Embracing virtual conferences

Whether you love them or hate them, virtual conferences are here to stay.

Text by Leah Guren

Inhaltsübersicht

Image: © Maxim Tarasyugin/123rf.com

By now, it should be clear to everyone that the world will never fully return to the pre-pandemic past. Companies have discovered that they don’t need to maintain large offices if most of their employees can work from home; universities have recognized that remote learning solves more problems than it creates; conference organizers have accepted that the benefits of virtual events outweigh the drawbacks.

This means that virtual conferences – whether you love them or loathe them – are here to stay.

The painful pivot

I freely admit that I am a live-audience junkie. I prefer to stand up in front of an audience and play to their reactions. I love seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter when I successfully tell a funny story. My preference is so strong that I delayed making the move to virtual conferences until I no longer had a choice.

Oddly, I have been doing online training for ...