Sick of staring at your coworkers tiled in a Zoom window? We all are. With the world still being a mixed bag in regards to health and safety, many of us are longing for the days when we could shake the hands of friends from across borders.
In the meantime, online or virtual conferences aim to fill the gap. This may sound like just another lengthy video call, but online conferences provide several unique advantages over their physical counterparts. Let’s take a moment to celebrate all of the wonderful things about online conferences with this list of 6 benefits and how you can make the most of them.
Low Cost
Let’s get one of the most obvious benefits out of the way first. The average cost of an online conference is significantly lower than similarly ticketed physical conferences. WordCamps have historically been affordable, but factor in travel and accommodations and the costs quickly add up. By comparison, online conferences have none of those added costs. In the case of WordCamp US, the tickets are even free! That means you can stretch your budget further and attend even more events than in years past.
No Travel
Online conferences require no travel, no travel time, and no time travel. So many of us are used to simply losing a day or more to physical travel, and that was before there were constant cancellations and delays associated with flying. On top of that, for many of us, the strain of traveling often results in sickness and jet lag. While not severe, both can leave you in a less than optimal state. Wouldn’t you rather wake up the next day, in your own bed and timezone, feeling refreshed? With an online conference, the only traveling you’ll need to do is walking to the fridge for snacks.
Better Food
That’s right, you can walk to your fridge. While many in-person conferences have good food, let’s face it, catered bulk food is never quite the same as a plate made just for you. And if you’re dietary restricted, it can greatly impact the number of food choices you have. When you’re attending a conference from home, you can eat whatever, whenever, you want. Go ahead and order an entire rack of ribs and eat it during a talk. Bring your laptop into the kitchen and bake a cake. Just make sure your mic is muted so folks don’t hear the blender, microwave, and whistling teapot.
Chatting
A muted mic means your dog won’t be joining in the fun, but it doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of conversation. Another great advantage of online conferences is text chatting with your peers. While it’s generally frowned upon for the audience in a physical conference to be chatting during a talk, it’s totally acceptable and even encouraged during an online conference. You get to be part of the larger conversation with other attendees, and sometimes even the speaker. To get the most of this experience, be specific, concise, and provide enough context to be helpful but not so much that it’s difficult for others to read.
Easy Connections
During and after the conference, be sure to connect with attendees and speakers. At a physical conference, networking often occurs over drinks while clumsily exchanging business cards. At an online conference, connections are just a click away. Include a message when you connect. Something as simple as, “Hey, I loved your talk. Let’s connect,” works wonders. Speakers love to hear that you attended their session and appreciated their content. After that, schedule follow-ups where you can further explore your mutual interests.
Don’t forget to share and connect with people outside the conference as well. That quote from your favorite session might just resonate with the rest of Twitter as well.
Saved Forever
If you’re someone who likes to record talks, you’re already covered during an online conference. Most provide high quality audio and even video recordings. If you like to take written notes, you get to do that from the comfort of your own desk. The added benefit of streaming video is the easy ability to add timestamps to your notes. You can occasionally jot down the time next to key points you would like to explore later. It makes for easy referencing and sharing during your next Twitter space or Clubhouse chat.
Your Turn
It’s difficult to replace the magic of in-person events, but there’s plenty of unique benefits to enjoy at online events as well. Want to try all these benefits out for yourself? Sign up for WordCamp US!