For years we have attended technical events in person and online. In the post-COVID-19 world, online is all that is available, and I’m wondering: how will live events deliver the same benefits once they go virtual?
“Attend from home” in the 2010s
It’s no fun when everyone goes to summer camp, and you stay home. I have tried to keep that in mind when blogging about the big SQL Server event of the year – PASS Summit – and give people as much of the experience from home as possible. A really dedicated reader could set their own schedule, and eat like they were at the conference. They could attend live-streamed keynotes and luncheons, watch recorded sessions and virtual meetups, check in with friends and big names on Twitter, and so on.
But of course, these things still don’t measure up to a live conference, where you can bump into friends, get quick one-on-ones with authors and speakers, browse vendor booths, enter raffles, and hit up official and community after parties.
So again, how do we get the conference experience, when we can’t get to the conference? Nobody knows for sure yet, but we are working on it.
Virtual life in 2020
I’m a bit of a dinosaur; I am still on the evil F@ceb00k, primarily because I have even older family members that aren’t on any other social media. I also text-chat with friends regularly on Skype and Twitter, and keep in touch with our MinionWare team on, of course, Teams. Like a lot of people, my household is still sheltering in place, and missing in-person hangouts with friends and family.
There’s a huge difference though, between these text chats, and the times when I get on a video call with my friends, or watch an intimate live concert from Vance Gilbert, or join a live screening of a DnDnDPod episode with the cast. Even better is getting on a Discord call and gaming with friends. (Okay, I’m only a semi-dinosaur.)
Those moments of online togetherness really, really matter.
Live, unstructured participation.
Voices.
Interaction.
These are the things that are catching my attention, and the attention of a lot of other folks.
I think this is the direction conferences must head in. Virtual talks with QnAs are nice, but they’re not going to cut it. They will have to find ways to facilitate being together, while we’re all apart.
(Just so you know, we’re working on the problem, too.)