[A couple weeks back, NeMLA held our 52nd annual—and first entirely virtual—convention. So this week I’ve highlighted a handful of the convention’s stand-out remote events, leading up to these broader reflections on virtual conferences.]
On what a
virtual conference can’t quite do, what it can, and what the combination might
mean moving forward.
I’ve written
many times before, most clearly in
this post, on all that NeMLA has meant and continues to mean to me. As I
hope that post illustrates, if I were to sum that decade-plus of connections to
NeMLA up in a single word, it would be “community,” with all that the term
connotes in the most practical and the most idealized senses. If any organization
could convey such communal warmth and solidarity in an all-virtual setting, it
would be NeMLA, and I definitely felt that community at various moments
throughout the conference, particularly in conversations before and around
events (such as Grace Sanders Johnson’s Special Event as I highlighted in
Tuesday’s post). But what can’t really happen at a virtual conference is the
more spontaneous expressions of that community—running into folks in the
exhibit hall, seeing an old friend at a panel, the receptions after such
Special Events, and so on. I missed those a lot, and very much hope to return
to them in 2022
in Baltimore.
At the same
time, NeMLA 2021 felt accessible in ways that none of those decade-plus prior
conferences had. One of my panelists took part in our session from his home in
Kuwait; I chatted with a CV clinic mentee who was in India at the time; both
speakers and audience members spoke of being able to come to sessions right
after parenting or teaching or fulfilling other parts of our lives and
obligations; and so on. As I understand it, this conference had significantly more
attendees than we have ever had before (at least in recent memory), and there’s
no doubt in my mind that it was the virtual format which made it possible for
many of those folks to join us, to add their voices and work to our NeMLA
community. Given that expanding that community has been one of my most
consistent goals in my work on the NeMLA Board, from my time on the presidency
track through my now-concluded service as the American Area Director, I have to
admit that I love the thought that, even amidst everything happening here in
2021, we were able to add so many folks to our NeMLA family (while, from what I
can tell, keeping many of the folks who have been part of prior conferences in
the fold).
I’m not on the
Board any more, so my thoughts about future conferences are just that:
thoughts, the perspective of someone who plans to stay connected to the organization
and conference but will have no direct say in their directions moving forward. But
speaking for myself, I’ll say that I very much hope NeMLA 2022 will be
in-person but can still feature virtual/remote options for attendees as well,
to keep building on those accessibility advances for those who need them, while
returning for as many folks as possible to the communal experience in its
fullest form. To be honest, that feels to me like the future of academic
conferences: a hybrid, multi-layered event that can be different things to
different people, bringing folks together both in-person and virtually. I know
that balance might not be easy, and again I can’t say for sure what NeMLA will
do; but it feels to me like a great goal through which to incorporate these
positive developments while still doing all that NeMLA has done so well for so
long.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Thoughts on
either NeMLA 2021 or virtual conferences overall?
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