Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    AI and Microcredentials
Sign In
Advice

How to Make the Most of a Virtual Conference

Seven tips from a seasoned practitioner on how to select and get value out of your next online academic conference

By Thomas J. Tobin July 14, 2020
Tobin-July13
Toltemara, Getty Images, iStockphoto

Most of us in higher education go to conferences to do our networking and professional development. Add that to the list of things Covid-19 has ruined this year, at least for those of us who enjoy going to a good meeting.

The pandemic has led academic associations to

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Most of us in higher education go to conferences to do our networking and professional development. Add that to the list of things Covid-19 has ruined this year, at least for those of us who enjoy going to a good meeting.

The pandemic has led academic associations to cancel events and shift them to the virtual realm, a trend likely to continue for all or part of the 2020-21 academic year. But if you’ve never “attended” a virtual conference before (and sometimes, even if you have), it can be confusing to figure out which set of sessions will be a meaningful and useful fit for you. It doesn’t help that most of the advice on this front is aimed at a corporate audience, not an academic one.

However, there is a group of academics who are old pros at both organizing and attending online conferences. In the mid-1990s, those of us in the distance-education field started conferencing via Web 2.0 tools, MOOC-based online meetings, time-shifted remote recordings, and synchronous-chat conversations. We have honed our craft in the ensuing 25 years.

As a seasoned practitioner within this tech-nerdy tribe, and as an organizer of the long-running Distance Teaching & Learning (DT&L) conference that happens every August (and has shifted to 100 percent online this year, too), I offer the following seven ideas to help you select, engage with, and get value out of your next virtual academic conference.

Get narrow. The fall semester will require new or strengthened skills — in remote teaching, online course design, and flexible administration — from all of us, whether classes on our campuses are in person, hybrid, HyFlex, or fully online. The good news: With so many conferences going virtual, they are now less exclusive and more affordable than in-person meetings, which means more of us now have a wider selection of options from which to choose. So how do you decide which conference to attend, and which sessions will expand your skills?

My advice is to specialize: Spend your conference dollars first on virtual meetings that will strengthen your teaching-with-technology bona fides — whether that means attending a teaching-and-learning conference or selecting tracks and sessions on technology at your field-based conference. As you scroll through the program, look for narrowly conceived sessions that will help you learn or improve a specific skill; find and attend more of those than large plenary sessions on broad themes.

Get small. Choose events that attract a small number of people — say, under 150 — or find small communities within large online events. At face-to-face conferences with thousands of participants, it’s easy to attend sessions but still feel “alone in the crowd.” For online conferences, that risk is greater. Before you attend, find out how to connect with other participants and send messages to a few people via social media or email so that, during the conference itself, you see at least a few familiar names on the online roster.

Every time I lead webinars or online conference sessions, I ask everyone to scan the list of participants and say hello to people they know. I ask those who don’t know anybody yet to choose someone at random to greet and share a sentence about their conference goals. Just having one or two “conference friends” makes the social aspect of virtual events less impersonal and more engaging.

Get ready. The most common reason people don’t get value out of a virtual event is that they don’t make time for it and give it their full attention. During a face-to-face conference, no one expects you to keep working with colleagues back home (at least, not as much). Establish the same expectations when you “attend” an online conference.

Block off the conference time on your work calendar. Look through the program ahead of time, and send presenters a quick email or social-media message to say you’ll be at their sessions. Most important, download the conference app or bookmark the conference website that contains the links or instructions for getting access to programming and social functions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get familiar. Once you have downloaded the conference app, live-session software, and/or interaction software (things like polling or shared-document apps), practice with them ahead of time. Find out what tools the presenters of your preferred sessions will use beyond the shared-session software (you might need to reach out if this isn’t listed in the session description). Make sure your web camera, headphones, and microphone work with the software, too. (And, for goodness’ sake, please use headphones.)

You can tell that online-conference organizers are well prepared if they provide opportunities ahead of the event for self-guided and/or facilitated practice with the common tools that will be used throughout the meeting. They will also offer you the chance to practice with the tools they plan to use for social interactions, such as chat apps or connection tools in the conference mobile app. Make a point to attend those practice sessions (and request them if they are not listed).

