The world of academic workshops and conferences is changing. Constrained budgets for meeting organizers and attendees, postpandemic reluctance to trav

Lessons Learned from Running a Virtual Global Workshop

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2024-11-20 15:30:10

The world of academic workshops and conferences is changing. Constrained budgets for meeting organizers and attendees, postpandemic reluctance to travel, concerns about environmental footprints, and the need to be more inclusive are all motivating efforts, including in the sciences, to find workable alternatives to in-person gatherings [Kremser et al., 2024; Fraser and Mancl, 2024]. Meanwhile, widespread access to improved communication technology and the availability of an ever-growing set of online tools are increasingly making remote workshops more viable and effective than in the recent past.

Online events are particularly attractive for geographically dispersed groups of participants and for meeting organizers facing tight constraints on the lead time available for planning.

Online events are particularly attractive for geographically dispersed groups of participants and—because there is no need to work out location-based logistics—for meeting organizers facing tight constraints on the lead time available for planning. Online events, though they have their own challenges, can also minimize the time commitment for attendees and can enable inclusion of a broader group of perspectives, including in multidisciplinary workshops bringing together experts from different fields.