Two weeks ago, I attended the ASEE virtual conference. A few thoughts about my first experience at a virtual conference.

Not having to travel was a huge bonus. My kids are young, and being away for an extended time is emotionally difficult. It was nice to be able to parent and participate in the conference. I watched a lot of the presentations asynchronously once the kids were in bed.

There were several tech issues, which frustrated participants. Given the $500 registration fee, expectations were high. Some participants were a bit lost when they attended live Q&A sessions without watching the video or reading the paper in advance.

I was more selective about sessions than normal. A virtual conference meant that I wasn't stuck in a session for a couple hours because I'm interested in 1 out of 5 papers. I watched some presentations at 2x speed and slowed it down when my interest was piqued.

Many colleagues missed being together and the hallway conversations. For me, I found that the unofficial Slack backchannel met that desire. I met new people, and even shared parenting resources.

Not being "away" combined with the pandemic norm of "work from home" meant that the work crept into conference time. I felt like i was at work, at the conference, and parenting all at the same time. It was exhausting.

There are still presentations I want to go back and watch, I'm told they will be online for a year.

As participants, many of us felt like we were in the shoes our students. I think we will go back to online teaching with greater empathy.

Would I do a virtual conference again? Absolutely. I loved the flexibility and the ability to pick and choose the talks. Just hopefully not so expensive next time.