Back at the Book Exhibit: The Return of the In-Person Academic Conference

In June of 2022, the day after spring quarter classes ended, I boarded a plane to attend my first in-person academic conference since January of 2020.

After two and a half years of virtual conferences, I loved every minute of it—from the uninterrupted grading time on the airplane, to the conference hotel which boasted a secret (and defunct) underground swimming pool, to the complete immersion in the conference program I never seemed able to achieve when Zoom-ing in from home, and the spontaneous moments of personal and professional connection around the coffee urn.

Then, in January of 2023, I attended my third “post” pandemic in-person conference. The MLA’s annual convention was held (conveniently!) in San Francisco, but (inconveniently!) took place the weekend before winter quarter classes started. I found myself faintly missing the Zoom conference, which alleviated many of the challenges (physical, financial, and logistical) of conference travel, even when the conference was just across town.

I decided to reach out to my PWR colleagues who I’d learned from Instructor News had also returned to in-person conferences this year. I wanted to know what they were appreciating about returning to our once-familiar conference modality, but also what they valued about Zoom conferences (which will surely continue as a way to facilitate accessible academic connections around the world!).

I’ve assembled their responses below, clustered around common themes of intellectual community, collegiality, and the pleasures (and difficulties) of travel. 

On Conferences and Intellectual Community 

Gabrielle Moyer

“One aspect of conferences I keep coming back to masochistically is the way [they] force me to research and write while teaching and tutoring during the quarter. If I didn't have a group of scholars at some imminent moment waiting to hear a paper, I'd bet my bottom dollar there [would be] no time for anything more than Stanford and kids and folding laundry and, you know how it goes, the list goes on. So I’m utterly grateful to the promise of future conference rooms and the generosity of the scholars who fill them.”

Kevin Moore

“I co-organized a panel and presented in October [2022] at ALSCW (Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers) on Ralph Ellison, which was at Yale…. It was a two-hour, works-in-progress workshop with some top Ellison scholars, and I’m still thinking about the conversation. The asides, the humor, the nuances of affect: none of it would have been legible via Zoom.”

Roberta Wolfson 

“I really appreciated how the in-person Q&A felt so exciting and dynamic. It was exhilarating to be able to hear the audience emote collectively (there’s nothing quite like a shared laugh or groan to create connection and build energy in a room). I also really appreciated being able to read the body language of the audience members. I love to see folks nodding their heads or smiling when I’m presenting. It gives me affirming energy and feels very rewarding.” 

Harriett Jernigan

“I was happy to just not be in a Zoom room. I don't like presenting on Zoom, and I don't like hearing presentations on Zoom. There is something to be said for setting, for sitting with others in a room that is--at least temporarily--dedicated to the specific purpose of exchanging ideas about issues I'm passionate about. Zoom has as many different physical settings as there are participants, and it's hard to build community in the same way. If I never have to say, "I'm going to share my screen with you" again, it will be too soon.

Alexander Greenhough

“I attended Theory and Practice of the Video Essay: An International Conference on Videographic Criticism, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. 

I missed the ebb and flow of post-presentation discussions [on Zoom], which seem to me more open and spontaneous when they're in-person.”

On Conferences and Collegiality

Christine Alfano

“When we were on Zoom, I missed one of the true pleasures of in-person conferences – those serendipitous meetings with colleagues (present and past), in hallways, elevators, and at the book fair, where you have a chance to reconnect. There’s nothing like being in a crowded lobby and having someone (like Bump Halbritter, for instance) call out your name across the room (ALFANO!) in that old familiar way and then just having the actual opportunity to chat and catch up. The same goes for running into current colleagues – I rarely have time to relax and chat in Sweet Hall with other PWR lecturers, so being able to have a coffee/drink/meal with my colleagues at a conference is a real treat.” 

Harriett Jernigan 

“The social side is honestly what draws me to a conference. I come for the professional development, but stay for the dinners, receptions, catch-ups with old friends, running into people I haven't seen in donkey's years. The W.i.G. [Women in German] annual conference in Portland, OR was delightful, really. It was my first time attending, and it was just about everything you'd like a conference to be: warm, friendly, supportive, community-building activities and a traditional cabaret performance at the end. I felt very welcomed, which is not always the case at academic conferences if you're underrepresented. The social aspect of the MLA this time was also a lot more fun, because I wasn't on the job hunt. I visited friends, ran into old colleagues, turned down a former colleague's invitation to apply for a job, had cocktails at Top of The Mark with my research bestie, and made some new connections that are taking me to Leipzig, Germany this summer to do some inclusive pedagogy work. I could relax and be myself, and that was really nice.”

