Are virtual (aka online) conferences bad for academia? A chat between Dr. Echo Rivera & Dr. Barbi Honeycutt
Virtual or online academic conferences are now more common than before, and we think they’re going to be a permanent fixture in academic and research settings.
Is that good or bad?
We think it’s a good thing 😁
Hopefully, by the end of this post, you will also see why virtual or online formats will be good for academic and research conferences.
But before we get started…
Hello! I’m Dr. Echo Rivera and I help academics, researchers, and similar professionals end #DeathByPowerpoint and create engaging presentations.
Introducing Special Guest: Dr. Barbi Honeycutt
This is the blog post version of a YouTube video where I chat with special guest, Dr. Barbi Honeycutt!
Dr. Honeycutt works with educators who want to learn how to create engaging in person and online learning experiences. She is the creator and host of the Lecture Breakers Virtual Summer Conference and the Lecture Breakers podcast.
And this video is part one of a two-part series!
Be sure to watch part two on Dr. Honeycutt’s channel, about virtual (online) professional development!
Barbi also posted a video on her YouTube channel about online professional development. So be sure to check that out!
Topics in this post
Why we wanted to talk about virtual academic conferences
Reasons people give for not liking online conferences (and our responses)
How an online conference benefits CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS
How an online conference benefits SPEAKERS
How an online conference benefits EVERYONE (participants, speakers, organizers)
Wrap-up & conclusion
1. Why we wanted to talk about virtual academic conferences
The conference that almost wasn’t
Back in 2019, Barbi surveyed her audience and asked them what types of professional development experiences they would be most interested in.
The overwhelming majority said they wanted opportunities that were:
online; and
allowed them to connect with others, like in a community.
Barbi immediately thought: a virtual conference! 💡
At that time no one in her space in higher education was offering virtual conferences. So, she thought, “cool, I’ll be one of the first!”
By the time the pandemic was in full force in March of 2020, Barbi was already well into the whole planning process for her virtual conference. When everybody else was canceling their in-person conferences or scrambling to reschedule and pull together an online option, she was already finished with most of her planning.
Fast forward to the summer of 2020, her first Lecture Breakers Conference was so successful that she did it again in 2021!
However, it wasn’t quite as successful as in year 1. People were burned out, tired, and just done. 18 months into the pandemic, online conferences were everywhere.
So, understandably, Barbi first assumed that academics:
are tired of online conferences;
are “zoomed out” and done with watching more videos and screens; and
would all rush back and prefer in-person conferences.
That’s why, Barbi announced that the 2021 virtual conference would be the last one.
Cue footage of my (Echo’s) reaction when Barbi announced the end of a virtual Lecture Breakers:
I (Echo) was so heartbroken to hear this because I presented and attended the first Lecture Breakers conference and it was literally the best conference I had ever been to.
For once in my life I was able to attend every single session (which I've never been able to do before). I learned so much, and it was just a perfect learning environment for me, and networking was amazing.
So when Barbi said it was over, I was just so sad.
And then came the twist: According to Barbi, the Lecture Breakers (LB) community was heartbroken, too!
When she reached out to her community a few months after the 2nd conference, they OVERWHELMINGLY asked Barbi to bring the virtual conference back.
And wow! They had a lot of reasons why, which we’ll dig into in this post.
Barbi realized that she was the one stuck in the pre-pandemic mode of “going back” to the way things were. 😲
The LB community spoke loud and clear, and now she will be offering the virtual conference again next summer!
Cue footage of my (Echo’s) reaction when Barbi announced that j/k, the virtual Lecture Breakers is back on:
And anybody who is reading this, attend Lecture Breakers, it's the best conference ever!
This is the core of why we wanted to do this series together because a lot of conference organizers are struggling with the same question of whether to go virtual or to go back to in-person, or face-to-face conferences.
Sadly, we’re seeing too many conference organizers stuck in the past. 😩
We want to help them move forward and embrace virtual, because:
Academics want it
It has the potential to be more diverse, inclusive, and equitable than in-person conferences
We have the technology to do it, so now is the perfect time to make this happen
It’s the new reality. Everything has shifted and we can’t go back. Better to embrace it than fight it.
We’re hoping that we can convince some people to believe that virtual is here to stay. And that's a good thing.
2. Reasons people give for not liking online conferences (and our responses)
Concern #1: But aren’t virtual conferences bad for networking?
The #1 reason people say they don’t want a virtual conference is because they “don’t want to lose networking opportunities.”
“How do we build a professional network if it's not face-to-face or in-person?”, they ponder. 🧐
Well…the two of us have never met in-person—we met in a virtual setting.
And yet, we didn’t stop at a simple “network” (which often involves just following each other on social media, let’s be honest)… we’ve actually worked on some cool things together!
