People are confusing online only vs hybrid. I helped design and implement a hybrid meeting that I thought (& post surveys confirmed) went really well & could have been a template for other hybrid meetings, but resistance was too great. We host a "main" small meeting, invite only, in one location. 🧵 - ThreadSky

napaaqtuk.bsky.social • 8 days ago

People are confusing online only vs hybrid. I helped design and implement a hybrid meeting that I thought (& post surveys confirmed) went really well & could have been a template for other hybrid meetings, but resistance was too great. We host a "main" small meeting, invite only, in one location. 🧵

Reposted from Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️

So many important things are discussed at conferences. When international travel is dangerous & science is under threat & research funding is being slashed & we know how bad flying is for the climate & we have technology to make it happen, the fact that all conferences aren't hybrid is wild. 🧪

Comments

skunkcabbages.bsky.social•8 days ago

Right! I'm not a fan of the online only model personally and really struggle with them but still think conferences should be hybrid. It's about having as many access options as possible.

rebelmink.bsky.social•8 days ago

I would love for hybrid to become completely normalized. I live in rural WY & can't travel across country to attend many of the events/conferences I would really enjoy attending.

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

This too! When I lived in Alaska it was hella expensive and so much fricking time to get to meetings. I went to meetings in southern CA this past month and it was a full day trip (get up at 3 am to make the 6am flight, get home at dinner time) each fricking way! So time and $ consuming

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Groups of people self-organized in other locations. Some may have driven an hour to get to the other locations but it wasn't a cross-country plane ride. One person in each location was a point person to lead the activities in that locations. "Activities" were things like think-pair-shares, 🧵

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Brainstorming, and my favorite, write a one page aim page w/a group tying in ideas about the "Rules-of-life" proposal that NSF was starting. People shared ideas via slack channels, tweets (back when Twitter wasn't run by El*n), and video. Talks were one way, per usual, w/someone monitoring slack 🧵

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Questions and asking in person. There were no posters, if I remember correctly, which was a bummer, but I know our dept ran decent poster sessions during the pandemic. And honestly, poster sessions at big meetings are pretty much a wash at big conferences anyway, as a lot of people skip them. 🧵

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Anyway, TL:Dr, there are ways to run hybrid meetings cheaply with interactions with people across the world that allow people who can't travel internationally outside the US or into the US, reduces travel by planes, and is cheaper for the participants. 🧵

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

The Rules of Life meeting wasn't the only hybrid I attended that was done well. Future of Research did a similar hybrid meeting that had hubs of smaller meetings too. There likely have been others I don't know about. It also helps with interdisciplinary labs like mine that span many fields 🧵fin

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Here's the paper we wrote on the hybrid meeting: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966842X20302316

mrebolleda.bsky.social•7 days ago

We organized this one: https://academic.oup.com/femsle/article/doi/10.1093/femsle/fnaf022/8003766 in 2024. It is coming back in 2026 with 2 hubs in the US (Michigan and SoCal). It was a great experience

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

📌

marshall0i.bsky.social•7 days ago

📌

pjboynton.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ooh! I attended the 2024 one in Boston! It was fantastic!

I was skeptical at first, but one of the things I loved was the local hub. Great to see student posters/eat with colleagues/network locally while still getting to watch and discuss international research.

doctorzen.net•8 days ago

Could you elaborate a little on the resistance you mention?

doctorscience.bsky.social•8 days ago

Here to ask this as well

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

The comments to the OP indicate that when I say hybrid, people read "online only". People commented that they would miss interactions, cool, then go in person. Not everyone gets those interactions when they go to an in person meeting, doesn't mean they should be excluded ....

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

....from meetings if they want to attend virtually. Some people can't go to meetings bc their funding was cut. According to the comments, they shouldn't get any of the benefits of the meeting bc the meeting should be in person only. I'm saying hybrid meetings would allow them to attend. They may...

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

...not get all the benefits, but they would get the information from the meeting, which is what the meetings are for. Yes, they are also for more organic exchange of information, but they are also for exchange of info through talks. If they weren't people wouldn't bother with the talks

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

So people designing meetings don't do hybrid bc they think like the commenters: hybrid means online only (nope), online people won't get valuable info (nope), and worst of all, hybrid would be too difficult the first time so it's not worth it at all. I don't think we have that luxury right now

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•7 days ago

Have you written up what you did anywhere? We’re discussing options and haven’t found one we like very much.

dccc-phd.bsky.social•7 days ago

Down a few posts:

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thanks

napaaqtuk.bsky.social•7 days ago

There was a lot of prep that didn't go into that paper. I am happy to share resources/discuss how we did it, as are other people on the paper.

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thanks

Will let you know

streamlass.bsky.social•7 days ago

I have to laugh ruefully at the replies that are basically "I am a very social person, therefore everyone wants to have sixty people watch them give a talk & have loud conversations in crowded hallways" answers, though. As if public speaking & large crowds weren't anxiety-inducing for some of us.

streamlass.bsky.social•7 days ago

Obviously I'm not going to say "online-only because interacting through text is easier for me and my audio processing issues" but a lot of folks could stand to look at it from the other side of their hypersocial extroverted-ness.

Not to mention smaller groups let you collaborate with EVERYONE.

temporaryhermit.bsky.social•7 days ago

I'm not in the science community, but interested in many things.
When I was young, I traveled for real whenever I had the chance, but now added 'hybrid' traveling via the internet and social media is a good second choice for whenever I can't for many reasons; plus money & ecology aspects.

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