would you go to a conference that hasn't been canceled?

[Ruralguy]

I'm waiting to decide regarding conference and travel in May and June, but March is wiped out now, and likely some events in April.

[Hibush]

Update from my administration, after consultations with our epidemiology faculty, suggests first, a peak of infection in summer. Second, that the best action to make the peak lower is to isolate all contagious people so that they don't infect others.

Travel bans will be the proximal reason for canceling conferences. Travel bans are not particularly effective now that the virus is global. It is person-to-person transmission in each location that is a concern. The con-frère aspect of a conference is the high risk, whether local or distant.

I'm planning on no conferences until fall.

[zyzzx]

We now have a suspected case at my institution: someone with symptoms who just came back from a conference where there was a confirmed case. At best, that conference attendance is resulting in about 30 people self-quarantining. At worst, it's a real case and additional people will get sick. So there's that.

[Parasaurolophus]

At present, I would, and actually still plan to. But Canada is in good shape, and Canadians are well-covered

I'm organizing a conference in Philly in mid-April, however, and we've had a lot of cancellations already, including one of the keynotes. At this point, cancelling is still more expensive than holding the thing with just a few participants, so it's going ahead. If the city restricts group meetings, however, then we can cancel without financial penalties. And probably will, given expected attendance.

Philly conference cancelled, future travel plans on hold. I'll re-evaluate in a few weeks.

[lalochezia]

I'd bet it will be cancelled. But if not, don't go. The future of this thing will be determined by hundreds and thousands of individual decisions to limit contact and travel. I'd even bet that if you withdraw, the other folks will be relieved — they're also wanting to withdraw, but don't want to seem like the party poopers. Go ahead and withdraw. Stay home. There will be many more conferences.

This is the correct take, and not just for conferences.

+1 Don't go.

[nescafe]

I was organizing an April workshop and just canceled it. If I were scheduled to attend a large conference right now (I'm not), I would cancel it and take advantage of all the COVID19 contingencies many airlines/hotels have in place to mitigate the financial impact.

[mamselle]

Is anyone taking a conference online that wasn't originally going to have that capacity?

How are you doing it?

I may have just gotten myself in the soup...

The one that was set for April, I just happened to say, "I wonder if we could share our work electronically instead?" and now there's a mini email conversation starting about how, and if, and how to set it up, and....

There are also objections: One person is concerned about copyright issues, which is understandable; we also aren't seeing a reply yet from the organizers, which of course has to come first (I'm about to email them separately to apologize for the container of vermiferous bodies I seem to have unleashed...)

Just wondering, since a couple people seem ready to almost go ahead, which of course has to be headed off at the pass until the organizers chime in.

Herding rabbits....

M.

[Vkw10]

I attended a conference online this week. I had registered for online originally. The organizers decided last week to allow anyone to switch to online. The conference typically has about 200 online attendees and 1500 onsite; this year it had 700 online. After they cut off chat questions and presenter video, it went well. Before, sessions would freeze as system couldn't cope with two video feeds, audio feed, and chat for everyone.

My university cancelled conference and other nonessential travel today. They sent instructions for cancelling arrangements and reimbursements, along with a plea to be patient as the Travel Office is dealing with 5000 trip cancellations.

[mamselle]

So the issues about bandwidth were more on the conference side than the recipients' side?

Was chat enabled on request (rather than having IM open for everyone all the time?) or just not at all?

M.

[dismalist]

I've been perplexed at the answers to the question posed by this thread thread.

Straight answer: If you are not infected, where is the higher probability of getting infected, at home or at the conference? Depends on your home activities and the conference, of course, and only each individual can guess at the answer. Decide accordingly.

If you are infected, run this in reverse: Where can you infect the smallest number? Deciding in one's own interest helps, but it's not the whole answer. I wish those that stayed home could be paid.

I have been tempted to answer for myself: I would only go to a conference that has been cancelled. :-)

Best of luck to all.

[lightning]

I was helping to host an upcoming conference, and it bit the dust. I don't even want to think about all the attendees that may have lost money already spent on non-refundable travel or non-usable travel alternatives. Yes, we are giving registration refunds.

Meanwhile, I'm still holding out hope for a May conference that I was looking forward to attending, mainly for the location. As someone suggested upthread, if the conference gets canceled, I'm still going if there are no travel restrictions.

[polly_mer]

Is anyone taking a conference online that wasn't originally going to have that capacity?

How are you doing it?

I may have just gotten myself in the soup...

The one that was set for April, I just happened to say, "I wonder if we could share our work electronically instead?" and now there's a mini email conversation starting about how, and if, and how to set it up, and....

There are also objections: One person is concerned about copyright issues, which is understandable; we also aren't seeing a reply yet from the organizers, which of course has to come first (I'm about to email them separately to apologize for the container of vermiferous bodies I seem to have unleashed...)

Just wondering, since a couple people seem ready to almost go ahead, which of course has to be headed off at the pass until the organizers chime in.

Herding rabbits....

M.

The American Physical Society March Meeting was canceled at the last minute and now has a website with a virtual meeting: https://virtualmarchmeeting.com

I don't see how anything that big (expected 10k participants) could have gone into real-time online interactive with the short-notice cancelation they had.

[polly_mer]

The CHE weighs in on academic conferences and the effect on the sponsoring bodies

[Vkw10]

So the issues about bandwidth were more on the conference side than the recipients' side?

Was chat enabled on request (rather than having IM open for everyone all the time?) or just not at all?

M.

Chat was completely off. We were encouraged to email questions in for presenters to respond afterwards. Conference organizers have posted emailed questions and answers with the conference recordings.

[delsur]

OP update

Needless to say, the conference got cancelled. Selfishly, I wish they would have done so earlier but I am sure these are complicated, costly, and messy decisions. They offered no online option, which I prefer. I'd rather get a refund or credit for future conferences than pay $300 in registration to read a paper in my house.