Why maintain your conference, even online?

In March 2020, the conference organization activity was greatly impacted. At that point, no one was really ready to react and a lot of events were cancelled. Today, after almost two years of practicing online and hybrid alternatives, we are convinced that canceling an event is the worst option for several reasons:

1. By definition, a conference is…

A community. The very essence of a conference is its community that gathers around a common interest. The objective of a conference is to increase the size of its community but also to federate. It is necessary to create a strong bond between the members of the community and to preserve it. Thus, if we do not bring this community together, or not often enough, we lose this sense of belonging and the links disappear, which in the long term, will impact the ability of the conference to achieve its objectives.

2. The purpose of a conference is…

To update. Indeed, the regular meetings of a community make it possible to keep aware of the latest updates in its field. If you cancel one or several editions, you skip a step and it is very difficult to catch up.

3. Why not re-schedule the conference?

While sometimes moving the date of the conference looks like the only solution, this possibility should be considered only as a last option. Indeed, changing the date of an event requires significant additional work since the availability of speakers and participants is the crucial factor. Therefore, if we keep the date of the event, we can then focus on “the rest” of the organization because logistics would be well tested. We can in particular consider the hybrid solution here, it allows people who cannot be present to participate in the conference online remotely and therefore avoid canceling the whole event because a part of the speakers cannot be present.

4. To go even further…

We strongly advise you to always have a backup solution. PremC always provides one without adding cost in case of a change. This will allow you to ensure that your event takes place, no matter what (excluding aliens invasion or zombie attack 😉).

We can also take advantage of these new methods of online or hybrid conferences to renew the traditional agenda of conferences. The current trend is to adapt shorter but also more regular conferences. We avoid long conferences in terms of duration and rare in terms of frequency to favor short conferences that are organized on a much more regular basis. Seeing each other more often also allows the community to strengthen its bond.