Going virtual

Clouds are illumined as daylight fades in West Woodstock. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Festivals and conferences large and small have made the switch to online platforms, often Zoom, due to the pandemic. While many people miss the in-person connections, there's an upside when it comes to audiences — the numbers go up. 

On the large scale, a national physics conference went virtual in April, with free registration available to anyone interested. That annual conference of the American Physical Society was a success, Nature.com reported, with registration topping 7,200 — more than four times the regular amount. LinkedIn also found a greater audience for its TransformHER conference when it moved online in June.  Usually with 350 to 400 in-person attendees, the livestream had 62,000 views, according to CNBC.

There's also a big marketing boost with many more people attending, which means many more groups will embrace online events, especially if lots of regions have to keep restricting crowds to limit the spread of COVID-19.  This is also a trend on the smaller scale of things. In Vermont, Woodstock's annual literary festival, Bookstock, went virtual for the first time Thursday night and continues in the coming months. Alison Hankey, the event's coordinator, said it'll be a learning experience that will inform future planning.

"We're using this fall program as a learning opportunity," Hankey said. "It's kind of an art form," she said of designing online events. 

With more groups diving into online events, that art form will develop in new and different ways, and innovation will gain momentum in that space. While not all attendees will have the same level of internet access, the current trend may end up broadening the price range of events, and therefore broadening their audiences. It will be interesting to watch this situation unfold, especially if the need for online events only increases from here, which is likely to some extent. Groups and organizations may find an increasing number of people participating in those platforms, especially as more people get used to being attendees in the virtual world. 

— Gareth Henderson