Lessons learnt transitioning to a digital conference during the COVID-19 pandemic

Walking the Walk toward Increasing Access and Reducing Emissions: The Promise and Challenges of Virtual Climate Adaptation Convenings

“…Our results echoed prior studies about the benefits of online convenings, including increased accessibility leading to more diverse participation, and a lower carbon footprint [6,7,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]31,50]. All outcomes, which included enjoyment and satisfaction, knowledge acquisition, action orientation, and expanded social networks, produced an average response above the midpoint on five-point scales.…”

“…Prior studies have documented multiple benefits of virtual conference formats. First, virtual convenings have a significantly lower carbon footprint than in-person events, due to the elimination of travel, lodging and consumable items [22][23][24][25]. Greenhouse gas emissions for a typical in-person conference goer range from 0.5 to 2 tons of carbon dioxide per attendee [7].…”

“…Greenhouse gas emissions for a typical in-person conference goer range from 0.5 to 2 tons of carbon dioxide per attendee [7]. Virtual convenings are also typically more affordable than in-person events, often with lower registration costs and no travel associated costs [23].…”

“…Harabor and Vallati found that an asynchronous discussion forum for attendees and speakers enabled the continuation of discussions after the presentations [32]. Polling and sharing documents online have also been identified as ways to enhance attendee engagement [8,23]. Prior suggestions to enhance networking at online convenings include: publishing an attendee list for ease of connection [43]; organizing speed meetups or matched one-on-one meetings [33,42] or "Chat roulette", where organizers randomly create small group breakout sessions [44].…”

The administrative burden on physicians and technicians for organizing international telemedicine conferences: utility of a shared program management system in an international telemedicine network

“…However, this research study is significant as it is one of the few evaluations of international telemedicine conference program management systems, which are still not commonly used. In recent years, online academic conferencing has become more popular, and it has been reported that it is less expensive to conduct online congresses than traditional in-person meetings 3 , 25 , 26 . However, a typical online conference management system costs thousands of US dollars per meeting, and organizers in the network are not able to share information about the registered members and their institutions.…”