Virtual, in-person, flexible, oh my!

I never thought I would think as much about the pros and cons of different ways to deliver a conference as I am thinking about lately. Some days I’m thinking about this at 9 a.m., noon, 9 p.m., and, unfortunately, 2 a.m.

In the pre-pandemic world, how an association delivered its content to the community was relatively easy. The central question was, “How does the audience want the content?” For example, if the community in Chicago wanted to showcase a local speaker for its community, it was a pretty simple answer. Find a room, send invitations, meet at the chosen location. In fact, sometimes we didn’t even have to ask a question. We just did what we have been doing for years. Consider the INFORMS Annual Meeting – while we have made improvements along the way, it has been a standard in-person meeting – people travel to the meeting destination, get on the same time zone, congregate and participate, and then head home.

In the midst of the pandemic, we must still first focus on the audience, but now we have to think about PPEs, vaccinations, new COVID-19 strains, the possibility of a new outbreak, the economic impact on our attendees’ budget, the financial security of INFORMS, and many more items that were rarely or differently considered before. However, these answers are also relatively easy. For example, it was not hard to make the decision to virtually offer both our upcoming Business Analytics Conference (April 12-14) and Healthcare Conference (July 21-23). Yes, we had to negotiate possible penalties with hotels, but we did not believe we could offer these in person without putting the safety of our attendees and staff in harm’s way. Virtual was the answer.

What About ‘Post-pandemic’?

Longer term planning, however, most specifically our October 2021 Annual Meeting, requires us to think about and balance many things. We know we have regular attendees who are yearning for face-to-face meetings, while others may be happy to remain home and collaborate virtually. To try to accommodate the varying needs and concerns of as many people as possible, we are planning a flexible meeting. This means people can attend in person in Anaheim, Calif., while others can attend virtually – the attendee chooses.

Although the keynotes and session content will largely be the same, there may be separate activities to leverage the mode of participation. Moreover, we hope to create networking opportunities for attendees in different time zones. (As planning progresses, things may change so please sign up for updates at http://meetings2.informs.org/wordpress/anaheim2021/.)

Preliminary results from a survey we conducted in early March with a random, representative sample of 2017-2020 Annual Meeting attendees, show that 57% of individuals probably or definitely will attend in October. Not surprisingly, nearly an additional quarter of the surveyed individuals are unsure. Of those who may attend, respondents were evenly split between attending in-person or virtually. We want to create an environment where people can select the option that best meets their needs.

It is important for our members to understand that providing this flexible format impacts INFORMS’ budget far more than a traditional or even stand-alone virtual meeting. In fact, the cost of putting on a flexible meeting is forecast to exceed a 50% increase over a standard in-person meeting. Moreover, this format is likely to double the workload of many staff members for many months. Nevertheless, I realize that a critical part of INFORMS’ DNA is creating an environment for individuals from around the world to come together with old and new colleagues alike to learn, network and grow. Through our conferences, “INFORMS advances and promotes the science and technology of decision-making to save lives, save money and solve problems.” (For those of you who have already read Steve Graves’ President’s Desk column, you may recognize this as our new mission.)

We will be certain to keep you updated in the months ahead as more information about the flexible 2021 Annual Meeting comes together. And we look forward to seeing you in Anaheim – either in person or on a screen.