Conference Organizers
You are the linchpin for changing a global system of pollution and exclusion.
Every virtual conference you hold eliminates significant carbon emissions.
And virtual formats make your conference much more accessible to your community.
Here’s what you can do to make it engaging and satisfying:
Clarify your purpose
Purpose is often confused with format.
Planners often think, "I'm organizing a conference, so that means there will be plenaries and concurrent sessions and evening events." But different groups gather for different reasons—knowledge sharing, community building, problem solving, activism, sales.
We’ve learned to start with a clear purpose and then design the gathering to meet those goals.
Select the right platform
Choosing your platform requires thinking about features, cost, and look-and-feel, which all stem from your purpose.
Spatial video conferencing platforms—where attendees move “themselves” (i.e., a live video image) around in a virtual space, seeing and hearing the people nearest to them—is one promising approach for enhancing networking and participation.
Design networking activities
Even with a good platform, you’ll need powerful activities to get participation.
Attendees may be reluctant to activate their audio and video after experiencing passive, pandemic-era virtual conferences, not to mention possible distractions in the home or office like children, pets, or colleagues.
Join us in developing and studying activity structures that offer planned transitions, comfortable beginnings, enjoyable interactions, and meaningful conversations.
Set social norms
Facilitators can suggest social norms to make participants, especially first-timers, more comfortable.
Facilitators can offer guidance on how to join a group conversation, for example: “While deciding whether to join in, position yourself just outside the group’s circle. When ready to join, enter the circle, and someone will acknowledge you by name.”
Facilitators can also ask the group to generate social norms that work for them.
Help us develop and try out social norms that create comfort, offer choices, and encourage participation.
