Dear helia

Technology is good especially for those who can't move.

regards.

It seems to be a good idea There are many who are unable to travel internationally due to time/cost/leave issues, and for them this is a good alternative. Of course, we miss physically meeting and the related 'more comfortable' or social networking that happens. On the other hand, this may bring more people to the conference (virtually), and people can choose to attend what they want to.

What apprehension do you see?

Virtuality is great :-) I would love to be able to go on-line, enter a conference in a far away land (at a reduced rate), browse e-posters, listen to podcasts of presentations and 'live chat' with other on-line attendees during the published hours of the conference. Individually, these technologies are out there, but I am not sure if they have successfully been bought together for this purpose.

One tiny alarm bell that is ringing though, is the people who wish to 'present a paper' ... I am all for remote participation, but I still believe that such events need a clearly demarqued category of presentation, that allows for real-time interaction (& hence some form of peer-review). I can throw a ppt or podcast together & dump it on a virtual conference, with no comeback for questions or critique (beyond somebody looking at 300 words of finely spun abstract). For me, conferences are firstly for interaction & then knowledge transfer, so I think the virtual platform has to concentrate on this :-)

Such conferences are time and energy saving and are especially beneficial for those who are overwhelmed with multifarious tasks at their workplaces and can`t attend the physically.

So what is the current format / structure of virtual events and participation at such conferences? Is the virtual conference (as I outline above) a reality & what technologies are readily available?

I will say a very big YES to such conferences especially if we have to travel a long distance to attend (other states or countries). We can use our finances judiciously.

I believe such conferences will be beneficial to low/low-middle income group countries

I feel, such conferences are a boon to all those who have many problems for attending conferences like;

Long distance to travel,

Leave to be granted,

Need to attend and present papers at such gatherings, which is given extra points in performance indices, by some universities like ours !

Financial constraints and so on !

Should researchers be rewarded merit badge points for not having coffee and foreign food with colleagues?

They should be awarded merit badges if they can outline the specific discussion/issue that was explored during the coffee & foreign food (& perhaps the 'gala dinner' if they can remember ...), & also describe how this fits into their research or employment remit.

I am greatly in favour (at risk of being accused of limiting academic freedom yada, yada) of having more structured accountability & reporting for conference attendance as it gives focus, transparency and helps wider knowledge transfer.

As far as I remember I had no benefit from attending gala dinners and coffee breaks; maybe, I met the wrong ones, though. Got some nice business cards.

When I follow the presentations, I listen more attentively to new ideas (no small talk). What an asocial person I am!

Using technology to come together is promising, reducing fuel consumption, time and money spent for travelling and coming to the point. By the way, it's great to have you here at my desk (by Researchgate).

Virtual gala dinners are tasteless. @Michael. I am making myself some mocca java now. Care to parallel my action? Sadly RG killed off htttp://www.researchgate.net/topic/CoffeeGate

Eco-friendly way!

Given we have simple everyday technology like Skype, live chat, can place video talks & images on a web-based 'virtual site' etc, what specifically prevents us from hosting and engaging with a virtual event? Ok - it is more difficult to get live video streaming for real-time engagement but you could time release lectures, display posters & have scheduled times when presenters would be available to contact by email, Skype etc.

Ok - no food, drinks or physical encounters (engagement & interaction sounded just as bad - sorry), but if we want to present findings to a wide audience & offer the opportunity to engage in dialogue (albeit remotely), then would such an event not help the many people who are otherwise restricted in joining such events? They can still access material, communicate with others & exchange views ....

Having pre-recorded messages / presentations displayed at conferences still requires people to actually be there. It may give people a chance to 'virtually present' and add to their cv, but it does not help those who cannot be there but might otherwise benefit from the information.

I personally like the (virtual concept) of logging into a conference on X on a given day/week (for a small registration fee), maybe visit a virtual venue (think of the stunning and famous backdrops you could have), and navigate halls of posters, recorded papers etc. Pop-ups could show when key note lectures are starting & a contacts page would show when & how the presenters of every contribution could be contacted. Presenters would not be charged (their content attracts paying virtual delegates, so peer-review could be rigorous), but they are obliged to make themselves and their material available during a certain time-span. Such a site/conference could run any number of events on the same format & archive all the materials afterwards (non-downloadable & with no contact option) for free view.

Anybody tell me why this would not work or be possible ?

With more and more conferences around, I see a difficulty in choosing the "right" ones. This might (might!) be an argument for virtual conferences, of which more might (might!) be attended.

