I’m very glad it’s online, and hope this continues. I’ve done decades of conference/workshop/meeting travel, and yeah - the in-person interactions are useful.

I’m very glad it’s online, and hope this continues. I’ve done decades of conference/workshop/meeting travel, and yeah - the in-person interactions are useful. Those interactions IMHO don’t outweigh the cost, disruption-to-life, and unfairness that physical travel has. I’ve been mentoring early career people for years, and this past 12 months has been wonderful for many of them. Not everyone has the $ or time to travel, and many people got left out of participating in in-person events as a result. Online events have flattened the playing field and are allowing people to participate who would have otherwise been excluded. I would 100% sacrifice chatting over beers or during coffee breaks to let a wider population participate - I’d much rather optimize how we do things for everyone, not focus on the desires of the subset lucky enough to have the ability, desire, and resources to travel.