Almost all international and national scientific conferences (any kind of conferences) are cancelled/postponed amidst COVID-19 outbreak throughout the world. However, it's uncertain when this pandemic will over and when life will be normal as before. Since then what are the options to organise scientific conferences? If online, how to overcome the time differences (for the international conference) in the different part of the world? What's are your thoughts, ideas and insights?
I hope it would be an interesting discussion.
It is now common to have shorter conference webinars, 2 to 3 hours, online. A face to face conference may have been one full day. This is a different format, but still it's interesting to have
It is now common to have shorter conference webinars, 2 to 3 hours, online. A face to face conference may have been one full day. This is a different format, but still it's interesting to have
Janet Lane
. thanks for sharing this. I am really curious to get a feeling that how to overcome the time differences (for the international conference) in the different part of the world?As Renaud Di Francesco mentioned, short conference webinars (2-3 hours) are the new normal, in one session we could then finish 10 papers most. So for the big flagship conference, it may take a week or two to finish the conference, isn't it?
Here is my answer, based on my daily practice in the area of global standardisation work, under the United Nations' standards bodies ITU, ISO, IEC: we use frequently 2 hours UTC timeslots taken from the "long day"
5:00 UTC
24:00 UTC
These correspond to office hours in Asia, then office hours in Europe and Africa, then office hours in America.
Some of the time intervals are inconvenient in one of the three broad timezones of the world, hence we "rotate the pain".
In a sequence of meetings on subject "topic 1", you start with a time ideal for Europe, the next meeting is on a time ideal for Asia, then the third one for America, etc...
It is proven to be workable
Whoa, very impressive idea Renaud Di Francesco ... Sounds workable and feasible..
Question Imrose B. Muhit , what would be the #1 thing you'd like to have as an outcome from a scientific conference in general? And in this remote pandemic setting? Learn about new findings? Share your own work? Get to know peers? Accidentally bump into someone you get along with very well and you both found some ground for an interesting collaboration? ...
Hi Arne Smolders ,
The first reason to join in a scientific conference in your field is to know what's the latest update and progresses in your research arena. Secondly, it's a place where you can showcase your work and get critical comments to improve your research. I always appreciate experts opinion on my research which gives me plenty of room to rethink and adjust what I am doing. Get to know peers is another important reason I prefer to join in a conference physically.
You made some really good point.
Sotiris Folinas :
Yes, Renaud informed a feasible idea to us. However, I was supposed to attend a conference in Krakow, Poland in the middle of this year. But, due to COVID-19 they are planning to organise the conference online. They are organizing two parallel sessions blocks over 3 days, therefore, I am still confused about how they are planning to overcome the time difference.
How to organize an online conference:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-020-0194-0
I miss conferences and readings. I would like conferences to take place. However, there are problems with air transport, closed borders.
I am waiting for scientific conferences on the technology of concrete and construction materials.
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/149011/should-we-transition-to-making-our-conference-online-or-postpone
Thanks, Anton Vrdoljak for your insights.
In my opinion, there is no point to postpone the conference until the end of this pandemic crisis, because no one knows when this pandemic will really finish and there is no chance of another wave. So, a smart and effective way of the online conference is the key. One of my colleagues from Poland informed me that, currently few commercial and professional companies are working to organize online conferences effectively. So, this thing is getting improved, isn't it?
Hi Waldemar Łasica
Right you are, mate. I'm missing the conference too! This year I am supposed to go to Krakow, Poland for a conference (17IBMAC), however, due to COVID-19 the conference will be online now! Significance and excitement of physical conferences are irreplaceable with the online one.
To Imrose B. Muhit : I agree with your comment. If you follow the link in my previous comment/reply you will find this answer:
...You might, however, read this blog post (https://www.daniellitt.com/blog/2020/4/20/wagon-lessons-learned) by Daniel Litt. He was an organizer of the Western Algebraic Geometry Online (https://sites.math.washington.edu/~jarod/wagon.html) conference, held via Zoom this April. It was quite large, with around a thousand participants, and in my opinion very successful...
Webinars/ web talks are only the alternatives in the present context.
Earlier we were having one day to five/ six days conferences depending upon the topic, type of conference (national/ international) and on organizers etc.
But webinars and web talks are confined to few hours only. Interactive sessions are mostly missing due to time paucity and other issues. We all are eagerly waiting to meet academicians and researchers in regular conferences very soon.
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