SofaConf and Primer after 2 days
This is an aimless ramble about virtual conferences in the age of COVID.
In a surreal twist, lockdown has enabled me to attend 2 conferences at the same time — Primer and SofaConf—remotely. Strangely, intentional or not, the way the sessions are sequenced across the two conferences enabled me to watch them back to back without that much overlap.
That being said, I am finding myself engaging more with SofaConf than Primer, and it has to do with the more-practical content, and engaging Q&A follow-up after. Primer definitely feels more abstract and academic, despite much of the talks focus on important societal issues like racism and global health, which are very important and needed.
Primer’s Emerging Designer VR exhibition was an impressive simulation of a museum-like poster gallery, but I did struggle to read the posters when I was navigating the space. The daily Miro boards also captured the collective spirit, presence and reflectiveness of Primer’s community well.
Attending both conferences at the same time has reminded me how much I miss conferences, which is scary because conferences poorly represent the reality of what I actually face on a day-to-day basis. This is not specific to virtual conferences…. but I feel good when I’m there even virtually, and that counts for something.