On the other hand, having access to all the relevant sources of scientific publications through my employer, what keeps me from taking a stroll through all that's published based on these tools (this is an aside to Nicholas Rowe's halls of posters)? I wouldn't feel a need for a virtual conference, and for paying a registration fee.

I see personal interaction, the possibility to go into details and discuss ideas as a tremendous benefit of physical meetings, and I can't see how a virtual conference should give me the same. In any case, physical presence at a conference greatly increases the chance of being exposed to something (ideas, research, points of view) you wouldn't have thought of yourself. In a virtual conference, it is much easier to avoid such exposure.

The most valuable contacts are 'accidentally' made in the lift, dining hall and at the coffee tables. How to get such "Happy happenstances" to happen virtually?

Dirk - I think you are quite right in saying that if you need info , then scientific publications can easily be accessed & achieve an appropriate level of knowledge transfer. The interaction at conferences is also a (the?) key issue, but can we not also achieve this to a suitable degree in the virtual environment? OK - you might not need a virtual conference if you are funded to travel and attend the real thing, but huge amounts of equally good scientists & scholars cannot get such funding. The virtual platform might give choice, access and also an affordable means by which to interact with the wider community .... a bit like the way we are swapping ideas on RG ;-)

@Ian Kennedy: My point entirely. Thus completely replacing physical events by virtual ones is not helpful in my opinion.

@Nicholas Rowe: But doesn't what you say about researchgate and such platforms mean we have the necessary tools available already? Without the need to pay registration fees for virtual conferences ? I just hope RG doesn't feel induced to raise fees by this discussion ... ;-)

I absolutely agree funding for researchers to attend physical conferences is a problem, I suffer from it, too, in a way, as organizer of symposia where accepted presenters finally can't attend. I have no solution for this problem, though I think it is at least influenced by the increasing number of conferences we see: As I said in the beginning, hard to choose which to attend. However, if there is a value to a physical meeting, the point would probably be how to allow those researchers to attend them anyway.

Dear Helia Jacinto, Physical participation in conferences are quite healthy in comparison to virtual presentation. Its like watching the football match in stadium and on TV at home.

If possible give preference to physical participation but if lack of fund don't leave presenting your research contribution via virtual participation.

The best thing that can happen to an academician or a researcher: It helps you to just sit on your desk and have healthy discussion with experts in the field. The most important thing about virtual participation is that it has almost no costs to it and that you get certification.

Target meetings are such virtual conferences which i myself i am associated with and i am a speaker for forthcoming target meeting on word diagnostic conference that happens to be at America

http://www.targetmeeting.com

It may not be possible or feasible to attend all conferences, we wish to attend physically, because of many constraints like distance, time, finance etc and then his can be a good option ! Of course, actually attending , I believe, is a different experience altogether !

I think virtual conferences can be good if well organized. Networking (Ian's "Happy happenstances" ) is not impossible in a virtual environment but of course will be manifested under different forms. F.e. nothing stops the organizers from setting up a virtual discussion forum or chatroom for each panel on which every participant and attendant can comment. This may function as a screening too, as when physically present, we are under the pressure to conform to social expectations which may results in formal and unproductive discussions -on a virtual discussion forum only those will comment who are really professionally motivated to share and discuss their ideas.

Dear colleagues,

having contributed to this thread before mainly by defending the need for physical conferences, I am just adding this answer to say I will be gathering first hand experience, for the first time, with a virtual conference myself - and not from the side of the participant, but from that of the (co-)organizer.

The event will be entirely free, as I understand, as it is a "first time" also for the organizer, and I am really curious to learn how it works out and what conclusions to draw from the experience for future events of this kind.

If you are interested, I'd invite you to take a look at this event, too, even though it might not be within your primary field of research - it is the

1st International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications

The organisation behind it is the OA publisher MDPI, and suitable contributions to the event are meant to be published in their journal "Sensors". I have attached a link below - if you want to comment on the event, and maybe bring in your ideas (via this thread here or in any different manner), I'd naturally appreciate that.

Best regards,

Dirk Lehmhus

http://www.sciforum.net/conference/ecsa-1/

I would believe that this must be a best example of how latest technology can be best used.

Saves time

saves money

We only have to sit at our work place/home meaning no travel stress

You would still get to communicate with peers, share your knowledge

I was fortunate to attend such conference--got a certificate of attendance and was a spesker

www.nature.com/.../22179-TM_s_2nd_World_Clinical_Diagnostics_Onl...‎

I prefer face to face! Here is nice quote: “The core of qualitative research has always been authentic contact. No matter how well informed you might be, if you haven’t met people then what you think about them has an element of fantasy about it”-Roy Langmaid, The Langmaid Practice.

