Moving academic conferences online: Understanding patterns of delegate engagement

Abstract

Academic and scientific conferences are necessary for the dissemination of research, for networking, and to support professional development (Rowe, 2018;Yoo & Chon, 2008). Communication between researchers and other stakeholders occurs formally at talks and poster sessions, and informally at social events, while professional development usually occurs through workshops and mentoring events. Traditionally, conferences have been held as in-person meetings, and with the increase in international collaborations, delegates travel across the globe to attend these events. Yet, the ethics of conferences have been called into question (e.g., Fraser et al., 2017;Holden et al., 2017). If these events are so integral to scientific development should we accept that they exclude participation of researchers with limited funding? Should we accept that conference travel results in such a large carbon footprint? Alternatively, online conferencing has provided an option for researchers to connect without the same commitment to cost, time, and carbon impact (e.g., Raby & Madden, in review). Online conferences started off as a simple email-based event (Anderson, 1996), and due to the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly become more common and integral to scientific communication (Milić et al., 2020;Viglione, 2020). In order to maintain the enthusiasm of online conferencing, it is vital that we take this opportunity to feedback from the events that have been organized during the COVID-19 pandemic. The key indicator of delegate enthusiasm for online conference material is their engagement during the event, either indicated quantitatively by their accessing different parts of the meeting (e.g., visiting webpages, viewing

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“…This difference was higher than expected for this type of event (where some drop-out is the norm, and thus expected) and is attributed to the virtual/on-line nature of the workshop. Indeed, this phenomenon has been noted across other events, for example, Raby and Madden [63] found the behavior and engagement of academic conference delegates changing with the move to online virtual events. Comparable to the experiences within this study, Raby and Madden (2021) [63] document that, out of the 950 pre-registrations in their study, just over half attended the conference.…”

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“…Relationships were built with different suppliers of goods and services: software developers, webmarketing consultants for the reshaping of website and app (differentiated procedures for registration, download of information and documents, users' tutorials and guidelines) and for the set-up of the scientific sessions in a virtual format (special sessions, keynotes, poster sessions and virtual social events) [13,20] . Added to this are: use of social networks and established directories (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, etc.…”

“…In order to organize virtual conferences during the pandemic, essential requirements were the presence of an experienced technology team, responsible for the choice of the virtual platform (based on time, costs and users’ familiarity) and providing technical support during the conference. Relationships were built with different suppliers of goods and services: software developers, web-marketing consultants for the reshaping of website and app (differentiated procedures for registration, download of information and documents, users’ tutorials and guidelines) and for the set-up of the scientific sessions in a virtual format (special sessions, keynotes, poster sessions and virtual social events) 13 , 20 ) . Added to this are: use of social networks and established directories (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, etc.…”

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“…Several accounts (such as Brown 2020) have outlined the disruption that can be caused through unwanted intrusion by uninvited guests who have gained access to the online event, a practice most commonly referred to as 'zoombombing'. Online conference events are also prone to the condition that has now widely become known as 'zoom fatigue' (Raby and Madden 2021), the sense of tiredness that can arise from continuous or overuse of virtual video-conferencing platforms (Wiederhold 2020). Concerns have also begun to emerge that the carbon footprint of replacement online activities may be more substantial than had first been anticipated (Filimonau et al 2021).…”