COVID broke the mould on conferences. Suddenly, by necessity, the virtual conference came into vogue.
Have a conversation with someone involved with a family history society these days and the topic of in-person vs virtual vs hybrid conferences is bound to come up. People miss personal contact, absent with a virtual event, but relish the wider range of speakers possible online and the lower cost. How can you create conferences that combine the most valuable features of the various types?
This is an issue for all kinds of organizations, especially, although not just, those with geographically dispersed membership.
The article The Many Faces of Meetings: A Taxonomy of Emerging Models for In-Person and Hybrid Conferences examines seven models. Have you heard of the Hub and Spoke, and the Parallel models?
The leadership of our societies will want to be open to exploring new models.
I often say, when someone asks to connect, je ne zoom jamais.
I still do not want to handle electronics where I really don’t know what I’m doing. Cheers anyway, BT
The local history society in St. Catharines is facing this interesting dilemma. We have found our Zoom presentations garner people from across the country and abroad. We found a declining attendance at our local museum, even before Covid hit. So a hybrid model has been discussed among board members, but we are staying with Zoom for the next season, as we find other organizations are as well. It is a challenge.