this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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One positive from the pandemic was the realization that in-person conferences are almost always a waste of time and money.
If an online conference goes sideways, it’s easy enough to close the browser and carry on.
In-person meetings too. My company used to fly people across the country for one-day meetings. In a shocking revelation, that turned out to be unnecessary when the pandemic forced most meetings to be virtual.
Great gods. I don’t even drive across town for staff meetings. There’s always a video call alternative, and about half our personnel use it.
I like them because so long as it's paid for by work it's just a paid vacation, you don't really need to attend anything, just go to some museums, use your allowance to get some food. Nobody asks questions.
Exactly. Pay for your own vacation.
Edit: Sorry, on re-reading, I think I missed a sarcasm cue.
Nah.
I like in-person conferences. Online ones are okay for just giving/watching presentations, but you miss out on the random interactions with others in your field.
Ugh. I don’t go to conferences to socialize. I realize that many people do, but I don’t think that’s an appropriate use of institutional resources.
I kinda disagree. Even though I absolute loath the networking part of conferences, I came to hate online conferences even more. Listening to researchers with terrible microphones (because who is going to spend money on it if you use it once in a blue moon) is really not worth it.
Poster sessions are even worse. I was sitting in my private zoom call to present my poster, one or two persons dropped in, didn't react when I asked if I should give them the spiel, and then just left.
Online conferences for me concentrate all of the negative aspects with none of the fun parts.
I haven’t experienced mics bad enough to make me wish I were there in person. And I haven’t had that experience in any online poster hall, but maybe I just got lucky?