i don't think hybrid conferences are the answer. virtual conferences will only get better if we are all stake holders. and we all have to participate. if we don't engage we will of course have a disappointing experience.

#acl2020nlp #emnlp2020

we also need to talk about "present anywhere" again. virtual events like #acl2020nlp solve the travel barriers / concerns, but if we get back to in-person they will return. and assuming that folks can travel to any *ACL location just seems really ... elitist?

i've found myself wishing (again) that ACL had a stronger virtual community. as best i can tell there's an outpost of us on twitter, the corpora list, and ... is there something i haven't been invited to? afaik we don't have an inclusive and persistent space to talk and share.

we have some big issues to talk about, reviewing, ethical questions, ... we have those conversations here, we have business meetings now and again, but it's all kind of fragmented, at times not transparent, and hard to engage with or even follow.

anyway, regardless of what happens with virtual conferences i hope we get some ideas about how to build a more virtual community. we should at the very least aspire to that. and maybe if that becomes a little more natural a virtual conference won't be such a shock.