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1/ We convened an EGU session virtually last week using chat features, with attendees also having access to presenters’ displays (largely slide decks)
2/ I enjoyed it, although there were certainly some negatives to the experience
3/ Social distancing made me crave scientific interaction, and so it was enjoyable to interact with colleagues across the world in real time
4/ As convener, I also reviewed all of the displays in advance, which helped engagement with the session.
5/ However, it was quite a bit of homework to review the displays before the session. I can’t imagine doing this for multiple sessions. For those just casually joining the chat without previously viewing the displays, they might feel lost
6/ Even with pre-viewing the displays, the science flew by fast and furious and it was at times hard to absorb
7/ We could only allot 8 minutes per presentation in our sessions, given that all of our previous oral and poster presentations were crammed into our 2 alotted 1.75 hr blocks
8/ Text communication is also inefficient which cut down on the discussion time. It takes a while to form a coherent thought and type it out, and then similar response time for the reply
9/ It’s also of course not possible to follow up at coffee
10/ These negatives aside, I did find the session fun, enjoyed interacting with my colleagues in real time, and of course there was no registration fee for this meeting!! Can’t beat that. The benefit to cost ratio was high
11/ Now, would I pay a registration fee to attend such a meeting? I’m really not sure. I am scheduled to attend the upcoming Japan GPU-AGU meeting that will have a similar format.
End/ There will be a reduced registration fee, and I’m not sure yet whether the benefits are worth it, especially since I would need to attend some sessions in the dead of night. Still thinking though.
