Published: 08.11.2020
Category: Virtual conferences
1,100 researchers in 37 countries on 6 continents attended the conference "Photonics Online Meetup" simultaneously. It was organised by the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich. After the conference the team was convinced of its merits. The next Photonics Online Meetup will take place in January 2021. Online, of course!
The first Meetup was organised a year ago because this form of conference allows participants and speakers to attend the event without having to travel. This not only increased savings and participation opportunities, but also provided valuable experience to elevate the exchange of ideas and personal interaction at virtual events to a level comparable to traditional face-to-face events.
About a thousand researchers worldwide participated in the Photonics Online Meetup POM20. A conference of this size usually involves a huge effort on the part of the organising team to arrange accommodation, transfers and meals and prepare the conference venue for the participants. The time commitment and the cost of travel to the conference are also considerable for most participants. Does an online conference bring advantages?
Research conference on 13 January 2020
The international, seven-member organising team, which included Professor Rachel Grange of ETH Zurich, chose the form of an online conference for the Photonics Online Meetup 2020. The team prepared the five-hour conference via a web-based instant messaging service. This was advantageous in view of the large time difference between the locations of team members, some of whom knew each other only online.
1,100 researchers in 37 countries on 6 continents attended the conference simultaneously. After the conference the team was convinced of its merits. “We will continue to use this form for large professional meetings,” said Rachel Grange. “It makes possible a free top-quality conference that is open to all.”
Inclusion, an important topic in research
To provide access to the latest knowledge for all interested parties worldwide was one aim of the conference. This form of conference was also valuable for all those researchers who would not have been able to obtain a visa to enter the physical conference venue or for many younger researchers who could not have afforded a trip. The social media star Mete Atature, physics professor at the University of Cambridge, praised the pet friendliness of online conferences. He even appeared as a „duo“ with his cat. However, how did the organising team deal with the disadvantages of meeting online?
Workload in comparison
“Planning and running an online conference is also a lot of work” says Rachel Grange, “but the effort involved is out of proportion to the physical planning and running of a conference of the same size”. This will allow more time for research and family; air travel can be reduced without having to forego the important international exchange among researchers. The organisation team now intends to share the experience of the build-up processes and know-how with interested parties
See the full story here
Published April 2020 in Nature Reviews: How to organize an online conference
Invited speaker, Professor Mercedeh Khajavikhan of the CREOL University of Central Florida, USA, opened the conference with her lecture “Topological photonics in active platforms”. (Picture: Print Screen of the conference)
Local commitment: 66 physical hubs were set up worldwide for the POM20. 635 were present at the conference within these hubs. (Picture: Print Screen of the POM20 website)
The “co-speaker” of invited conference speaker Professor Mete Atature of the University of Cambridge, UK, had her own slides. (Picture: https://twitter.com/MeteAtature/status/1216785930121408514)
