Editor’s note: This story and its headline have been updated to clarify the number of confirmed viewers using the Zoom platform.
The first virtual panel at the University of Colorado Boulder’s 72nd annual Conference on World Affairs on Monday, focused on historical pandemics, appeared to be a success, with hundreds of viewers watching remotely.
Efforts to stem the spread of the new coronavirus forced CWA event’s organizers to cancel the live events early last month. Last week, the group announced virtual panel discussions would be facilitated this week, the same week the live event was set. The four remaining discussion topics are the economic impacts of COVID-19, listening to scientists, humor in hard times and health in a post-coronavirus world.
The event’s spokesperson, Erin Rain, said organizers originally planned to record each live session on Zoom and later post the videos to YouTube. When preregistration for 500 available Zoom spots filled within two days of enrollment opening, they decided to livestream panels on YouTube as well. Monday’s virtual panel received over 600 viewers on YouTube and just over 300 on Zoom.
“We’re just flattered and excited that people are still wanting to participate in CWA week. Everyone worked so quickly, including CWA speakers, to turn lemons into lemonade,” Rain said.
Participants listening to the livestream on YouTube aren’t able to ask panelists questions via the Zoom chat feature, but that doesn’t mean they can’t engage in conversation about the sessions. Viewers on Monday used Youtube’s chat feature to speak to each other about the session instead, with dozens of chats pouring into the site throughout the three-hour panel.
Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Fenn, a speaker during Monday’s session, said although one of the drawbacks of the virtual conference was that she “very much missed having eye-contact with the audience,” she still learned a lot from her fellow panelists during the session.
Some see the success of the week’s first session and are beginning to question whether or not virtual conference events could be valuable even after the pandemic has ended.
Tom Zeiler, who sat on the conference’s advisory board for several years, acted as the moderator for Monday’s session. Zeiler said that while he understands that some speakers might prefer to see their audience in person, virtual panels could provide listeners with a better experience.
“I would guess that with a panel like this in a bigger room there might be a feeling of even more distance between an audience and the speaker,” Zeiler said.
“But over video they’re right there with their faces close to the screen, so it might feel like there’s more of a connection.”
Reflecting on Monday’s session, he also pointed out that one of the panelists was not in Colorado at the time, so virtual events like this present a new opportunity for people to participate without having to be together in person. Zeiler added that he hopes the conference’s committee looks at this week as an opportunity to expand the possibility of hosting virtual events in the future.
The conference’s sessions will continue to stream live on Zoom for those who preregistered, as well as on YouTube at 2 p.m. daily through Friday.
How to watch
Watch the livestream at 2 p.m. daily at www.colorado.edu/cwa/cwa-virtual-sessions-watch-live. Recordings of the sessions will be available at the CWA YouTube channel, bit.ly/2RhrtyS.