Alexander Greenhough

“I am not disposed to ‘networking.’ I enjoy longer, in-depth conversations (both with old friends and people I've just met), so if there have been a few of those, I've likely had a rewarding experience. “

 Roberta Wolfson

“I love the social side of conferences. It’s so much fun to get the opportunity to interact with colleagues whom I haven’t seen for a while. One of my MLA panels was attended by two former colleagues from each of my previous institutions, as well as a current PWR colleague (shout out to Harriett for coming to my talk!). It was really awesome to see colleagues from different moments in my career sitting in the same room. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to get coffee and/or a meal with some former colleagues. It’s hard to replicate the social side of conferences in the Zoom environment, so I really appreciated this aspect of the return to in-person conferencing.”
 

Kevin Moore

“There’s just something about coming back into contact with real, live human beings that can’t be replaced. Especially given that at conferences, you can run into people with whom you may have interacted at any point in your academic career. At MLA I was walking through the exhibition hall and I ran into one of my first (and favorite) UCLA professors, and I was like: wow, I never expected to see you again, how cool.

My good friend and former UCSB colleague Heather Steffen (now at Georgetown), who works on academic labor, was presenting at MLA. And I ran into PWR Lecturer Harriett Jernigan at her panel! I love to see interests and worlds colliding, and that’s much, much richer in person.”

Kath Rothschild

“The College Composition and Communication Conference, in Chicago this year, was filled with voices of concern for our students. From my standing group—the STEM Writing standing group—to seeing old friends from grad school days and spending special time with colleagues, the conversation centered around assisting students out of the pandemic.

What was wonderful about being in person was the ability to connect with people one-on-one, which doesn't happen as much on Zoom.”

On Traveling for Conferences

Gabrielle Moyer

“The pleasure of getting out of the Bay Area to talk about the ideas that keep us up at night is not masochistic but pure joy, nothing like getting on a plane and leaving the routine behind. ”

Christine Alfano

“I actually appreciate going somewhere for a conference. When the conferences were on Zoom, I was very bad at sectioning off time to actually attend panels because I was still immersed in my usual life (I would skip the panels I signed up for because a student conference ran long or I double-booked myself). Traveling creates a great separation between regular life and the conference itself so I’m more able to just focus on being present for the sessions and the experience.”

Other Reflections on In-Person and Zoom Conferences

 Kevin Moore

On the downsides of in-person conferences: “There’s a passage from Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 that I always take a moment to reread when I get back from an in-person literature conference, about “young conferencegoers” (at lit conferences, specifically), whom Bolaño calls ‘insatiable cannibals, their thirtysomething faces bloated with success, their expressions shifting from boredom to madness…’ Let’s just say the practice remains intact.”

Roberta Wolfson

“While there are so many benefits to meeting in person, I still miss a few aspects of the virtual environment. One aspect of Zoom that is hard to replicate in the in-person setting is the Chat feature. I missed how in the Zoom environment panelists and audience members were able to engage in a side conversation, address questions, or share supplementary material as the presentations were going on. 

I also miss how convenient it is to attend conferences virtually. There are so many extra logistics that go into physically transporting oneself to an in-person conference. Even though the MLA was local this year (San Francisco), I still had to make the commute, figure out parking, walk to the conference venue, find my presentation rooms, set up the presentation technology, etc. I found that I wasn’t able to attend as many panels because I had to spend so much time and energy commuting. At a virtual conference, I can attend more panels because I don’t need to factor in the time for all these logistics.”
 

Harriett Jernigan

“Zoom didn't mitigate the aspects I dislike about conferences, which mostly centers on presentation styles. If anything, Zoom exacerbated that. I was reminded, however, upon returning to the physical setting, that when people simply read directly from papers and don't invest a lot of time in their slides, I get incredibly bored. Perennial complaints really, but something we need to consider if we are striving for lasting change and ‘joy’ in the profession, as the MLA seems to be advocating in its theme for next year. It became very apparent very quickly how much we need to change presentation culture to make it more dynamic and inclusive. I often feel that presentations at conferences are simply things people must get done in order to put it on their CV. As a result, I am now running a panel on revising presentation culture at MLA 2024.”