Ljubomir, I fully agree with you. There is nothing better for students than real contact with skilled and really dedicated teachers. This is shown in the recent investigations which were performed on the subject of the autonomous learning. Thanks a lot for very valuable quotation.

Ljubomir , I didn't mentiion that the same opinion regards the so-called virtual participation in conferences. A real person with all his/her qualities of mind and emotions is the most valuable paricipant of every conference.

Hi Janina, it is true. Face to Face interaction is irreplaceable. But we should be open for innovation. Virtual conferences are some kind of innovations in this complicated reasearch & science world :) What do you think?

For the record; Mr. Lieskovsky's company organized multiple (and excessively broad) virtual conferences in the past 2-3 years. It would be interesting to hear about his first-hand experiences.

I think we have to think of what would help improve the situation from 'I cannot attend':

The first e-posters were presented in 1995-6 during virtual conferences in (if I remember correctly) NMR spectroscopy. The idea was to hold an annual event that shared all sorts of ideas & was accessible by a wide range of people who would not normally be able to attend. To detract from this idea because face:face is 'better' is not an argument - virtual conferences let people interact, who would normally be excluded, so it has to be a better option than ... nothing.

Interaction though is the main criteria people have mentioned on the thread. The technology is (unreliably) there to let people live-stream (lots of us have been on the end of a 'live-link' that died), but if not, then lower-tech options of live chat, being on-line at dedicated times for questions by email & other ways of communicating can also enhance the lectures by podcast, uploaded virtual posters etc.

Costs would be dramatically reduced & if people upheld their responsibilities to interact, be available at set times etc, then I do not see how virtual conferences may not provide an alternative (not replacement) for the bigger face:face events.

I would like to see someone launch a commercial venture that 'hosted' these & provided an affordable option for those who could not normally attend or host the traditional version. It might be fun to determine what requirements you would need, the IT solutions that are readily available & how you would organise this service: what could people expect when they logged in to the virtual conference site - could it be 'MOOC' level, how would attendees & presenters show benefit/value for money, what would it be like to sit at your desk for any prolonged period whilst you 'took part' ?

I think it is intriguing and full of potential ... but would be different (not better or worse) than traditional conferences.

Anton,

I understand what you mean. I approvr of innovationas but at the same time am a bit conservative.

Dear Nicholas,

yours is an interesting answer, which brought me to think whether there are models, too, for virtual participation at "physical" conferences - something that would help solve the "I cannot attend" problem for some people at least.

I wonder, is anyone in this thread aware of such an accompanying measure to a conventional conference, nad would he/she have some information on how it is practicaly handled?

Best regards,

Dirk Lehmhus

Dear Nicholas,

just had a look at your profile & saw the various publications on poster sessions and their effectivity - interesting topic, too: Personally I sometimes have the feeling you reach people more directly with a poster then with a oral presentation. Depends on the community, of course (I hear in some scientific communities, posters are unheard of - not in materials science, though, here they are quite common). In any case, I guess posters may support direct interaction between presenter and interestee more - which is only possible in the form of time-constrained questions after an oral presentation.

I wonder whether this might have an implication for virtual conferences, too, where the same could be the case.

Best regards,

Dirk Lehmhus

Dirk - The Entomology Society of America hosted virtual posters in 2011, 12, & 13 with this in mind (but were unsure if they would continue with it in 2014). I think the principles are sound, but when you mix the approaches, there are issues of 'attendance' (especially for those who 'virtually attend' a temporal conference (not sure if this is a good word, but I prefer it to 'real') ... sceptics would say that the line is already added to the CV. You also get a disjunction between those who 'made the effort' & the 'lesser committed' who are maybe just hangers-on.

As for effectively communicating your work - I can talk to/at a room of 500 delegates for 20 minutes, they will hear my message & if there is 10 minutes for questions, then it can be argued that there is direct interaction. The captive audience does absorb some of what is said (see theory on passive / didactic learning) and I can say I spoke (to) 500 people (kudos).

Most poster presenters however, report that they actively engage with only a handful of genuine viewers in their 1.5 hour slot (but value this engagement all the same). I think that adding a virtual element would allow more people to engage with presenters (live chat etc) & see / hear their work (podcast, web-hosted posters & papers etc). The virtual environment is a great potential platform for this, but as Janina points out, this is basically change management - some more conservative peers may be quite happy with the established orthodoxy.

