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Just wrapped up #SYNCELL2020- an amazing experience! This slide summarizes what I think are the biggest benefits of running a conference online:
We also highlighted the different things we gain and lose by taking a conference virtual. In my opinion, the benefits greatly exceed the costs, and I& #39;ll go into a little more detail in the (long) thread below:
PARTICIPATION: Originally we had ~100 registered. #SYNCELL2020 Virtual had 715 registered attendees. We averaged around 300 participants at any given time. By going virtual we significantly broadened our reach, including to curious scientists that might not have come otherwise.
INTERNATIONAL: #SYNCELL2020 had participants from 6 continents, 47 countries, and over 200 institutions. Even with the extreme difference in time zones, we had attendees watching and asking questions long after midnight local time.
MONEY: By going virtual, our attendees saved a combined $1,323,125 on flights, hotels, registration, and per diem. This money, enough to fund 38 Ph.D. students for a year or buy 16,539 kg of PDMS (!!!), goes directly back into science.
EQUITY: Even when labs can afford to send people abroad, it doesn& #39;t guarantee they can go. 152 of our attendees (>20%) would require a visa to enter the US. Virtual conferences transcend borders and provide a much more fair way to share our work with international colleagues.
PARENTS: Child care considerations at physical meetings are improving, but virtual meetings make this nearly a non-issue. I’ve heard directly from multiple attendees that they would have been unable to attend the physical #SYNCELL2020 because of childcare situations.
ECRs: 78% of our attendees were early career researchers (undergraduates, grad students, or postdocs). We even had a small number of high school students!
INTERACTION: Going virtual offers new chances to interact with speakers during and after their talks. With 350 people watching, #SYNCELL2020 Q&As were always lively, and speakers later received a list of answered and unanswered questions, allowing them to follow up directly.
UTILITY: As #SYNCELL2020 featured recorded talks, speakers have the ability to use their presentations for future use. Ever had a talk where you felt you really killed it? Imagine being able to use that talk again indefinitely for lectures, training, #scicomm, etc!
EFFICIENCY: By holding #SYNCELL2020 Virtual in half-day sessions, scientists don& #39;t need to put their experiments on hold to attend a meeting and share their results. This is especially appealing to wet lab researchers like me!
ENVIRONMENT: As scientists, our collective conscious is growing w.r.t. carbon emissions. #Greenlab initiatives are making a difference- conferences can improve too. #SYNCELL2020 saved 1,879 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere- enough to fill 2,000 feet above an auditorium!
Do I think we should move to 100% virtual conferences? Of course not. On the slide above I listed some of the beneficial things that physical meetings can offer. Do I think every single conference should have a free or reduced-cost virtual component? Yes, absolutely.
There are no excuses anymore. We know we can do it, and we know it works well. @nano_jenn and I are two postdocs organizing this in between experiments- imagine what a large society meeting can pull off!
Of course, @nano_jenn and I weren& #39;t the only people working to make #SYNCELL2020 a reality-I want to thank all the speakers, moderators, and panelists who helped make this meeting a success, including @DeLaporte_Lab, @MarileenD, @DrewEndy, and @KateAdamala
The team at @UNM, including Gabriel Lopez, @emsyard, Mary Jo Daniel, and Pamala Garcia Ramirez all did a tremendous job pulling the program together. Thanks for your hard work!
This week has been a highlight of my career, as I’ve been dreaming of running a virtual meeting for years. #COVID19 has been a disaster, but I’m encouraged seeing other ECRs adapt to this new reality, organize virtual seminars, and share their work in an innovative way.
A quick shoutout to those also running virtual talks: @adamshellard (Cell migr) @patriciadavidso/ @cadotbru (Nucl sci) @claudialoebel/ @thewooj (Cell-ECM) @NEUBIAS_COST (ImageAnalysis) @GregHudalle (BME) @BrianAguado/ @jrmstrng (Biomed Sci) @HeikeBhm4 ( #MtL) & @GVNlab ( #TissueTalk)
