financial cost of traveling, the personal cost of time away from family, or have the luxury of good health to travel. Traditional conferences exclude people with

  • caring duties,
  • work obligations,
  • health and physical conditions,
  • lack of funding,
  • difficulty obtaining visas,
  • pandemic interruptions,
  • desire to limit carbon footprint,
  • weather disruptions to travel, which appear in many forms with more to come…

We will consider the pros and cons of different conference formats. What are your feelings on conferences of the future? Have you ever built a successful relationship online? Is there any way that virtual conferences can be improved? Are there activities that might make virtual conferences superior as professional experiences?

Session format: 10 minute presentation of the topic, 10 minute breakout session with people divided into small groups (4-5 people) for discussion, then everyone return to the main session for summary discussion.

Discussion: How do we, as a scientific society, wish to shape our scientific conferences of the future? This discussion can be the first step in developing new conference goals for the International Society for Diatom Research.

There was widespread agreement that we all enjoy and value in-person meetings; virtual meetings are a poor substitute. Some people commented on having meetings as regional hubs, so that travel is not as far and not as frequent. People are going to fewer meetings and attending less often, such as every other year. The best recommendation for online tools was for poster sessions run at the Japan online IDS meeting using the software, Spatial Chat. Offer at least partial online sessions at meetings. Consider ways to make the online audience integrated with meeting. For example, have the online audience ask questions first. Make sure online participants can be seen and heard.

In summary, we all miss interacting with our colleagues at meeting, both formally and formally. We are not happy about adjusting to online options, but it is a reality of our time – and likely to increase in the future.

ICYMI – Video: https://isdr.org/silica-sessions

References:
Tao et al. 2021. Trend towards virtual and hybrid conferences may be an effective climate change mitigation strategy. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27251-2

Skiles et al. 2021. Conference demographics and footprint changed by virtual platforms. Nature Sustainability VOL 5 | February 2022 | 149–156 | www.nature.com/natsustain

Lowell et al. 2022. The future of conferences. Development 149, dev200438. doi:10.1242/dev.200438