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  • UFVA's 2020 Virtual Conference:A Path Forward
  • Laura Vazquez (bio) and Wenhwa Ts'ao (bio)

in 2020, the university film and video association hosted its 74th annual conference completely online. It was the first-ever virtual event hosted by the organization, which sponsored in-person conferences for nearly all of the prior seventy-three years. This article is intended to provide a historical record of that conference and the decisions and planning discussions that led to the event. At the end, we will include some of the comments and data from those who participated in the conference and who completed the post-conference survey. As we will explain, the decision to host the conference online was precipitated by historical events outside of the association's control.

In March 2020, the United States was enveloped by the COVID-19 pandemic, brought about by the rapid transmission of a virus that supposedly had originated in the Wuhan province of China. As board president and conference VP in 2020, we faced the challenge of how to proceed with conference planning. At the time, very little was known about this virus and the medical and social responses it would demand. Most institutions of higher learning immediately shuttered their campuses, sending students and faculty home for what was predicted to be a period of two weeks to two months. Ultimately, the rise in cases of COVID-19 forced various states to restrict travel in an attempt to stabilize the overcrowding of hospitals and the demands on emergency response systems. We knew this would be devastating for the conference attendees, most of whom relied on institutional support for travel and expenses.

In an attempt to plan for the upcoming conference scheduled for July, the UFVA board resorted to frequent Zoom calls to facilitate decision-making. At that time, there was a good deal of media regarding how and when the medical emergency of the pandemic would be managed. Internal and external discussions began with various vendors regarding a possible virtual conference, a scenario with which most board members had little personal experience. In fact, at that point, few board members had experience even with online teaching, let alone online conference attendance. Led by our very well-organized conference vice president, Wenhwa Ts'ao, we were reviewing possible vendors and their bids within weeks. We were emboldened by the fact that the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) had produced a virtual conference. This encouraged us to pursue the event in earnest. We were challenged by the knowledge that BEA had offered the event to its members at no charge. At the time, we were not sure that this was a model we could successfully follow.

The board approached this possible upcoming event with a good deal of caution. The first vendor we interviewed requested an amount that exceeded what we felt we could afford. There were misgivings about all aspects of the event, beginning with the setup process. [End Page 3] Perhaps it would be better to not hold any conference than to try to do a virtual conference that could be a major disappointment to members and cost the association a significant sum. We determined that the members would want networking and presentation opportunities for their films, papers, scripts, and workshops, as well as meeting time with colleagues and friends. Certainly, none of us had experience with attending a virtual conference, so we could not affirm that these goals and opportunities were even attainable via Zoom or any other communication platform. This article intends to summarize the process for producing this event as well as review the lessons learned during that process, even as we prepare for the following year's event.

Midyear Meeting Preparation

Online conference event discussions really began at the midyear meeting in Miami on February 21–22, 2020, as we prepared for our 2020 conference at Florida State University. At the time there was little mention of the coronavirus among board members, though we mused, on more than one occasion, that greeting each other with hugs could be dangerous. It occurred to us at the time that this seemed a bit far-fetched. Later, it dawned on all of us that it...

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