How Covid-19 forced development of virtual events

The worldwide outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has indirectly led people and entities to learn to apply skills and technologies that, despite existing for a long time, were seldom used in formal contexts.
This is one of the conclusions drawn by the representatives of the United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNUMACAU). In an exclusive interview, the officials told the Times about the challenges and outcomes of transitioning a physical conference to a virtual event.
“We were forced to come up with this solution as preparations had been made for a face-to-face [on-site] conference in Macau, but we soon realized that the situation [regarding Covid-19] was not going to make that possible, so we had to come up with a plan to solve that problem,” UNUMACAU’s Principal Research Fellow, Mamello Thinyane said.
“We had several options and of course one of them was to cancel the event, which we didn’t want to do as we had already received payments and things were prepared,” said Thinyane.
Organizers eventually decided to go ahead. Due to the circumstances, this meant necessarily hosting it without the on-site presence of the large majority of participants.
According to Mamello, the feedback received from participants showed the results were positive. He also noted that it was pleasing to realize how participants engaged in the new system and were sympathetic and understanding with regard to the changes that occurred, and the methods adopted.
“For us, it was a good learning experience as it was the first time that most of us – if not all of us – have done a virtual conference, so it was very much about applying all the skills and knowledge we had from hosting a physical conference to the virtual space,” Mamello said.
Highlighting the positive impacts of moving the conference to an online event, Hannah Thinyane, a Principal Research Fellow from UNUMACAU who was both a participant and a moderator in the conference said, “I think one of the good things was that we managed to bring together a bigger audience than we would actually have had in person. I think there were about 50% more people than would have normally had attended.”
She added that in this particular respect, “Covid-19 perhaps helped us as everyone was quarantined around the world and so more people had the time and opportunity to participate.”
For her, the fact that the conference had turned virtual was also an opportunity for people to engage more genuinely on the topics in discussion as there was not much else competing for their attention at the time, since the large majority could not leave their homes or had significant mobility restrictions.
Mamello Thinyane added that the conference included the participation of people from around 50 countries and regions, a result that could not have been achieved in the initially-planned physical conference.
One of the participants from the conference was Michael Gallo, a Research Assistant at the UNUMACAU, who shared his opinion and experience with the Times.
According to Gallo, in total there were around 250 people registered to attend the different sections, with each section hosting about 50 to 60 people at one time.
Questioned on the potential skills developed in schools and other teaching institutions through the use of video conference platforms, Hannah Thinyane said, “I believe that if you know [in advance] that you will need to use these kinds of methods you can adjust your teaching materials and prepare your classes for this environment.”
“But if it’s just a last-minute thing I think the unpreparedness from both the teachers and the students can cause problems, with the teacher being overwhelmed and the students being unprepared and unfamiliar,” she continued. “I also think that as people become experienced with it, it is only going to get better.”
Mamello Thinyane noted that although the level of interaction and communication is different from an on-site event, the online format provides an extra tool in the repertoire of all users.
“I see this as an opportunity for these institutions and organizations to start learning and perfecting how to do online conferencing, teaching or others and I think that in the future, even if there is no Covid-19, they still can use it and plan activities specifically designed for these platforms,” he said.
Addressing some of the interesting facts of the conference, Gallo compared the conference to “building a car while you’re driving it,” explaining how during the conference several tools designed to facilitate interaction from participants were tested.
Gallo noted that essentially this conference works as a case study and shows that “this is a modality that could maybe not entirely replace, but substitute in-person conferences.”
The research assistant also said the use of these technologies and the facilitation of the Internet had a positive effect in reducing the environmental impact on the planet, especially in regard to business-related travel. Moreover, other positive effects might also come from the optimization of this technology as a substitute for physical travel, he suggested.