There are many benefits to having conferences Online that I never realized until we were forced into this unusual situation. I'll briefly go over them.
I have been able to attend and present at far many more than I would have otherwise. For example if Buenos Aires was in Buenos Aires, I wouldn't have been able to attend given the heavy commitment to travel and time.
I really enjoyed the way the conference meet and greet hall was set up. It was setup like a video game where you bump into a bunch of people, and a video conference automatically starts with all bumped parties added. I had so many engaging conversations. Way more than I could ever have had in person. In person the main issues are having the guts to go talk to a random person, which for some reason was not as much of an issue not being physically present, and also trying to hear yourself and others in a crowded room of people. This setup took care of both annoyances I experience with being present.
Videos of presentations come out much quicker from an Online version than they do in a physical meet and you also get many more. So this allows me to view all the great ones I missed.
I hope when things settle down to a more normal, we still keep these virtual conference as it makes it so much easier for people to get involved who wouldn't otherwise be able to.
Sadly I didn't have enough time to cover all the material I had intended. You can find the related slides and source code on our Author Presentations page.
I'll be presenting again at PostGIS Day 2021 Online -- so signup if you want to get your PostGIS fill.
