Reimagining academic conferences: Toward a federated model of conferencing

Abstract

What should the post-COVID conference look like? In our attempt to answer this question, we first describe the primary functions and affordances of conferences. Our frank appraisal reveals the breadth of reasons why academics attend conferences, and how conference attendance often blends personal and professional motivations. We also elaborate some of the shortcomings of in-person conferences, spanning personal, professional, and societal concerns. Recent alternative (virtual) formats for convening scholars provide means for alleviating some of these shortcomings, but do not seem entirely up to the task of providing a fully satisfactory solution to all that conferencing can be. Moreover, we extrapolate from prior history and ongoing trends to predict that technological solutionism to conferencing is likely to unleash both positive and negative dynamics, some of which will exacerbate current ills in our profession. We then sketch out a values-based approach that can serve as a basis for reimagining academic conferences. This vision promotes a federated model of conferencing, grounded in principles of inclusion, diversity, community, and environmental stewardship.

‘What about the coffee break?’ Designing virtual conference spaces for conviviality

“…Here, we issue a specific call for concerted efforts to question the assumption that online events should fit around other activities, and for inventive responses for how to solve the currently tight interconnection between spatial distance and freed‐up time. In particular, we note Etzion et al's point about a key feature of the conference being its very nature as a sometimes hedonic ‘routine‐disrupter’ (Etzion et al, 2021, p. 3) that enables an extrication from usual commitments, or acts as a jumping‐off point for a holiday or excursion that can be added on more easily since one is already ‘away’ (see also Hopkins et al, 2019). This suggests that we must not underestimate the role conferences play in shifting overworked academics between temporal modalities, and experiment with how these modalities could be activated otherwise.…”

A Postphenomenological Perspective On the Changing Nature of Work

“…Reflections on academic conferences provide another illustration. Online gatherings have resulted in some augmentations: Facilitating inclusion and opportunities to speak up for previously marginalised participants, alleviating the need for travel, offering shorter and diverse formats of presentations while simultaneously giving rise to Zoom fatigue, body aching and longing to return to the ‘exhilaration’ experienced from ‘serendipitous encounters’, and otherwise ‘hedonic’ experiences of live conferencing (Etzion et al, 2021 ). The postphenomenological perspective offers a way to make sense of the emotional ambiguity of such transformations: seeing it as simultaneously empowering and exhausting, exciting and dreadful, futuristically attractive, entrepreneurial, and yet longing for the simpler times when (supposedly) no mediation put a limit to our direct engagements with each other.…”

Reverse adoption of information and communication technology among organisers of academic conferences

“…Several studies document that the advantages of online conferences include lower travel costs, reduced organisation costs and removal of geographical and administrative barriers (Roos et al, 2020 ; Wu et al, 2022 ). Literature also agrees that replacing or supplementing face-to-face conferences with virtual ones would help make them more accessible and reduce their carbon footprint (Etzion et al, 2022 ; Roos et al, 2020 ; Wu et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Early studies of virtual academic conferences focus on the choice of format available during the acute initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic rather than what is actually preferred in the longer run (Falk & Hagsten, 2021 ; Mubin et al, 2021 ). The experience and satisfaction of participants of virtual or hybrid conferences and their advantages and disadvantages are also discussed (Etzion et al, 2022 ; Hohlfeld et al, 2021 ; Medina & Shrum, 2022 ; Niner & Wassermann, 2021 ; Puccinelli et al, 2022 ; Raby & Madden, 2021a ; Roos et al, 2020 ; Yates et al, 2022 ). Additional literature compares the number of participants and their profiles between virtual and physical conferences (Skiles et al, 2022 ; Wu et al, 2022 ).…”