A Listening Session on the Hybrid Conference Experience

Events
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We are getting this much closer to the October 7-9 OEGlobal 2026 Conference, organized in hybrid format, taking place both in Cambridge, Massachusetts and online. The planners are lining up all the logistical details for how the conference sessions will be made available, but note from the release of the program that all presentations/panel sessions regardless of where presented from, will be available online.

But a full conference experience goes beyond the program and the sessions. In the spirit of the OEGlobal 2026 theme “Come Invent With Us” we are interested in co-inventing the fullest possible experience for both online and in-person attendees.

In cooperation with Equity Unbound and its currently running Mid Year Festival (MYFest26), we are inviting anyone interested in sharing their own experiences in hybrid conferences to inform our planning process to join us for an open conversation in this listening session.

What has been effective for your conference participating when you have been an online participant? What activities and designs have made you felt a sense of belonging? What has made it feel like you are present and connected with other attendees? What helps to offset the time zone offsets that make attending live events a challenge?

And what are the gains for in-person attendees to be connected to a virtual audience? What can reduce the sense of distance? What might you be willing to do to help share the in-person experience more widely?

We come to this session without firmly set solutions and we are asking you to help invent a meaningful hybrid conference experience at OEGlobal 2026.

This session will not be recorded but we will share a summary and highlights from the discussions, and also open this up for further conversation right here.

:date: When (in your local time) 2026-08-06T15:00:00Z→2026-08-06T16:00:00Z
:pen: Participate: Register to attend in Zoom

For more, see and add to the discussions from our May 4 topic Monday Connect: What Works for the Most Vibrant Experiences in a Hybrid Conference Format? or reply below with your own hybrid conference stories.

This is an event offered by and for the open education community. If you are logged into OEG Connect, return to the main OE Events space where you can add your own event as a new topic

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Notes From Aug 6 Hybrid Experience Listening Session
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I always enjoyed Virtually Connecting’s ‘hallway’ conversations with conference attendees and presenters. Here’s Autumm Caines Virtually Connecting in 2015!
Image by Bryan Alexander from Flickr.

Virtually_Connecting_with_Autumm_2015_flickr
Virtually_Connecting_with_Autumm_2015_flickr1024×890 287 KB

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Oh yes, loved those Virtually Connecting sessions, both as an onsite and as a virtual participant! Short, informal conversations were a great way to connect with new folks and discuss topics from the conference (or other stuff!).

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During the COVID lockdown, I found the virtual space Gather Town was the best for breaking down the uncanny valley of online classrooms. One of my students created a virtual mock up of our physical classroom in which students sat at desks which acted as ‘breakout rooms’. Communication flourished as student sprites moved into different groups, bumping into each other as they went! I was so impressed with the virtual learning space that I presented about it at the IB Global conference.

Unfortunately, users of Gather Town now have to be over 18 to use the platform despite being behind passport protected walls, and so I can no longer use it with my students. For a conference such as this however, I’m sure it would bring a wealth of collaboration and learning.

Looking forward to bumping into you all in October!

Michael Clifford

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Hi Alan. I like many of the observations in the responses to your Monday Connect: What Works for the Most Vibrant Experiences in a Hybrid Conferene Format post. Especially the goal to create a unified experience. Not an in-person conference with some virtual offerings, not two separate conferences, but a truly blended experience.

And as @toddconaway and others note the secret sauce seems largely about enabling conversations. I think there could be a lot gained by focusing on enabling conversations as the key goal for hybrid.

I’d like to see an emphasis on conversations that intermingle all participants, in the hallway, over lunches and drinks. I’d like to see ongoing Q&A conversation opportunities with presenters before and after their session for the duration of the conference. I’d like to see a live Zoom room open 24/7 for in-person and online conversation. The room should be hosted with volunteer moderators present at all times. A schedule for this room where participants can indicate the days/times they intend to be present or request a meeting with someone (presenter, OEGlobal person, attendee, …). A place where people can suggest a topic for conversation and others can express interest in participating. Opportunities for groups of participants to have a breakout where they can have small group conversation. Opportunities for social meetups to simply catch up with particular people or be introduced to new people.

I know timezones make synchronous conversations challenging but I’d place an emphasis on this over aysnchronous. Having a conversation space open 24/7 would help a lot.

I like @Downes story of real time daily commentary of a conference. I’d prefer though to see a sort of coverage and analysis done by multiple people rather than just one. I can imagine different people covering themes of the conference. Someone for each of:

  • Hacking the Open Ecosystem and Praxis for the Public Good
  • Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge
  • Catalyzing Human Connection, Creativity, and Curiosity to Thrive
  • (Re)Inventing Our Shared Global Vision Together
  • Exploring Emergent Technologies and the Future of Openness

Or alternatively people covering particular topics of interest:

  • Open Education and AI
  • Translation
  • Accessibility
  • Stewardship
  • …

I myself will be participating virtually and volunteer to be part of whatever hybrid form the conference takes. Look forward to seeing what emerges.

Paul

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Thanks Michael for sharing your positive experience using Gather Town as a learning space for your students during COVID lockdown. I have hear descriptions of its use and one time experience for an online conference- the idea of replicating the physical space does have appeal.

Some considerations though from your situation was ut being the only means to meet, and also, to be honest, for class, participation is a bit more compulsory. For a hybrid conference, it’s a challenge to expect participants in-person to devote time to a virtual conference center, and already we face challenges in having participants create accounts in Sched for the conference program, managing access links to zoom, and also aiming for an asynchronous third space like here. And atop this, many will want to, and it makes sense, to communicate outward via social media.

What interests me is that your description addressed as well phrased the “uncanny valley” of online spaces and also that your students were able to do building/creating in the space, not just navigate what was created.

I find it’s less about the features of different platforms (having read positive experiences about PheedLoop, Whova, Discord, and more) and how they are used and supported by regular interaction. That said, I am keen to hear of all experiences and please keep making suggestions as I feel far from knowing perfect answers.

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Hey Paul (that’s our inside joke for how we often greet each other), I so deeply appreciate your ideas for focus on the conversation and recognizing our interest in this being a two way experience. The idea of open rooms/spaces definitely has been on my list.

I’m pondering your suggestion of collaborative “covering” of conference themes. Our previous conference approaches have attempted to add discussions at the session level, but honestly it make it too many granular topics, that maybe open conversations can be on the themes (as well as enabling other threads/to be spontaneously created).

There’s only so much we can do for setting up “spaces” it really hinges on a good steady wave of activity, and as you know, I am going to pull out some garden metaphor or make statements that nothing gets conversations going more than conversations.

I am wondering how we can pull that spirit of contribution here as we all know the attention budget we have during the compressed time of conference activity is stretched thin. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate your willingness to enable a dynamic full conference experience.

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In line with your suggestion @paulstacey we are setting up discussion threads by conference track rather than opening one for each presentation. Might it be a means to coalesce “sessions reporting/sharing” under those topics?

It’s hard to gauge!

Also, I posted a bit of summary from this session