The Pandemic and the Forlorn Academic: Experiencing the Fall and Rise of In-Person Conferences
Tanjin Ashraf
PhD Candidate, Australian Catholic University
I remember when I attended my first American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in 2019. That year, AERA 2019 was held in my hometown, Toronto. Coincidentally, it was across the street from my workplace, making it easier for me to attend and engage with great convenience. My first AERA experience was very positive. I presented a paper with my Master of Education supervisor on a project we worked on for a year. I also met my Doctor of Philosophy supervisor who flew over from Melbourne, Australia to attend AERA, and we hit it off right away. It was that meeting with her that helped me decide to up and move to Australia to pursue doctoral studies.
When I made the big move to Melbourne, Australia in February 2020 I had booked a trip back to North America to attend AERA in San Francisco in April. I was very excited to attend AERA again since I had such a positive experience the first time. Unfortunately, AERA , along with most day-to-day activities, got cancelled after COVID-19 was recognized as a pandemic. Following that cancellation, conferences pivoted to a virtual format for two years. I attended and presented at a few virtual conferences and my experience has been a mixed bag. I was amazed how some conferences were able to emanate the in-person feeling of being in a community and was shocked at how other conferences spent inordinate amounts of money redundantly reinventing the wheel. At the end of the day, I sorely missed meeting people outside of the Zoom box and getting that palpable feeling of engaging with a community of like-minded individuals.
Two years later, I was elected as a graduate student officer for AERA and also got the opportunity to present a paper with my supervisor. I decided these two factors were incentivizing enough to brave an international trip for the first time in a few years and attend AERA in-person in San Diego.
COVID-19 Pandemic: A Small Caveat
I am definitely being snarky about COVID-19 being a small caveat. Like most facets of life, the pandemic significantly changed the landscape of conferencing, with attending to vaccine mandates, masking, and the uncertainty of getting COVID-19.
I realized that I forgot how to travel and prepare for a conference. For example, I forgot to check what I needed to do to enter the United States. 24 hours before flying out of Toronto, I found out I had to complete a rapid antigen test. In addition, I did not look at the conference program or even places to visit in San Diego. Pre-pandemic, I used to create detailed itineraries and plans for my trips and conferences. Now with travelling during the pandemic, I realized I was not as inclined to make granular plans and I did not feel the need to know what I would be doing every minute of the day. The pandemic changed my perspective on life; with experiencing bouts of uncertainty, both individually and collectively, I realized I do not need to plan every second of my life because those plans might change at any moment. When I arrived in San Diego, I knew I made the right choice. I was faced with a number of changes, with my friend testing positive for COVID-19 the night before we were supposed to arrive at our Airbnb, and last-minute logistical changes at AERA itself. I was prepared to face those situations though because I had cultivated a mindset to be open to uncertainty and change.
The World is a Small Place
Earlier on JCACS Musings, I wrote about the importance of social capital and how COVID-19 has reduced the opportunities for building networks and communities. However at AERA, I bumped into so many people I met through an inordinate amount of Zoom meetings I’ve had over the past few years, that I realized I developed a stronger community for myself than I thought. As I ran between sessions, venues, and streets, I would hear my name being called. When I looked around to see who called my name, I had to take a few seconds to recall who the person was because it was my first time meeting them in-person. There’s a unique sense of joy in meeting people I was used to seeing through a box, and realizing there are certain traits, quirks, and idiosyncrasies that you cannot pick up about someone unless you meet them in-person. From going on a taco hunt with my AERA co-coordinator to meeting people I revered on Twitter, I was glad I decided to attend AERA in person.
As an academic, the in-person experience also challenged my thinking in nuanced and subtle ways. For example, I became friends with a colleague from a university in Virginia, and attended his poster presentation on machine learning. As a proponent of reducing the role of artificial intelligence in the education sector, it was fascinating to watch someone present a contrasting view from me with the same level of conviction as I have for my outlook. This experience made me realize how it is so challenging to meet colleagues with diverse epistemic worldviews through virtual conferences, which made me appreciate in-person conferences even more.
Future of In-person Conferences?
Even though I am raving about my first in-person conference experience since COVID-19, I also acknowledge there are numerous advantages of virtual conferences, including reducing our carbon footprint and providing a more cost-effective option to attend conferences. At the same time, the joy of meeting others in-person cannot be emanated virtually. I personally believe conferences should build sustainable infrastructure for hybrid formats. Even AERA made that arrangement; I was able to present a paper virtually from the San Diego airport a few hours before I flew back to Toronto, while my supervisor was in Brisbane, and my other fellow panelists were in Europe. If there is anything the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me, it is to relish in building community, embrace changes for the better, and prepare for uncertainty; and I believe hybrid conference formats can help us do just that.