@Janina, I have forgotten to give a link for a nice quote and picture above in my previous thread! Here it is!

http://www.research-live.com/features/in-praise-of-face-to-face/4007207.article

Ljubomir, thanks a lot for the link. As it is night already, I'll read it tomorrow.

Regards,

janina

Dear helia

Technology is good especially for those who can't move.

regards.

Best Practices for Virtual Participation in Meetings: Experiences from Synthesis Centers

Face-to-face scientific meetings remain extremely valuable because of the opportunity to build deep mutual trust and understanding, and develop new collaborations and sometimes even lifelong friendships ...

The time demands for travel, particularly for multi-national working groups, provide strong motivation for exploring virtual attendance. While not replacing the richness of face-to-face interactions entirely, it is now feasible to virtually participate in meetings through services that allow video, audio, and file sharing, as well as other Web-enabled communication...

Although technology now exists to enable high-quality virtual participation in meetings, participants frequently encounter technological and sociocultural obstacles. For instance, virtual participants sometimes become peripheral collaborators during face-to-face meetings due to inattention on either side or audio-visual difficulties. Meeting organizers and participants are often unfamiliar with techniques that can help minimize these difficulties. Modest changes in our behaviors, communication techniques, and use of technology can vastly improve virtual participation and help to create more positive experiences for virtual and in-person participants...

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bes2.1290/full

I do not agree with the concept. I want to be physically present

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bes2.1290

Agree with Dirk Lehmhus

regards

The last class, and one that is expanding in appeal to business as travel costs build, is the virtual gathering. The pervasiveness of the Internet and especially broadband, with its modest quick associations, has permitted Internet gatherings to be organized with individuals everywhere throughout the world. Sound gatherings are less demanding and less expensive as the data transfer capacity necessities are lower than feature. ...............https://researchpedia.info/types-of-conferences/@

This is critical for addressing climate change. The research community needs desperately to do this and no longer require academics to spend enormous amount of carbon for 10 minute presentations. Granted, networking is critical, but not all conferences have great networking. I think a good website that hosts meetings plus conference, plus even poster sessions and presentations would be critical and save a LOT of money and help save our planet, reduce all that carbon from flights.

Due to the fact that flying/aviation as a human activity is highly polluting and contributes to 2% of the greenhouse gas emission and is one of the fastest-growing polluters, I seriously suggest every scholar in the community reduces the times of flying every year.

If you don't know yet, now you know:

From 1992 to 2005, passenger kilometers increased 5.2 percent per year. In the European Union, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 percent between 1990 and 2006.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviation

2019 is forecast to be another record-breaking year for air travel, with passengers expected to fly a total of 8.1tn km, up 5% from last year and more than 300% since 1990.

According to projections from researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, emissions from the sector could more than double by 2050 even if planes become substantially more fuel-efficient and airlines save additional carbon by optimizing their operations.

Under a less optimistic scenario, a lower level of fuel savings could lead emissions to triple by 2050.

In 2019, almost 40m flights are expected to depart from airports worldwide – more than 100,000 trips per day.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/jul/19/carbon-calculator-how-taking-one-flight-emits-as-much-as-many-people-do-in-a-year

For the scientific community, CO2 emissions associated with the trips required to present a paper at a scientific conference account for just 0.003% of the yearly total. However, with CO2 emissions for a single conference trip amounting to 7% of an average individual’s total CO2 emissions, scientists should lead by example by demonstrating leadership in addressing the issue.

Read more: Article The Carbon Footprint of Conference Papers

As an ethical scientist, we should consider adopting a whole new way to broadcast results, socialize with peers, and collaborate on the international scale. One thing that we can do is to control our own ambition or desire to go to another country to sleep in a hotel, walk around a new city, experience a new culture, talk to new friends over champaign or whatever, and show up on the stage with your best suit or dress to present for minutes to a relevant audience. I got it, physical contact with human finally after one long period's work by desk. But if you truly understand our situation as an earth citizen now, truly aware that we are in the sixth mass extinction, truly alerted about the global warming and a significant sea level rise, and truly care about your children who are brought by you to this world and forced to face the fact that their parents partied too much and left no much for them to enjoy nature and life, you will start acting as a father, a mother, a scientist, a scholar, to participate in virtual presentation of a conference instead of flying there to add your contribution to the doom of our and future generation.

If you can not afford to attend the conference, virtual participation is good way to stay connected to your peers. It is fine opportunity, but face to face has no substitute!

I agree with you Hima Abdelkader .

I believe that "virtual participation" in conferences saves the effort and time for the researcher and is an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and gain new experiences and skills provided by digital technology