Moving academic conferences online: aids and barriers to delegate participation

In-person academic conferences are important to disseminate research and provide networking opportunities. Whether academics attend in-person conferences is based on the cost, accessibility, and safety of the event. Therefore, in-person conferences are less accessible to academics and stakeholders that are unable to overcome some of these factors, which then act as a barrier to equal and inclusive participation. Additionally, the carbon footprint of conference travel is increasingly becoming a factor in deciding on whether to attend a conference. Online conferences may provide opportunities to mitigate these challenges. Here, we illustrate how a learned society can move their conference online. Then comparing data acquired from the virtual conference and previous in-person conferences we explore the in the aids and barriers influencing the decision of delegates to attend the meetings. Ultimately, moving meetings online aids delegate participation by removing concerns about travel, cost, and carbon emissions, but there remains a barrier to participation with online meeting being perceived as less effective for networking and social opportunities.

Methods
These data are the results of two questionnaires presented to delegates at an online conference, with (1) circulated prior to the event, and the other (2) circulated after the event. Only questions that feature in the publication are presented in this data set. Any confidential information has been removed. Otherwise the data have not been processed.