Discovery Summit Wish List

Question

So, we're a year and a half into our world of virtual conferences and I know we're all tired. Or maybe it's me, I'm tired. Of only being able to connect with our users in the online environment.

As we start to look towards Europe in March 2022, I wanted to pose a couple of questions to my global colleagues:

* Have you attended or heard rave reviews about another virtual conference? What sessions, formats, etc. have you seen that worked really well?
* What resources do you need to get your customers to the conference and engage with them once they're there? We've done the Virtual and Social Promo Kits for a bit now, but what's missing that you REALLY need?

Thanks very much and thanks to all for your energy and efforts that you put towards our events!

Ryan_Lekivetz · Answer

I was coming on to post about Gather, and saw that @scwise already did. I saw it used for a social event at a design conference recently, and it has a much more personal/social feel vs. larger group settings at a Zoom social. One of the organizers there had mentioned being at conferences where the poster sessions had been held via Gather and also thought that worked well (although it's not clear that for the posters there's any advantage versus Zoom as it's been currently used).

scwise · Answer

Katie and Team,

I presented at a conference that was mostly virtual over the summer, ASA QPRC 2021 in July that utilized the "Gather" virtual hosting for their poster and exhibitor sections.  The presentations each had separate Zoom links.  If you haven't seen it before, the Gather environment lets you pick an avatar and interact in a virtual exhibit hall space where it is easier to get 1x1 talks and connections with presenters and exhibitors.  Gather Conferences.  The Academic Team was also there and felt it was a better GUI.  Curt also said that he successfully experienced using Gather at ASCOTS this year as well.  In any case I think a virtual mix conferences are probably here to stay and well understand the upside of reaching many vs. the downside of not really getting face-to-face connections.  However this type of virtual hosting might at least be a way to get back closer to facilitate one-on-one deeper experiences.

Chris_Kirchberg · Answer

I think @kimsanghyun has a point about the natural differences between in-person and virtual and it I think it is interesting and valid. Doing what works well in an in-person scenario does not necessarily work well in a virtual scenario, not given the current technology. The converse is also true, what works well for virtual scenario does not necessarily work well in-person scenario.

In-person conferences seem to be more conducive to informal  social connections, impromptu interactions and time to break away to focus on the main topic/purpose of the conference (away from distractions of work and other parts of life). Get a chance to spend more time developing relationships and connections since there is less distraction and more time. Be able to explore more about a topic with an individual/developer given we have no other place to go.

Online/Virtual meetings seem to be more conducive to small segments of learning, bit size absorption of new ideas or ways of doing something, and brief introductions to people you might want to connect with later. View only what you need but still be able to get some work done. Save some time, money and resources normally spent on travel.  Time efficiency, more content options, and more variety of content options are possible. Also allows people who do not like to speak in-person an opportunity to present without that pressure (pre-recording and then be there to answer questions and other mechanisms).

I am taking classes at night for a Masters Degree in data science and it is all done remotely. One thing I have noticed is that it is hard for a group of individuals (no matter where they are from) to start interacting with each other during a live presentation or to connect out side of the lecture. Being engaged, staying engaged, and making connections is difficult. A couple of things that did help to break the ice, so to speak.

One was to have break outs during the lecture in a small group of 3 to 4 people with a specific problem to address/find a solution to. This was more purposeful and formal. Time allotted was a bit too short since after working on the problem, we started to socialize, but got cut off. If a little extra time was allotted, we would have socialized more and become more connected.

Another was more informal. Someone started a Discord channel to talk and collaborate on homework problems, asynchronous material, and a place to gripe/complain/vent. It became a good source for social interaction as well as helping each other out. Sometimes this occurred while the lecture was co-occurring. It also allowed communication to be delayed and not in real time as well as in real time.

These two things I think work well in a virtual environment but are hard to do in an in-person environment.

So what am I saying is .... like what @kimsanghyun  was pointing out, lets not try and force every bit of the benefits of an in-person event into a virtual event. They are not equivalent experiences and platforms. Let each do what they do best and let it go. Accept they each cannot meet the exact needs of the other. Have both, but maybe adjust them both to meet new needs and changes.