Virtual Events

                                

                               

For the last couple of weeks, I've been attending virtual vacation schemes, internships and seminars. At the beginning of quarantine, I had this crazy idea of “gotta be productive in the lockdown”. But by the time, it has passed. Now I am just attending things for the sake of knowledge and pleasure. Living without a school is not my cup of tea. That's why for the last nine months have been quite challenging for me. But with this pandemic, suddenly we all surrounded by online events, courses and seminars which has a huge role for me making quarantine bearable. In this blog post, I want to share the cons of attending virtual events as well as pros.

The first advantage is, well it is obvious, being easy to access. I am following events from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Sometimes some of them begin before the others end. Thanks to the internet, it is not difficult to catch up. But imagine attending all these events from different continents by flying: too much time, money and energy consuming. I believe, even COVID-19 ends and everything goes back to the “normal” normal, people will continue to arrange virtual events just because it is super easy to attend for both speakers and participants. 

  

Another advantage of a virtual event is being so comfortable- maybe a little too much, while listening to the presentations and asking the questions. Because for the most virtual seminars, everyone’s cameras are being closed except the speakers’. And if you have a question, you simply are putting it on the chatbox. No one is stopping you from attending in your pyjamas with a cup of delicious coffee. And I believe except the small minority who posts themselves on social media, people are attending this kind of events in casual clothes. But if this was a real-life event, you would have to wear suits or something else but in the end, it would be a smart dress. But I am not sure if this is an advantage or disadvantage honestly. Because sometimes, I am ending up on the couch with my laptop even though I begin on my desk. Because if nothing is stopping you from doing this, it is a bit hard to control yourself.

Let's talk about the cons now. I want to begin with distractions since they are the most effective cons of all: WhatsApp distractions, chatbox distractions, social media distractions, distractions caused from home... I am lucky enough to have a separate study room but still, it is always possible to hear things like “dinner is ready ” or “fancy a cup of tea?”.

In the real-life events, you wouldn't check your phone that often out of respect to the speakers. Moreover, you would put it in your bag or pocket in silent mode and only check on the coffee breaks. But in the virtual seminars, it is not always possible to do that. At least not possible for me. Because it is not easy to sit on your computer, stay focused and listened passively for one hour or so. Thus I am checking my phone and the chatbox time to time, if not necessarily always. So one thing annoys me most:  writing inappropriate comments on the chat. What I mean by inappropriate comments, how can possibly a university-educated person write such comments on the chat box in front of hundreds and thousands of people, right?

Last week I've noticed people are writing comments regardings the appearance of the speakers. I mean, maybe it is okay to say how enthusiastic the speaker was or how much you benefited from the talk. But it is NOT okay to say “does he have an Instagram” or “will you marry me?!”. And I am not even exaggerating.

The last time when I saw someone wrote “can I go to the toilet” to the chatbox, I made myself sure that some 5-year-old kid sitting on the computer and then I have decided never look at chat again. Now I am listening to the talks chatbox closed.

This is not always the case of course. Most of the people are nice, generally. But the thing is, you cannot do such unprofessional and disturbing things if it wasn't the virtual event. People are feeling so comfortable being behind their computers, maybe too comfortable and doing inappropriate things although they cannot dare it in the face to face occasions.

I don't think there are so many cons of virtual seminars considering they are so accessible and free to attend. And I do enjoy a lot. But it doesn't change the fact that how much I miss real-life events. Especially meeting new people, making small talks and sharing experiences on the coffee breaks have been so missed. And no, sending a LinkedIn invitation is not even close to this kind of socialisation.

I will continue to get the most out of the online events. But I am looking forward to attending real-life ones by putting so many efforts on it as soon as possible!