The Visual Media Conference 2021

Robert McClements hosts the Visual Media Conference 21, a three-day virtual conference starting today, September 21st, 2021. The main topic is 'Sustainability through Innovation,' and that is, by all means, more topical than most could even imagine.

With the recent UN climate panel report and even more current announcement of an increased focus on methane, the topic couldn't be more relevant.

The three days consist of 29 sessions, including breakout sessions, introductions, and the good-bye divided into further three sub-topics of 'What is Sustainability," "Evolution of Tech for Sustainability - How the Creative Industry has Innovated," and finally "Environmental Sustainability Through Innovation."

As with so many other webinars during the past year, the Visual Media Conference has an overwhelming program, and many may think this is beyond comprehensible. You can, of course, dig into each session as you like, and eventually, the sessions will be made available as replays - which I appreciate. Each of the sessions is quite interesting but also quite demanding. I listened, i.e., to 'Behaviour and Truth' by Peter Grindrod, Professor of Mathematics, and it was so interesting, but still, with work that needed to be done, I must see it again when replays are available.

The Visual Media Conference has been in the planning for a long time - and the program is well thought out and relevant to many. Compared to a physical event, the downside is the 'socializing' that the organizer BPIF and CDI have tried to resemble using the Hopin platform. To me, that doesn't work. I think the signup process is tedious and way too complex for my patience, to be honest!

I don't like complex signup procedures, and I don't like when it's challenging to get to what I need - and with Hopin, it's not easy! But try for yourself; you still have both Wednesday, 22nd, and Thursday 23rd to register, sign in and participate.

From a user's perspective - and I may have signed up wrongly, I don't like that I cannot get notification about the sessions of interest, and if I was supposed to have my browser open in the background waiting for each of the sessions, why have breaks? Fill it with teasers, promotions, or some of the content available on the event's main website - and replays. Make them instantly available. There is absolutely no reason to wait for replays to be available, in my opinion!

The speakers I heard today were great, but I must admit that I am webinar-weared-out. It's not easy for me to focus, and the model of having a PowerPoint presentation and a speaker talking for some time with the mandatory Q&A at the end of a session must be redefined, which is a shame. The speakers are excellent, and the content is so relevant, and though, it turns out to be a bit... well, not sure how to phrase it!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 22nd, is a new day at the Visual Media Conference - and I am one of the speakers. I have spent WAY too much time preparing the presentation, which I believe most speakers consider - preparation, time, and ROI. The ROI for a speaker is how big the audience is, and regardless of how good your presentation is, the number will never justify your time, and we all rely on the replays - that's life, and I can't help thinking about why not more people are attending conferences virtually or physically - but apparently most know more than enough in advance!

I learned something today, and that was great!

Sep 21, 2021

Author: Morten B. Reitoft