Research meetings need more than one mode of participation

Many agree that watching the Olympic Games in one of its venues is the best way to experience the event. However, less than one percent of the billions worldwide audience could be present in person. The majority watched the Olympics at public events, at home with families and friends, or by themselves on their mobile devices. While all the available modes of watching the Olympics were different, they all allowed a global audience to join a major sports event. International research meetings were pushed into mainly online modes by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-2022. While participation in online formats was initially high, it has since dropped, and only a small fraction of meeting organisers have made efforts to develop new formats that offer value to online participants. This is a missed opportunity; it disregards the high environmental costs of large international meetings and favours those who can afford the high costs and time commitment of international travel and are, therefore, already advantaged. There are many opportunities to innovate by blending in-person, hybrid, and online formats and adopting new technologies (see e.g., https://thefutureofmeetings.wordpress.com), including local or regional hubs where participants can gather to discuss and network. This poster is about how we can make research meetings more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable by being more creative about modes of participation and thinking outside the box. We could draw inspiration from completely different types of events, like games, international sports or cultural events.