Online conferences and lectures offer greater accessibility to the disabled, to those who can't afford the travel, and to those who live far from the venue. They allow interested people to attend public lectures from all over the world. They save everyone a lot of money, which could be important in the coming years of post-pandemic recovery and, likely, austerity. True, we lose out on receptions, and to some degree on networking, but there are substantial gains in the new model.
The pandemic has forced many changes upon us, including fully online conferences and lectures. However we proceed in the future, we should retain the gains of the new model.
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