How to improve (online) networking experiences

A commonly heard complaint about virtual conferences and other scholarly gatherings is that the network aspect is missing. When we gather in person, there are many opportunities to informally connect to others. In particular, for junior scholars, attending an in-person conference affords possibilities of fostering professional relationships outside of our immediate work environment. This not only helps them get their name out, but is also a source of picking up on professional trends, and even developing productive collaborations with peers as well as more junior and senior scholars.  

However, there are also problems.  The following tweet by a former community college instructor, currently university instructor, Emily Brier, highlights a major drawback of in-person networking: 

Anybody want to talk about how as an MA student at conferences nobody (and I mean NOBODY) would talk to me, and when I was a CC instructor nobody TT [tenure track]  would talk to me, and how conferences often just reinscribe hierarchy in ways that show why TT folks are itching to go back FTF?

This experience may strike a familiar chord with most people. If you are a grad student, especially from a smaller institution, or from a non-prestigious institution, it is hard to even begin a conversation with others. 

In my experience of many years ago at the APA "Smoker" reception, I mainly stood around with a glass in my hand as people swerved around the room looking to speak to people from the most elite institutions. Eventually, I worked up enough courage to talk to a few others quiet bystanders. I mainly spoke to fellow early career people, which was nice enough. The power of peer mentoring should not be discounted. Still, if networking in the form of informal connection to more senior members of the profession is to be a major aim of face to face conferencing, we fall short of that aim.

Moreover, people who cannot shell out the money, or for other reasons (e.g., disability, illness, caregiving responsibilities) cannot attend an in-person conference also miss out on informal relationships. 

With the 2+1 campaign, the Philosophers for Sustainability (of which I am a member) are petitioning the APA to hold one or two of its divisional meetings per year online. You can read more about the campaign here, the reasons for it, and sign if you agree. One thing we hope to accomplish is to create a white paper on the topic of informal networking and mentorship, and how to do it online. 

For these reasons, I would like to see suggestions by Cocoon readers on what they think could be improved in networking and informal mentorship. What are the ways it could be improved? What platforms, formats, and other ideas do you have to accomplish it? 

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Many thanks to Colin Marshall, Eugene Chislenko, Jeremy Bendik-Keymer and other members of Philosophers for Sustainability. I post this in a personal capacity, but with support of Philosophers for Sustainability, who are keen to develop a white paper on how to help foster relationships and networking opportunities in formats other than in-person conferencing.

Comments

[Madeline Martin-Seaver]

When the ASA Annual Meeting went online in 2020, there were several structured social events. They included a trivia contest (probably not so good for networking as a very new person), a talent show, and a show and tell session.

I don't remember the other events, but there were several. I think other online conferences could try something similar.

[In a (temporary) non-academic position]

I think long term regular themed workshops can help networking. For example, this philosophy and activism monthly workshop was very good.

https://www.philosophyofactivism.com/

[Zoomedout]

These strike me as bad almost conceptually. I’d prefer if conference organizers simply recognized the limits of the medium and would give up on the hope that the ideal in person conference is the appropriate model for the ideal online conference.

[EuroProf]

The only time this really worked for me was when we had an online workshop over the course of a whole semester. We met once a week about a dozen times and each time one of us gave a talk. Afterwards, we kept the Zoom room open to just chat (for those who wanted to - some rarely did, some never, some always). I think the key was that we met regularly as the same *small* group and that it was not just a one-time event, so people really got to know each other.

[anti-zoom]

I am also very skeptical of on-line conferences, especially as a means to networking. Trivia contests and talent shows are not going to help quieter people connect in an on-line setting. Rather they seem like the perfect platform to support buffoons, and others who are fans of social media.

[Just email]

If you want to network with someone just send an email to him/her. Ask for a copy of his/her latest paper, people like to share their work. So then the lines of communications are open.

[postdoc]

Agree that it's very tricky with big crowds. (But then, even in in-person meetings, one does not speak usually to a "big crowd".)
One thing we used last summer when organizing a conference (50-70 participants) was an online space where people could gather and talk to a smaller group. I think it was called gathertown. Basically, you have a little alias figure that you can move around on the screen somewhat like in an 80's computer game, and then you only hear the people who stand next to you. It's much better than Zoom.

I'm not coming from a top program, but I didn't have problems with in-person socializing when I was a grad student. True, I mostly talked with my peers at big gatherings, but got to know quite a few good people that way, and occasionally a few professors from here and there as well. (And I really don't like people -- met quite a few -- who at conferences would only speak to people "higher up" on the ladder -- I actually find that quite appalling.)
I do find smaller workshops more conducive to these kinds of things though as well.