In just the last few years, here’s a snapshot of what we’ve done together:
Barbi interviewed me for her podcast, and I addressed some common myths about presentations
We recorded another video, about online professional development
So you can definitely do some serious virtual networking if you put yourself out there.
As Barbi said, “I think that it's really expanding what networking means, it doesn't just have to mean that in-person face-to-face experience”.
And it’s not just us that have benefitted from networking via virtual settings.
Here is an example of virtual networking that Barbi shared:
“…so many of my participants in my conference talked about one of the favorite things that they loved which was that I offer a community as part of my conference…and I had people who were connecting with each other directly, they were doing direct messages to each other. I was helping facilitate connections where people had questions in the group…and it's amazing to see that grow out of the online community space and then carry forward into wherever people go beyond the conference”.
Like Barbi’s example shows, you can do so much virtual networking at a virtual conference.
And are in-person conferences the best for networking anyway? We think not.
Because some people are excluded from the in-person experience of networking.
When we talk about networking at in-person conferences, we have to think about who can actually be at the conference and who can't be.
There are a lot of people who are excluded from attending an in-person conference for a variety of reasons that we talk about throughout the video.
With virtual conferences, more people are going to have a chance to build their network and networking can actually become easier and more effective.
For example, Barbi’s virtual Lecture Breakers Conference was global. At least nine countries were represented at the conference! 🗺
Participants not only had the chance to network with the speaker, but with other participants as well. Even though people were in different time zones, they were conversing together in a chat room in real time.
Now is an opportunity to talk about accessibility in lots of different ways and redefining what networking means.
Concern #2: But how will I see my friends or family? Or visit new places?
Another thing that people say is they like in-person conferences more than online conferences because it’s a chance to see friends, family, or just to travel and visit new places.
This is when I (Echo) went on a little venting spree because, yes, that might be true...
…BUT… ahem…
Let’s challenge a few assumptions:
Is a conference actually the best way to meet up with friends and family?
Maybe we should challenge that, because it speaks to a bigger problem in our work culture where we aren’t paid enough or aren’t given enough paid time off to do that.
Is a conference actually the best way to travel?
A lot of conferences tend to be held in the same location every year or the same handful of cities. So, is that really the best way to travel?
It also ignores the bigger question of what happens when the conference is in a place that is unsafe for certain groups of people?
Who even gets to use conferences for this purpose?
Have you actually looked at the cost of conferences lately?!
I’m not convinced that an in-person conference is actually achieving these goals for everyone -- or should be used as the way to achieve these goals.
Even when I have gone to a conference and joined the fun social events, the conference itself was expensive. I was worried about money. I was stressed out about my presentation. I had to do all these sessions. I had to wake up early. 😵 ugh.
And then, luckily, I stopped myself before I went off on the deep end here. 😅
But I could have kept going about how wrong it is (IMO)on a cultural level, that this is even part of the “benefits” of a face to face conference, because we should be able to meet those needs in other ways.
And that, still, the many benefits of a virtual conference outweigh the inconveniences.
3. How an online conference benefits CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS
Barbi has more experience with this than I do, so I asked her to share some benefits of a virtual setting for conference organizers. Here’s what she had to say:
(1) Management, coordination, & logistics are SO MUCH EASIER with online conferences compared to in-person conferences
You do virtual by yourself; You can hire a tech assistant to help during the live event.
You must have a well-trained team to do in-person conferences .
No facility management: check-in table, name badges, programs, cleaning, mic, tech, food, not enough chairs, fire codes (been there, done that).
(2) It might be easier to get a higher quality mix of speakers for a virtual conference, compared to in-person conferences
Most popular/well-known speakers are busy and booked way in advanced.
Virtual conferences allows popular speakers to present on back to back days or on the same day; they don’t have to allow for travel time in between events.
(3) When organizing an online conference, you have more control (and more opportunities) compared to in-person conferences.
Mute people who go over their time.
Monitor/control audience participation.
You can record it! This means more opportunities for participants from around the world; more opportunities for marketing/raising awareness; ongoing networking and engagement; and more visibility for presenters.
4. How an online conference benefits SPEAKERS
Not only are virtual conferences beneficial to conference organizers, but it is also beneficial to speakers.
Here are some benefits I’ve learned as a presentation trainer and speaker:
(1) It’s way easier to script and practice your presentation if it’s going to be online
This surprises a lot of people, I know, but it’s true! It might help to check out my unique scripting and practicing workflow before you assume I’ve lost the plot.
You can keep an eye on the chat to know what the audience is thinking. This is valuable information because you can adjust your presentation in real time. If you start seeing that people are confused about something you can pause and address it if you want to. 🙌
As a speaker, I love the Q&A feature in Zoom (or whatever webinar/software you’re using). I can preview all the questions and pick and choose the ones that I think are going to be the most beneficial to those watching or will watch later in a replay.
