Am currently attending a conference on stroke in Montpellier, France whilst lying in bed.
I went to the same annual conference a couple of years ago in its usual spot in Nice. That time I was there in person, but this year it’s entirely virtual and online.
Benefits of attending the conference virtually:
1) no jetlag
2) free registration! (There are regular ads from the sponsors)
3) I can watch it in the comfort of my home in sweatpants or even pjs.
4) I don’t have to feel guilty about not mingling with colleagues (I am hopeless at networking).
5) Currently actually there is severe flooding after a big storm in the region around Nice, but I don’t expect that was something that could have been foreseen by the organizers.
6) minimal greenhouse gas emissions
Disadvantages:
1) no associated holiday
2) no opportunity to practice my French
3) to watch the whole thing live I have to stay up all night. There’s delayed coverage for Americans but that starts at 5am. There’s another session at a more reasonable hour for Asia but it’s going to be dubbed into Chinese.
It’s all very professionally done with far less technical problems than I was expecting. Is this the future of conferences?