Gina:
It was 1975. Summer. And my previous carefree relationship with dipping a toe in the water changed forever with just a few notes on the piano…da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

Even though I lived in the midwest and was a thousand miles away from the nearest shark, I’d never even seen an ocean, and certainly shouldn’t have seen the movie—Jaws forever changed the way that I thought about swimming, survival, and scary movies. 

Looking back, adjustments I made—ensuring I could always touch bottom and run out of the water if necessary; identifying who I’d be willing to sacrifice in my bid to get away with all limbs; and having a companion who would shield me from the scariest parts of any movie scene while I created bruises as I grasped them uncomfortably tightly—were probably unnecessary. 

And then it was 2020. Spring (well, really still Winter). And my previous carefree relationship with conferences changed forever with the start of a pandemic. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

COVID-19 has now forever altered the way I think about personal interactions; facilitating engaging experiences for attendees; technology related to conferences and how it helps, hinders, and adds expense; and the varied comfort levels of all persons involved in a conference. 

Fall 2021: In-person conferences were back! We were moving ahead with plans to get attendees together in a room with speakers at a podium or table delivering educational content, albeit with new procedures and protocols in place. 

But new spikes in COVID cases, the Delta variant, and conflicting views on masks and vaccines meant that we were having to make the same (or even more) decisions about how to adjust programming to create the best experience for our attendees, while fulfilling contracts and covering expenses. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. 

While I had so little reason to fear that I would experience a shark attack and need to utilize the contingencies I’d planned in my head, COVID and how it changed the conference experience and the decisions I make have affected nearly every day since. 

Do we forgo the in-person conference and again move to an online only event? Do we stream the program as a hybrid event and allow an online audience to access the educational content at the same time as the in-person audience? Do we stream in remote speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to the in-person event? How do we ensure engagement with our online attendees—both with each other within the platform and with speakers and attendees at the in-person event? 

As I work with ABA staff to answer these questions for our upcoming events, I encourage you to consider the needs of your audiences as well as the parameters of your own technology and budgets when planning for your upcoming conferences. 

Kristin:
These were also the questions ACLEA contemplated when finalizing plans for the 58th Midyear Meeting, coming up January 22-24, 2022 in Austin, Texas. And this is how we answered those questions. 

Do we forgo the in-person conference and again move to an online only event? 

ACLEA had originally planned our 2021 Midyear Meeting to be held in Austin. After much negotiation, the hotel agreed to allow us to postpone the contract to 2022 or face stiff penalties for canceling. As such, ACLEA agreed to hold the upcoming 2022 Midyear Meeting in-person in Austin.

In order to fulfill the obligations of our contract, ACLEA needs to encourage as many in-person attendees to come to Austin as possible. ACLEA focused on ways to ensure the safest environment for our attendees: a vaccine mandate/negative test requirement; encouraging masks; and working with the hotel on cleaning and social distancing.  

Do we stream the program as a hybrid event and allow an online audience to access the educational content at the same time as the in-person audience? 

Working with our LMS partner CE21 and the Austin Planning Committee, ACLEA approved a virtual program to accompany the in-person event. We will stream all plenary sessions and two sessions from each breakout session throughout the event. These will also be recorded and made available to attendees to access online. 

While there is additional expense to offer an online option, ACLEA determined that it was critical to allow our entire membership access to the event, even if they did not travel to the live in-person event in Austin. ACLEA is committed to giving our members options and allowing all members the choice to not travel but still be involved with the conference and take advantage of the high-quality content that has been planned.  

Do we stream in remote speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to the in-person event? 

In determining if we should allow speakers who are not allowed or able to travel to Austin to present remotely, there were three components to our analysis: technology; expense; and most importantly, the impact on the experience of our in-person audience. 

The technology surrounding pulling in and pushing out a stream to both audiences is more complicated than it might first appear. While technology is relatively simple to do one or the other, when looking to do both at the same time (stream in speakers to the live in-person event and at the same time, incorporating those speakers into a stream out to a virtual audience) it becomes much more challenging. Since the platform has to take on a heavy load to merge the two streams for the online audience, the equipment needs in the room would be greater (large screen with both the remote speakers and slides, confidence monitor for in-person speakers to see the remote speakers). 

To both stream in speakers and stream out to a virtual audience would add considerable expense with the need for additional AV, extra staffing, and training of staff to enable. 