Get in tune. Once the virtual conference is underway, tune in to the sessions and social aspects of the event, and tune out from the rest of your work. Set your out-of-office email notice. Then turn off notifications or log out of email entirely. Find a private place to participate. If you’re still working mostly from home, enlist the aid of your family or housemates to provide you with as much uninterrupted time as possible.

Focusing on the conference includes making notes, asking questions, and taking an active part — not just in conference sessions but also in the side-channel conversations and social opportunities that the organizers provide.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get together. Passively watching online-conference sessions produces a result similar to binge-watching television shows: You might be able to recount the basic plot points, but you’d be hard-pressed to recall details, questions, and conversations later on. (Don’t @ me if you’re one of those fans who memorized all of The Mandalorian after one long watch.)

Two things make ideas stick when you’re in a conference session: taking notes and talking with other people during and right afterward. Before the meeting, find out the special conference- and session-specific hashtags (for example, our conference hashtag is #UWdtl). Then follow and use them. Tweet, post, and chat in the primary and side channels for the conference. The conference app almost always has a “connect” feature to help you extend the live-chat conversation beyond the session.

If you meet someone (virtually) whose ideas are engaging, know how you’d prefer to create a side conversation. My own preference is to set up 20-minute phone calls or live-video conversations after the conference has ended, but you do you.

Get realistic. Recognize that, for conference organizers, the shift to fully online events most likely has been abrupt. That means glitches will happen (just as they do at in-person events), so be understanding.

ADVERTISEMENT

The ideal online-conference experience may require money and flexibility that you don’t have. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t adopt some of the advice I’ve offered here. Just work within the parameters of your own circumstances.

A final reality check: At some point during the conference you will tell yourself, “I’ll watch all of the session recordings later.” There will never be a “later.” Rather, get what you can out of the conference while it’s underway, and enlist your institution, colleagues, and loved ones to give you time to take an active role in as many of the live conference events as you can. You will get so much more out of the experience, and you will be in a good position to bring ideas back to your colleagues and become an advocate and trainer for those who could not attend the online conference.

Those seven strategies provide a framework to make decisions that will support your continued learning, collaboration, and professional growth. If you have the inclination, support, and time, the best way to learn how to attend virtual conferences is to help plan and run one. Check the websites of the advocacy and membership groups in your field to connect with the organizers of virtual events. Consider volunteering to review proposals, be a session moderator, or otherwise get involved in setting up and running the conference.

Whether you are an expert online-conference participant or just getting started, let’s keep this conversation going and growing. Take a moment to post a comment on social media about your experiences as an academic attending online conferences. Share the best practices that you have found work well for your own situation. And who knows? Perhaps I’ll see you on the road, either virtually or in person, one of these days soon.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Teaching & Learning
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Thomas J. Tobin
Thomas J. Tobin is a founding member of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as well as an internationally recognized speaker and author on quality in technology-enhanced education. His latest book is Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers, written with Katie Linder and Kevin Kelly, from Stylus Publishing. Find him via his website: Thomasjtobin.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Photo illustration showing Santa Ono seated, places small in the corner of a dark space
'Unrelentingly Sad'
Santa Ono Wanted a Presidency. He Became a Pariah.
Illustration of a rushing crowd carrying HSI letters
Seeking precedent
Funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional, Lawsuit Argues
Photo-based illustration of scissors cutting through paper that is a photo of an idyllic liberal arts college campus on one side and money on the other
Finance
Small Colleges Are Banding Together Against a Higher Endowment Tax. This Is Why.
Pano Kanelos, founding president of the U. of Austin.
Q&A
One Year In, What Has ‘the Anti-Harvard’ University Accomplished?

From The Review

Photo- and type-based illustration depicting the acronym AAUP with the second A as the arrow of a compass and facing not north but southeast.
The Review | Essay
The Unraveling of the AAUP
By Matthew W. Finkin
Photo-based illustration of the Capitol building dome propped on a stick attached to a string, like a trap.
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Can’t Trust the Federal Government. What Now?
By Brian Rosenberg
Illustration of an unequal sign in black on a white background
The Review | Essay
What Is Replacing DEI? Racism.
By Richard Amesbury

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: a Global Leadership Perspective
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin