How to hold a conference online
Celia Popovic, Faculty of Education – York University
Erika Kustra, University of Windsor
Just as many of us are working out how to move our face to face classes online, some of us are also involved in organizing academic conferences which may now have to take place virtually. Last year we were involved in organizing an online annual professional conference which has been held in person for many years.
With the uncertainties raised by our current situation, and the potential affect on conferences and academic gatherings, we thought it might be helpful to share some of the lessons learnt by the Educational Developer Caucus' online conference 2019.
Background
The EDC Conference is traditionally held in February and is hosted by a volunteer University or College in Canada. We aim to change the location each year to encourage engagement and spread the travel costs in a country that covers thousands of kilometers and several time zones. In the run up to 2019 we did not have a volunteer by the expected deadline, so rather than extend the search we decided to experiment with holding the conference online.
Logistics
We had just over a year to plan the conference. We wanted to ensure that all Canadian institutions could take part in normal office hours. Consequently, we changed the format from the usual 2 day in person schedule to 4 days - for some this meant the conference took place in the morning, for others in the afternoon.
We chose to use Big Blue Button as the VLE. This did not require users to download software and was in use by one of the conference committee member's institutions. BBB were able to provide technical support in particular training for presenters in advance of the conference.
We aimed to emulate the advantages of a face to face conference, the biggest in this context being networking and serendipitous conversations. To do this we encouraged institutions to hold in person gatherings. In the case of large organizations these were internal, but several institutions welcomed colleagues from their neighborhood, and we heard of many lively discussions and meetings held as a result of the conference. Of course, with an aim to reduce interpersonal connections, this might not be appropriate in the case of a pandemic.
We ran keynote sessions and parallel sessions, as with a conventional in person event. We had a 'Showcase' option that had elements similar to a poster event, but allowed more variety in the format of the object shared. The Showcase remains available long after the conference has ended. Each session was attended by an organizer who was able to deal with technical issues. While most of the sessions ran smoothly it is fair to say there were some glitches which we would hope to avoid in a future online conference, but it is not possible to guarantee a problem free experience.
Advantages
We were not dealing with a pandemic in our case, rather the initial driver was the lack of a venue, but the outcome is very similar. Holding the conference online met our initial challenge, but it also brought other benefits.
Travel in Canada in February is notoriously subject to weather conditions. Holding the conference online reduced, or in many cases eliminated, the need to travel.
Impact on the environment - while this was not the main driver, reducing travel, particularly by air, was an advantage.
The costs of the conference were reduced dramatically. Not only did participants save in expenses for travel and accommodation, but we did not have costs associated with hosting the event. BBB was provided free of charge. Participants were charged $50 as an individual registration, or $100 for groups of 2 or more attending the same sessions.
Challenges
When advertising the times it is imperative to point out which time zone applies. It is not possible to tell people the time zone too many times!
Dealing with technical challenges, particularly those of participants inexperienced with online events generally or the specific platform in use at the conference.
A few lessons:
* We requested that everyone have a co-presenter, so there could be two people involved and knowledgeable in case there were any issues.
* We had training meetings for all presenters offered at staggered times.
* We had 'virtual room hosts' for every session who helped with technology, but also helped to chat and prompt answers to act as models if needed - and we had special training for them as well.
* We had online guides for presenters and participants to access and read.
* We had a virtual 'showcase' that functioned a lot like a poster session but with more media options - so people could post resources and chat about them synchronously or asynchronously through a chatbox and this seemed to be well received
* We had a practice room people could go in and try out in advance (presenters and participants)
* We created welcome videos from the executive, and an online land acknowledgement that people could contribute to.
* The conference organizer contacted conference goers every morning with a welcome, update, and easy clickable links to connect.
* We committed to posting resources after the event.
Organization
It was helpful to have a small but committed organizing committee, with some comfort with technology (though not necessarily experts) and a willingness to jump in with both feet, and pilot and try things out.
Summary
Feedback from the conference was mixed, with some disliking the format intensely, but the majority were in favor. Of course, many who really do not like online events would not have chosen to take part, so this was in part a self-selecting group. We have not decided to run the conference online every year, but we have incorporated elements of the online experience into future in person events.
The report on the conference is available through Google docs https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qZS5zA_nvxSJCMOVWNGVj3JJ8USBRqo6T_IZD7ITwE0/edit?usp=sharing
We will be writing a more fulsome account for future publication, but in the meantime, here is an overview. The conference site is here: https://edc-conference.com/home/2019-conference/
Both Erika (kustraed@windsor.ca<mailto:kustraed@windsor.ca>) and Celia (cpopovic@yorku.ca<mailto:cpopovic@yorku.ca>) are happy to answer any questions you may have