Submitting to conferences (in the time of COVID) when you're unsure you'll attend?

In our June "how can we help you?" thread, G writes:

I'm curious about how people decide whether to submit to a conference during the time of COVID-19, especially conferences that are planned for in-person meetings. Take the APA meetings for example, esp. the Eastern and Central. I am almost certain that I will not want to travel to big cities like NYC or NOLA next year. But it would be great if (a big IF) I could get a chance to present a paper to others online. Is it okay if I submit to a conference when I know (or am almost certain) that I only want to participate remotely? (It will be bad if this becomes the norm. But was about during the time of COVID-19? I am curious about what others think.)

In response, skyped-out wrote:

I would recommend that you do not submit to a conference if you have no intention of going to it in person. Put casually, it is douchy. Put more professionally, I think it is unlikely you will gain much from the experience. Certainly, if I am at the conference and I have a choice between hearing a person speak, and hearing a recording or skype/zoom talk I would take the former. I spend far too much time on-line now. I do not want any more of it. And at one point I think it looks silly on cvs when people list talks at conferences which they did not REALLY go to. If this is the new reality, and all talks are like this, then, ... But it is not yet the new reality, and I do not want it to be.

I'm not entirely sure about this. I think skyped-out is definitely right for 'normal times' (pre-COVID). Normally, if you're pretty sure you won't be able to attend a conference if accepted, I think you shouldn't submit. But during the COVID pandemic? I mean, things are so uncertain and fluid right now that it is hard to know with any real degree of confidence what will and what will not be safe in 6 months time. I mean, it looks like it may not be safe to travel in January 2021 (when the Eastern is slated), and so G may feel pretty certain now that they would only want to present via Zoom--but who knows? Maybe there will be better treatments for COVID by then that will make travel less of a life-threatening risk. I think it's just hard to say.

So, in this environment, at any rate, I'm not sure there is anything obviously wrong with G's approach. However, one way of perhaps mitigating this issue is to simply ask the organizers prior to submitting, emailing them with something like, "I'd love to attend your conference if it's safe, but since I'm not sure it will be, can I submit anyway and is there any prospect of presenting remotely if I'm accepted and don't feel safe." This seems to me like an upstanding, forthright way to proceed. What do you all think? 

Comments

[Paul Carron]

I agree with Marcus. 1. ask what the contingency plan is (surely there is one for such a large conference) and 2. ask if it is permissible/desirable to submit if one thinks there is a good chance one would only be able to present virtually.

I will say that remote conferences/presentations are pretty lame, both to give and to watch. We make them for class and our students (sometimes) endure them because its required -- and admittedly some people prefer virtual -- but most of us don't want to do philosophy virtually imho...

[anonymous APA committee member]

The deadlines for submitting to the 2021 Eastern and Central are both long gone!

[G]

Hi, anonymous APA committee member,

I should have been clearer. I just used them as examples. But some group meetings (not like the main programs) are still accepting submissions, so are some regional conferences.