Clean Conferencing Institute
We’re a nonprofit dedicated to radically improving virtual conferencing.
Partners
Our mission
We’re finding ways to radically improve virtual conferences so that organizations will hold them more often, reducing their carbon emissions and broadening access to professional development for more people. To get there, we focus on the social part of conferencing—networking with other people—and we encourage associations to alternate each year between in-person and virtual conferencing.
Radically improving virtual conferences
We focus on bringing the interactive parts of conferences into the virtual space: hallway conversations, entertainment events, and social functions.
Advocating for more virtual
We take take a systems approach, helping leaders change their practices and policies so individuals don’t have to choose between attending and polluting.
Three legs of virtual conferencing
Activity Structures
Design engaging ways for your conference participants to interact with each other. How can you utilize the virtual space in ways that surpass in-person conferencing? For example, a “spectrum activity” asks people to discuss a topic by choosing a scaled response before talking.
Platforms
Choose a platform that affords (or allows for) the kinds of activities you wish to include in your event. Do you need people to be able to move themselves around? Do you want them to spontaneously create their own sized groupings? Some platforms excel in one-to-many presentations while others are good at small group interactions.
Social Norms
Consider the social challenges participants may face. Will they feel uncomfortable joining a small group already underway? Will they have trouble leaving a 1:1 conversation? By playfully introducing social norms or “event rules,” you can help participants feel comfortable interacting virtually at poster sessions (below), coffee breaks, networking events, or the like.
Of course, the three legs inform each other and work together: Certain activities will only be possible on platforms with particular affordances; and social norms will depend on both the activity and the chosen platform.
Your superpowers
You have more power than you think to improve virtual conferencing.
To learn more, click the button below that best describes your role.
Testimonials
“Thank you so much! We are so glad that you were involved in the workshop!”
—Sydney O’Connor, Chair of Future of Scientific Conferencing Workshop (2024)
“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you. We very much admire the work you are doing to make conferencing cleaner, while helping orgs like us uphold high standards for engagement. We are so appreciative for your partnership.”
—Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin, 2024 Conference Co-Chair
“It was the best virtual conference I’ve ever been to—there was a lot of interactivity, and the smaller discussion groups made it easy to talk to people.”
—Soya Park, Post-doctoral researcher and inventor of Who2Chat
“Your pitch to alternate in person and virtual meetings is music to my ears. ”
—Sara Ackerman, Associate Professor, Social Behavioral Sciences
“Following a very successful conference, a big, heartfelt thank you for the incredibly helpful ideas and guidance you provided every step of the way! We couldn’t have done it without you, thank you so much for your time, dedication, and flexibility throughout the entire process. ”
—Nicole LaMarca, Project Manager
“You always ask provocative questions, suggest brilliant new ways of thinking about problems, and cheerfully iterate on ideas. Our work together has widened possibilities for online meet-ups and sparked new dreams for future projects.”
—Ryan Jenkins, Founder, Educator and Author
Presentations
We give presentations about virtual conferencing. Here’s a selection.
Our presentation starts at 34:00 minutes.