Zoom — The Great Equalizer
Imagine my gratification when a colleague showed me this article last weekend. Another colleague, Randy Giusto, and I have been chronicling the fate of events for some time now. At the beginning we said the writing was on the wall for events, between Extinction Rebellion showing up to protest exhibitions’ carbon footprints or the next generation wishing for Lil Nas X type experiences. And last year, our research showed that it was an older demographic who longed for the big shows.
Two recent pieces we’ve researched have shown again that events have changed and are still changing. Last week, we saw that younger generations still have different views on returning to in-person events, and this week, participants told us that to get them to come back, they want safety protocols, differentiated experiences, and content over networking.
And while we’ve been doing our thing on events, in comes this study, which shows the democratization of events in the scholarly communications field. It’s about time we leveled the playing field in innovation and gave bright minds across the globe — regardless of race, gender, orientation, religion, income, or any other of a host of dimensions — access to science and the braintrust that accelerates discovery worldwide. How about that: Digital events made diversity and inclusion soar. Is it any wonder?
During the many meetings I’ve held with CEOs over the last two years, most have talked about the power of Zoom as a great equalizer. The same has come up in our own research about hybrid work. Everyone has the same screen square, no matter where they are in the organizational hierarchy. Everyone gets a yellow band when they speak — no special purple indicator for the CEO. No, we all get to raise our hands the same way and hit the same chat button.
F2F events will have their place: Our belief is that they will be the “niche” high-end offering. But we can’t go back to them at the exclusion of access to basic science and the sharing of fundamental knowledge. Even our research last week found people saying “lower the pricing!” Folks want access, and we want them to have it when the audiences are big and broad and the notion of basic science gets powered by more at the party.
Travel budgets are strained and not coming back. Climate footprint and organizational responsibility for sustainability are real. We have to stick with digital for a lot of the right reasons, but one of the biggest is the science now showing that online events in the realm of scientific conferences make DE&I soar. How about that!? This one is a real cause for wow!