note: at the end of this blog, I’ve included a discount code for attendance to The Forum on Education Abroad’s Virtual Conference. (Alethea does not profit from this code, we simply asked a climate-conscious conference provider if we could offer Friends of Alethea a discount code to encourage a virtual participation opportunity!)
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First of all, thanks for clicking on the link and reading this post, because I know what you’re probably thinking… you don’t love virtual conferences, you DO love in-person conferences, and you didn’t reeeally want to read about how in-person conferences are not great in the face of the climate crisis. And let me just first say “SAME”! So good on you for making the choice to click on this in the first place – making the time to understand connections to our work and the climate crisis is an important climate action!
Now, as we all know, conferences are an important part of our work as a sector and specifically, for Alethea, as a service provider they are important for us to grow our business. You may remember in our first blog post, we shared how we navigate conference season and our participation (or not) as we attempt to avoid “how it’s always been done” in favour of a new decision-making process that centers on climate justice and sustainability. We then shared our climate-conscious conferences season schedule which aligns with our values of increasing internationalization, reducing carbon emissions, and fostering meaningful dialogue on pressing global issues.
In this blog post, we explore the emissions reduction opportunity of virtual conferences, our proud sponsorship of the 20th Annual Conference of The Forum on Education Abroad, and share why we have chosen to participate exclusively in the virtual conference.
The Emissions Reduction Opportunity from Virtual Conferences
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many international conferences transitioned to virtual to keep our sector connected while our borders were closed. During that time we had to quickly adapt how to organize, sponsor, and attend virtual conferences. Virtual conferences were a powerful alternative for knowledge exchange, networking, and collaboration during COVID, though they were not without some challenges. It was a very quick transition after all!
We all felt the struggles of technical glitches, lost internet connections, zoom fatigue (oh the zoom fatigue!), limited opportunity for impromptu conversation and chance meetings, and for sponsors – challenges in generating business. But was that because virtual conferences are inherently worse?
I don’t think that’s the case. It all just happened so fast, with little time to adapt revenue models, transition networking practices, and coalesce around one or two platforms we could all easily engage with. All of this made it difficult to recreate any semblance of the conferences that we were familiar with, that we felt made our sector great and that was a partnership and business development model that we were used to. It’s no surprise that most conference providers in international education, driven by demand from their members, sponsors, and attendees, have gone back to offering almost exclusively in-person conferences (an exception to that, of course, being The Forum on Education Abroad. More on that later).
That said, these digital gatherings offered unparalleled accessibility that enabled a greater number of participants from a wide range of locations, financial or logistical means, or with different caretaking responsibilities to participate fully online and without the emissions associated with in-person events.
A great example of this is from the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society which provides an important comparison for Nature.org of their in-person 2019 conference emissions and their 2020 online conference emissions:
2019 Conference |
2020 Conference |
|
Location |
Lyon, France |
Zoom, Online |
Participants |
1,240 |
1,777 |
Emissions |
1,915,254 kgCO2e |
582 kgCO2e |
Based on the information above, you can see that the 2019 in-person conference produced more than 3200x emissions versus the 2020 online conference, which decreased emissions associated with travel, and increased attendance by 43%.
The 2020 virtual astronomy conference was almost certainly not perfect but it does demonstrate the significance of the opportunity to reduce emissions.
Where a virtual conference emits 0.03% of the emissions from an in-person conference, it’s clear for us at Alethea, that it’s worth investing in making the experiences better; it’s worth changing our mindset, it’s worth the zoom fatigue, and it’s worth learning how to engage online differently with our network.
Sponsoring The Forum’s Virtual Conference
At Alethea, we recognize the transformative potential of virtual conferences in fostering inclusivity and driving positive change and it’s why we are so committed to and proud of being a sponsor of The Forum on Education Abroad’s Virtual Conference.
The Forum on Education Abroad is one of the few associations (if not the only?!) that has committed to keeping a portion of their Annual Conference online despite the return of their in-person annual conference. I am often asked to present at conferences, along with some of my Alethea colleagues, and most of the time no allocations are made by conference providers for us to be able to respect our boundaries on emissions and present virtually. Meanwhile, The Forum on Education Abroad is an organization that not only made space for me to present virtually at their in-person conference but also collected submissions for an entire virtual conference for people who cannot or would not be able to attend the in-person segment of their annual conference.
It felt like a natural fit for us to spend our limited sponsorship dollars to sponsor the virtual conference as it aligns with our values and allows us to, at a systemic level, support lower-emissions conferences. As part of the virtual conference, I will be chairing a session on Becoming a Leader in Climate Justice in the sector featuring some great panelists on March 6, 2024 @ 12:45PM EST. I hope to see you there – and we have an incentive for you as part of our sponsorship below!
Sure it takes a more thoughtful approach to be a presenter, sponsor, and participant at a virtual conference because it’s not yet a honed skill, but we invite you to consider virtual conferences as part of the solution to reducing the carbon emissions of the sector. Is the solution for all conferences to become virtual next year, of course not, and we are not advocating for that. Instead, I’m inviting you to join us at The Forum’s virtual conference to perhaps improve our competency and change our perspectives in preparation for adaptation and transformation as we embark on a journey towards a more just and climate-conscious sector!
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(For our friends in Canada, our sponsorship of the Virtual Forum also benefits you this year! We’ve worked with The Forum to get a discount code for a USD $50 discount off the $349 non-member late registration fee for the virtual conference… just use the code 24ACALETHEA (as in 2024 Annual Conference ALETHEA) at checkout. This is a great lower-cost and low-emissions opportunity to learn what others are doing in the Study Abroad space and what The Forum is all about as they ramp up for their 2025 Annual Conference in Toronto. Please note that Alethea DOES NOT receive compensation for registrations that take advantage of this offer, we’re just super keen to see more folks learn in a low-emissions setting!)