KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Conferences moved to an online-only or hybrid format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting both new benefits and new challenges.
• Academic societies and organisations now have an important opportunity to evolve the format of their conferences to better meet the needs of their members.

Conferences have long been the mainstay of community and an important means of data dissemination for academic societies and organisations. However, until recently, conferences have largely followed the traditional format of annual in-person meetings. This all changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced organisers to adopt virtual event formats. In a recent article for The Scholarly Kitchen, Paul Killoran discussed what the future might hold for academic conferences.

While it is undeniable that face-to-face events remain ideal for networking, they also come with significant challenges. Participants may face financial, political, and logistical barriers to attendance; therefore, the impact of conferences has generally been limited to the relatively small number of attendees who are able to meet in person. In addition, there is increasing awareness of the impact of international travel on climate change. A hybrid format of smaller, regional face-to-face events combined with online tools to provide a global reach offers a more sustainable alternative to one large annual meeting.

A hybrid format of smaller, regional face-to-face events combined with online tools to provide a global reach offers a more sustainable alternative to one large annual meeting.

A range of hybrid formats are beginning to emerge, using different combinations of in-person and virtual presentation, discussion, and networking sessions. This presents a challenge in itself, as no one hybrid model will work effectively for all events. Societies and organisations will need to figure out how to leverage online tools to maximise their reach whilst balancing costs and maintaining value for participants.

It is clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ for conferences and that both in-person and virtual formats will play a role moving forwards. We hope to see organisations identifying and addressing their individual needs and adopting targeted methods to communicate effectively with their members.
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