If you're presenting online, you can drop a link into the chat and all people have to do is click on it because they're already on their computer. It’s easier for you to build your network as a speaker because you can share those links directly.
(2) When it’s an online presentation, you don’t have to worry about printing handouts & bringing the wrong number/wasting paper
It is not easy to predict how many handouts to bring. I have underestimated, I have overestimated.
It has always been either a waste of paper or people are left upset or left out because they don't have a handout. 😣
You don't have to worry about that in an online setting. For example, you can share a link to Google Drive or Dropbox, where people can download resources with a click.
(3) Even if you’re a great public speaker and “great on your feet,” it’s less stressful to give an online presentation
So many things can go wrong with in-person: the room is not as expected, not accessible, old PowerPoint software, old laptop, screen issues, frayed cords, etc.
Watch the video version of this post to hear our disaster stories! 🤣
(4) You can present in PJ pants and, like, seriously -- what can be better than that?
You can wear the clothes that make you feel comfortable presenting. And for me, that is a huge advantage.
5. How an online conference benefits EVERYONE (participants, speakers, organizers)!
So, virtual conferences are great for organizers and speakers, but what about the participants?
What about the people who are watching or attending the online presentation?
In this section, we share some of the feedback that Barbi received from her Lecture Breakers Conference audience:
(1) Virtual conferences are more affordable than in-person conferences, and easier to attend for a global audience.
Online conferences are so much more affordable.
No travel.
No hotel.
Don't have to eat out!
That, alone, makes it more affordable. There are other cost savings, too, like not having to buy fancy clothes, lose much needed PTO, and other aspects we didn’t have time to address.
Plus, there’s the issue of time zones when traveling.
It's a lot to have to make those adjustments from traveling and can wear us down. Virtual conferences help keep people in their time zone and prevent this type of stress. 😮💨
(2) It’s easier to handle family responsibilities with a virtual conference
Many people were taking care of elderly family members, or they have children.
It can be stressful trying to balance it all and coordinate with family responsibilities.
(3) Online conferences have the potential to be significantly more accessible and inclusive than in-person conferences
Have ASL on the screen, closed captions, transcript, chat. 💯
Prevent frustrating mic issues where you can’t hear a presenter at a conference.
When someone has a question, you can turn the mic over and everybody can hear when someone speaks.
You can provide all sorts of universal design for learning resources that we all benefit from.
And I do want to emphasize that it's possible for this to happen.
Most of the time I don't see this happening for in-person conferences either. This is something that all conferences could probably do better and consider, regardless of an online or in-person setting.
Overall, an online setting is so much more accessible and this is a huge benefit.
(4) Networking is easier and faster for a lot of people at a virtual conference
We talked about this earlier in the video, but it was worth mentioning again. For example:
Super easy to post your social media link in a chat, and super easy to click on it and connect with someone new!
(5) A virtual conference offers a significantly more effective learning environment for more people, compared to a face-to-face conference
With a virtual/online setting, participants have the control and options they need to reduce information overload and learn in a way that works best for them. 💡
For example, in an online conference, you can:
Stop and take breaks any time
Watch replays with speed controls to slow down or speed up the video
Watch replays, so that you are able to watch & learn at a time that works best for you (live or when you feel up to it)
Learn in a non-distracting environment (coughs, sneezes, papers rustling)
This is especially important for people with disabilities and those who are neurodivergent. An online space allows for people to participate and show up in different ways, and everyone will appreciate having those options. 🙌
(6) It’s easier to have your voice heard & questions answered with webinar software than in an in-person conference.
Let’s be real: In an in-person conference, you don't really get your questions answered.
We don't really have our voices heard. We're more passive participants and there isn't space. 🗣
It also isn't easy to say things out loud or interrupt people, and therefore it isn't easy to get our question answered.
But in a virtual setting, all of that is easy and possible.
I know I was able to ask more questions and participate! I felt more active in an online setting compared to in-person. 🤸♀️✨
All these reasons are why virtual presentations have the potential to be significantly more diverse, inclusive, and equitable compared to in-person conferences. 🙌
6. Wrap-up & conclusion
I hope you found this helpful and I also hope that if you’re organizing a conference, this helps you consider doing it virtual or online.
If you’re speaking at or attending a virtual conference, I hope this helps you get maybe a little more excited about that! 😄
Thanks for reading and don’t forget, this is part of a series. In this post we focused on virtual or online conferences. But on Barbi’s YouTube channel, there’s a video about online professional development so be sure to check that out!
with joy,
Echo Rivera, PhD
Links shared in this post >>
Video about online professional development on Barbi's YouTube channel
Barbi interviewed me for her podcast, and I addressed some common myths about presentations
How to write a presentation script and practice your presentation the right way
Chemistry World article: When scientific conferences went online, diversity and inclusion soared
