Academic conferences scale back hybrid ambitions

Empty podiums, low engagement from speakers and higher costs have led events large and small to rethink combining online and physical gatherings

July 18, 2022
Person speaks via videoconference during an in person meeting to illustrate Conferences don’t see a hybrid future
Source: Getty

Academic conferences that allowed presenters to speak from wherever they wished were once touted as the future for post-Covid events, with many scholars embracing the opportunity to address auditoriums from their offices, bedrooms and even cars.

But the future of fully hybrid conferences is looking less certain after several major academic events banned speakers from presenting remotely and scaled back online streaming of keynote addresses and panel discussions.

The moves follow concerns that the travel-free option for speakers is leading to empty podiums and an “us and them” culture between remote panellists and assembled delegates. Some organisers have also flagged the logistical complexity of enabling online speakers and the vastly inflated cost of running hybrid events, which often require numerous video and audio production staff, producers and technical support.

The European Society of Cardiology, which typically welcomes about 30,000 delegates to its annual congress, said that “all presenters will be onsite” for its event in Barcelona in August and that “only participants can be fully remote”.

The Society for Neuroscience, whose annual meeting also attracts some 30,000 participants, said its conference in San Diego in November would be “in-person” and it would offer only a “sampling of annual meeting content virtually”.

Mary Beth Barilla, programme director for the Society for Scholarly Publishing, whose annual gathering took place in Chicago in June, said the organisation had “asked that all speakers appear in person”, although virtual delegates were able to connect via the meeting’s app.

While the approach was taken primarily to “avoid some of the technological challenges that can arise with hybrid panels, there was also a reluctance to ask on-site attendees to travel to the event just to watch a group of speakers on video”, Ms Barilla said.

“In the end, we made some exceptions, and not surprisingly, some speakers had to cancel at the last minute, for various reasons,” she added.

The society’s approach to hybrid conferences was likely to “evolve over time as we gain more experience”, said Ms Barilla. “Of course,” she continued, “hybrid is definitely more expensive and requires additional staff resources – the challenge is balancing the additional cost with the benefits of offering a virtual option to satisfy member demand and advance our diversity, equality, inclusion and accessibility goals.”

Mark Carden, who organised the 2022 Researcher to Reader Conference on scholarly publishing in London in February, said he was reviewing whether to offer the online option to all speakers for next year’s event after 80 per cent of panellists and moderators spoke remotely this year.

While some speakers cited pandemic-related travel bans, budget constraints, timing issues and positive Covid tests, some based in London chose that option for “convenience”, he said.

“Other events have never had the culture of ‘you are the audience – we are the speakers’, but we risk going there when you have a physical conference in which most of the panellists stay at home,” said Mr Carden, who added that online speakers usually left little time to respond to questions from the floor and seldom stayed to listen to other talks. “At least half of a panel should be in-person in future,” he suggested.

Conference organisers might need to consider whether online-only or in-person-only would better suit their audiences, continued Mr Carden, who said he remained committed to the hybrid model because it allowed many more people to engage with events.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com

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Print headline: Conferences don’t see a hybrid future

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Reader's comments (3)

We are currently experiencing two crises: 1 Covid is becoming more transmissible (with potential impact on vulnerable people and longCovid) (I have personally just missed a conference, having paid the fee, because of a vulnerable partner); 2 climate change. There is no substantive reason for insisting on travel.
Exactly as above. I'm also sensing a drive to return to campus for those who have no need (or desire) to be there, purely as window dressing for students. Little thought is being given to staff who have to care for vulnerable family members with underlying health conditions, let alone the currently inflated cost of travel and the loss of productivity on the commute.
Having experienced both options for the same conference (in person this year) I have to say that for me, where presenting isn't the main purpose of the conference (I can make a YouTube video for that), I have to say that networking and the other side events don't work at all in the online mode. Rethinking what conferences are about is however something that is valid.

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