Great one. This has probably been considered by people with experience and decided against, and I am not confident with this thought, but to share it anyway...
Having to apply, and having to commit to everything, might put some people off. Due to fear of rejection, self-consciousness of their abilities/experience, shyness, or otherwise being uninterested in all components of the conference.
I can imagine it being beneficial and a good opportunity (being virtual) to have an open invitation for joining any of the talks or Q&A sessions (I presume there will already be moderators screening questions). Obviously, the suggestion of having digested certain information prior to joining any of the live talks could easily remain (and this could be specific to each talk).
Separately, require an application for workshops, office hours with experts, and facilitated networking.
I’m super excited for this! I love the in person conferences but I think virtual conferences also fill an important void for people who for a variety of reasons can’t easily travel to the US or UK.
*US, UK or any other country with an EAGx conferences. Just in case anyone reading this missed the news, there are now EAG(x) conferences planned on five different continents! :)
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