[Coral-List] Global Coral Reef Week - Research Conference - July 2020

[Chelsie Counsell]

We are excited to offer an opportunity for coral reef scientists around the
world to share their research with others, engage in question/answers with
colleagues, and give the virtual conference experience a try in July 2020.

Organized by a small team of volunteers, Global Coral Reef Week (
www.coralreefweek.org) was designed to pilot a new approach to research
conferences, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of conferences by
eliminating air travel, increasing accessibility to the meeting content,
and yet, retaining a way to network face-to-face with regional colleagues
and to be connected to international content and colleagues. Our vision of
digitally connected regional in-person meetings includes a blend of
in-person regional content with streamed plenary talks on global/regional
topics, and a digital repository of content. Given that for much of the
world, face-to-face meetings and group gatherings are currently restricted,
we will focus our efforts on strengthening the virtual conference aspects
of this vision for Global Coral Reef Week 2020.

To participate in the Global Coral Reef Week 2020 virtual video conference,
you need to submit a research abstract and desired video format (3-5
minutes, 12-15 minutes, or recorded workshop) by June 1st 2020 using this
form:  https://forms.gle/6VFZReQ3f5kY6gAp9 We’ll send instructions to
authors with accepted abstracts on how to submit their video to Global
Coral Reef Week. All accepted talks/videos will be incorporated into a
publicly accessible Global Coral Reef Week YouTube channel. Participants
will actively respond to comments and questions from conference
participants on their talks during the first two weeks of July.
Participation, both for those submitting videos and for those viewing
videos will be free. For more information, head to www.coralreefweek.org

If possible, we are still encouraging regional groups to host plenary
screenings and networking events during the week of July 6th. We have 16
confirmed locations that are “standing by” to see what is possible in their
region this July. If you are interested in hosting a local, in-person
event, check out
https://coralreefweek.wixsite.com/coralreefweek/add-a-location for more
information and contact us at globalcoralreefweek at posteo.net.

Still feeling unconvinced? Virtual conferences can be highly productive! UC
Santa Barbara has hosted a few conferences using an entirely virtual
approach. In response to the first event, 87% of the speakers thought it
“was successful”. On average, their conference Q&A sessions generated 3x
more discussion than takes place at a traditional Q&A. A few sessions
generated more than 10-15x more! Learn more at
https://hiltner.english.ucsb.edu/index.php/ncnc-guide/
Also, by creating a video of your research, you’ll have a new format of
your research that you can directly share with others.

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Chelsie Counsell, Ph.D.
Quantitative Community Ecologist
Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology
chelsiew12 at gmail.com