I feel like 99% of the issues here stem from the fact we are in the midst of a global natural disaster and folks are irritated they can’t share respiratory aerosols. That’s fair. However I think the future is undeniably hybrid conferences.
1) audience participation- this is the fault of the conference organizer and tooling. I have an amazing device attached to my computer that captures local photon statistics using an interesting effect Einstein discovered that can magically beam a simulation of my face to the presenter. If you aren’t seeing the audience, that’s not the fault of the format it’s the fault of the organizer for now allowing you to see and interact with your audience.
2) in person events and hallways incidentals - yes, this is fair. A lot of people really derive pleasure from travel and sharing air with tons of other people. Personally, I’m tired of air travel and the hassle of sleeping in a widely shared bed at a hotel and getting sick in the first 15 minutes of a conference. I’ve had as valuable or more valuable networking interactions through irc, Usenet, slack, even pull requests. I’ve never landed a job via a conference or even someone I met at a conference, but my career is built on my early use of irc. But it’s ok - if there weren’t a global natural disaster, I expect we would have dual format conferences. The successful ones will solve point 1 effectively, and point 2 can be solved through online networking events in the platform. The fact organizers aren’t successful yet is probably more to do with we slapped this stuff together in a hurry due to a global natural disaster. With time and experience I don’t see why the esports version of the live conference won’t be just as viable.
3) blocking time for the conference forces present me to attend sessions during the day and my employer is happy to save travel and entertainment expenses and let me attend. I will insist on that in the future as well - and I’m senior enough I can do that unilaterally and allow my people to do it too. I hope you do if you’re also a tech leader, and if you’re an IC advocate with your management. Otherwise I can create a playlist for future me, but present me will always be too busy to prioritize watching these things “in my spare time” (hahaha what’s that?)
1) audience participation- this is the fault of the conference organizer and tooling. I have an amazing device attached to my computer that captures local photon statistics using an interesting effect Einstein discovered that can magically beam a simulation of my face to the presenter. If you aren’t seeing the audience, that’s not the fault of the format it’s the fault of the organizer for now allowing you to see and interact with your audience.
2) in person events and hallways incidentals - yes, this is fair. A lot of people really derive pleasure from travel and sharing air with tons of other people. Personally, I’m tired of air travel and the hassle of sleeping in a widely shared bed at a hotel and getting sick in the first 15 minutes of a conference. I’ve had as valuable or more valuable networking interactions through irc, Usenet, slack, even pull requests. I’ve never landed a job via a conference or even someone I met at a conference, but my career is built on my early use of irc. But it’s ok - if there weren’t a global natural disaster, I expect we would have dual format conferences. The successful ones will solve point 1 effectively, and point 2 can be solved through online networking events in the platform. The fact organizers aren’t successful yet is probably more to do with we slapped this stuff together in a hurry due to a global natural disaster. With time and experience I don’t see why the esports version of the live conference won’t be just as viable.
3) blocking time for the conference forces present me to attend sessions during the day and my employer is happy to save travel and entertainment expenses and let me attend. I will insist on that in the future as well - and I’m senior enough I can do that unilaterally and allow my people to do it too. I hope you do if you’re also a tech leader, and if you’re an IC advocate with your management. Otherwise I can create a playlist for future me, but present me will always be too busy to prioritize watching these things “in my spare time” (hahaha what’s that?)