One of ACLEA’s largest considerations was ensuring that the in-person experience remained the focus of our final determination. How could we provide our in-person audience the benefits of live attendance that would justify the additional time and expense of traveling to Austin? What does in-person attendance look like if the speakers are streamed in remotely or pre-recorded? Would an in-person audience sitting in a room watching a video screen of remote speakers or videos provide the positive experience and benefits of other live in-person conferences? Additionally, communication between the remote speakers and in-person attendees would be difficult, and wouldn’t create the networking opportunities that are critical to being together at the event. 

Ultimately the question became a choice between streaming speakers into the Austin conference or creating a virtual event streaming content out to our members. Weighing the considerations, ACLEA determined that a virtual event in which the entire membership could benefit from the content and the interaction with colleagues better fulfills the ACLEA mission of serving continuing legal education professionals worldwide through leadership, community, education, and development.  

How do we ensure engagement with our online attendees—both with each other within the platform and with speakers and attendees at the in-person event?

We have all discovered that creating and encouraging community and networking can be especially challenging in the online and hybrid world in which we now find ourselves. ACLEA will continue to work with the planning committee and other volunteers to find new ways to engage our audiences, and create dialogue and participation across our membership. 

While it may be easier to ignore the related issues, we cannot “ignore this particular problem until it swims up and BITES US IN THE A**!”* Through analysis and discussion, ACLEA’s plan to move forward with the live in-person event with in-person speakers presenting, coupled with a virtual event streaming the majority of the content to a remote audience, will provide benefit to the largest percentage of our membership. 

Gina:
As we move through these COVID-infested waters, collaboration and open discussion are key to getting through the next conference, the next year, and the next challenge. 

Kristin:
Please join us in Austin or online with CE21 as we get back into the water!


*Jaws, Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper

It was great to have many familiar and new faces join us at last month’s virtual conference. Despite the ongoing global pandemic, I am grateful that through technology and heavy schedules, we were able to get together to share and learn over three days via our LMS Powered by CE21 and Remo.

A few things struck me as common top-of-mind questions heading into 2021 for all of us. With a lot of uncertainty still, the gradual rollout of the vaccine and appearance of new and strong strains of the coronavirus, a lot of us are faced with several questions. When is the right time to return to in-person programming? Are we looking at a hybrid type of solution going forward? Do you stay on a completely virtual course for at least a year if not longer? What safety precautions are needed for an in-person format? How do you provide a similar if not better user experience for those attending virtually versus in-person?  How many people will attend in-person programs? How do you market in-person programs?

These are just some of many questions on all our minds. We are all at different stages of delivering programs, along with different levels of technical solutions/formats/sophistication, however, it is clear all our stakeholders continue to receive much valued content in order to continue to provide services to their clients.

With the pandemic, our stakeholder’s preferences on attending programs will almost certainly change.  A year later, they are all used to an on-line format, be it live webcast or on-demand recording.

For those of us who host programs at venues such as hotels and or convention centres, the number of attendees the facility was previously able to accommodate pre-COVID has changed due to public health regulations/guidelines and social distancing requirements. Given the lessons learned when the pandemic started a year ago, a lot of us are hesitant to enter into contracts with venues or are putting together contracts with stronger force majeure/impossibility clauses.

There will be a lot of additional considerations in determining the most appropriate solutions, especially with respect to financial costs and number of attendees the venues can accommodate in this new normal. Almost certainly, the added costs of cleaning and sanitation at venues plus the drastic changes to food and beverage operations will be costs that will be passed down to us from the venues. We will all need to determine/project how many people will attend in-person programs again. Not an easy task; some practice areas may return to in-person formats more quickly then others or will prefer to remain in a virtual format.

The best approach may be to survey your attendees or members to gauge what they will be most comfortable with and or when is the earliest they would consider attending a program in-person. In addition, you may consider asking what concerns, if any, do they may have with attending in-person programs. The data will most certainly assist us to make an informed decision, but new developments in the world, may have an impact on the data (e.g. more variant strains of the virus, cases increasing, vaccine shortages, etc.)

Room setup for events will be different with social distancing requirements. The look and feel will be different and may not be conducive to CLE programs. In-person networking in the new normal will be a big challenge no doubt. 

Hybrid solutions will have all of us being more creative in our delivery methods. The challenge will be to ensure the virtual experience is the same, if not better to the in-person experience.

Hoping that over the next few months, things will continue to get better and we will be dealing with less uncertainty. I encourage everyone to continue to keep in touch with each other by sharing best practices and new ideas, or even just to check in to see how everyone is doing.

Take care of yourselves, your families, and each other.

Stay safe and keep well.
A.