Deconstructing three virtual event formats to understand how they lead to more inclusive, engaging online events

Abstract:

With the rapid shift to remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many convenors of scientific communities are now tasked with bringing together colleagues and collaborators online for a variety of purposes. For a lot of research collaborations and other scientific communities, Zoom has become the platform of choice for small-to-medium sized gatherings. But, “Zoom fatigue” has started to set in. Meetings that lack meaningful structure often fail to create opportunities for all participants to contribute, resulting in disengaged participants and sub-standard outputs.

We see at least three broad types of interaction that are needed in virtual convenings: networking and socialising, information exchange, and collaborating and building together. When we design intentionally for the types of interactions we need to achieve our meeting goals, not only are the gatherings more productive, but attendees also feel more included and better connected to one another.

To support those new to online convening, staff at the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE) worked with members of the CSCCE’s community of practice to co-author a guidebook of 12 virtual event format “recipes” - all of which can be used on Zoom or similar video-conferencing platforms. Our co-authors are experienced community-building professionals representing a number of international scientific organizations and communities, making the guidebook a wealth of knowledge applicable to convenors in any setting. The guidebook was downloaded 3000 times in its first week online - with enthusiastic feedback from researchers, scholarly communications professionals, and scientific meeting planners.

Here, we’ll showcase three of the recipes from the guidebook - one for each of the three different types of engagement activities you might need. For each recipe we’ll deconstruct the opportunities to be more inclusive, to examine power balances, and to support deeper participant engagement.