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Despite the fact that most of the world is now connected with high-speed fiber and even phones can record 4k video, it seems to me that there is a large focus on offline events. Universities invite guest speakers, hold seminars, organize conferences, etc, and most of the content is not even posted online afterwards. Often the events themselves don't include anything more than the speakers doing their presentations, answering a few simple questions and leaving shortly afterwards - all of which could be done on Skype or a myriad of other platforms.

So why is there still such a strong focus on physical presence?

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    Your assumptions are wrong, and you seem to be missing the point of conferences and other academic events. – 101010111100 Apr 01 '17 at 09:52
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    Speakers don't leave shortly afterwards: they remain at the conference venue to talk to colleagues from all over the world, continuing discussing the topics and fostering collaborations. Things that cannot be done via Skype. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 01 '17 at 10:03
  • @MassimoOrtolano our university often hosts events where an academic speaker gives a 2-3 hour presentation, answers questions for 15 minutes and promptly leaves - the speakers often say they're scheduled at X university in a few days. I assume the speaker does talk to some of the university employees while he's there, but then why give the presentation in the first place? Couldn't you record your material once and then just have everyone watch it on Youtube in advance? If people have questions they can add a comment and you add a few more clips later on to address them. –  Apr 01 '17 at 11:52
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    @MassimoOrtolano and even if you do talk to some colleagues, why not use Skype or some other conversation system? I know people who collaborate successfully with folks across the globe, never once seeing them in person. –  Apr 01 '17 at 11:54
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    Occationally people actually get a chance to talk to someone new at a conference. How would that ever happen online? – Tobias Kildetoft Apr 01 '17 at 12:04
  • @TobiasKildetoft easy. Go on Google Scholar -> see a new paper in your area that interests you -> email the author. Or post on a related website/user group. Or find an interesting presentation on Youtube. At the end of the day only so many people can present themselves at a given physical place, but you can literally access every single researcher's work online. –  Apr 01 '17 at 12:18
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    A conference offers an environment without students, administrators, family, friends, hobbies, or other distractions. You meet people, talk with them, eat with them, spend time with them, and so on, because you don't have any excuses to avoid it. That's what most people need to maintain successful long-term collaborations. – Jouni Sirén Apr 01 '17 at 12:22
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    Those suggestions do not even remotely replicate the opportunities to get to know someone in a more social and less formal setting. – Tobias Kildetoft Apr 01 '17 at 12:25
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    A conference offers an environment without students — Oh, God, I hope not. – JeffE Apr 01 '17 at 15:36
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    @JeffE There is an interesting cultural difference here. Where I come from, both bachelor's and masters's students are seen as students, while PhD students are seen as early-career professionals. I frequently forget that for many people an unqualified "student" may include PhD students. – Jouni Sirén Apr 01 '17 at 16:19
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    "Despite the fact that most of the world is now connected with high-speed fiber and even phones can record 4k video" - I am still waiting to participate in my first video group call where not at least some of the time is spent on trying to solve one or more participants' connection issues. – O. R. Mapper Apr 01 '17 at 17:10
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    @JonathanReez I am assuming that either your university/department is rather bungling the visiting speaker dance or you aren't aware of their full itineraries. Speakers that visit my department for a talk typically have at least 1 dinner with interested faculty, and often have lunch with interested PhD students. The rest of their day they may visit labs, have 1-on-1 meetings with other professors, etc. These are all opportunities to build more informal relationships among academics. Occasionally there may be a travel conflict or delay that cuts a trip short, but that is not the norm at all. – Bryan Krause Apr 01 '17 at 17:51
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    "Despite the fact that most of the world is now connected with high-speed fiber and even phones can record 4k video" This premise implies the false assumption that all the people wanting to attend the event have access to these facilities. There are many places where fibreoptic cables are not installed or are only available at a premium rate. Also not everyone has (or wants) a moder smart phone. On the otherhand, practically every country has an airport and airline service. – Pharap Apr 01 '17 at 19:20
  • @Pharap this makes sense for global conferences but there are many events where all the participants are from e.g. Western Europe. –  Apr 01 '17 at 19:54
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    @JonathanReez Everyone being from western Europe still isn't a guarantee that people have access to fibre optics, fast internet speeds or smartphones. Some rural areas of wealthy/advanced countries like Britain still have internet speeds comparable to dial-up. – Pharap Apr 01 '17 at 20:54
  • @Pharap but do those areas have any significant universities? –  Apr 01 '17 at 20:57
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    @JonathanReez I don't know, but being a university doesn't guarantee good internet connectivity either. The college I went to (not quite the same as university but on the same line) had worse internet capabilities than most people have in their homes (and most people I know would struggle to stream 4K video over their home connections). – Pharap Apr 01 '17 at 21:00
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    Related: How to promote reduction of carbon footprint for conference participation? – aparente001 Apr 02 '17 at 01:04
  • Related: Why are conferences so often in Aspen? :-). Cf. http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/84946/why-hold-conferences-in-a-resort-town. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Apr 02 '17 at 17:02

2 Answers2

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Conferences are not organised for the talks alone. They are more like the academic equivalent of a pool party or a weekend football league. Although on the face of it the purpose might look like spending time in the pool or playing football, people really go there to meet other people.

As a PhD student it took me a while to realise this. Most people attend conferences to get face to face time with other people in thier field, and often the talks act as adverts for collaboration. You'll notice that there are often conference dinners and mixers designed precisely for meeting others.

Every time I've heard someone talk in earnest about what they liked about a conference, it's always that they managed to catch up with a colleague or similar.

Nathanael Farley
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    Fully agree, the "hallway track" is the reason for face-to-face conferences. – Fred Douglis Apr 01 '17 at 17:43
  • Great answer. Do academics generally acknowledge that this approach is 'old school'? –  Apr 01 '17 at 19:57
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    @JonathanReez, I'm not certain even non-academics would. I'm in industry, working for one of the major producers of telecommunications and collaboration equipment. We still host, attend, and participate in physical, in-person conferences -- one of the last I went to both boosted our prestige (inasmuch as one of my coworkers gave a very well-regarded opening talk on research we're sponsoring) and provided several recruiting opportunities, many of which came through the "hallway track". – Charles Duffy Apr 01 '17 at 19:58
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    However I do wish that conferences videoed the formal talks and that they were somehow attached to the related papers. – Ian Apr 01 '17 at 22:51
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    @Ian Some conferences do and even post them for free online, like (in my field) the Strings conference on string theory. – JNS Apr 02 '17 at 09:28
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I agree with Nathanael's statement. Part of developing a community of scholars is networking. While online activities open new opportunities for networking (for instance, cheaply bringing together people from different regions on a shared platform) there are significant limitations to networking only online.

As researchers, we conduct a lot of our work in isolation - even when we collaborate with others, it is often filled with internet exchanges rather than in-person contact. The in-person nature of conferences and guest speakers gives greater opportunity to have high-quality interactions.

I do agree that it would be helpful if universities and organizations provided more of their organized content online, but only in addition to in-person interactions, not in place of them.

Nicole Ruggiano
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