Direct by Design
Conferencing in reset
I
t is time. It is time to reassess and adjust to business as it will be after these two years of isolation, travel restrictions and disruption to the routine since the Covid pandemic spread across the globe in late 2019-early 2020. This is particularly so for the holding of international conferences, exhibitions and events.
Legislation that forced the cancellation of large gatherings in person in efforts to control the pandemic threw the calendar of events into chaos. We can all remember the scramble to offer refunds or credits for postponed events and the costs to organisers of cancellations with venues and service providers. The impact however continues in early 2022 with recent postponement of the Denmark WTC in Copenhagen from its original May 2021 date, to April 2022 and now again to September 2022. DFTU, the Denmark Member Nation host of WTC Copenhagen, requested, and the ITA Executive Council agreed, to move the event to September for several reasons. Current international travel restrictions, which are beginning to be relaxed, may still be in force in April and travelling may well be difficult or impossible for delegations from different countries including China, India and other countries in Asia; countries in South America and Africa; perhaps also Australia and New Zealand and other countries in Europe and the Middle East. Without a sizeable number of in-person delegates and exhibitors, the event experience would be disappointing and its economic viability undermined. With WTC 2022 rescheduled to September, the first in-person events for the industry will be the NAT North America Tunnelling conference in Philadelphia in June and the George Fox Conference, postponed from its
Feb 2022
usual January date in New York to 10 May 2022. Also in North America will be the TAC conference in Canada scheduled for November in Vancouver and for which the call for papers has been released. Associated industry events include Hydro 2022 in April and the ISRM Eurock conference and InnoTrans exhibition in September. Another consequence of the pandemic disruption has been the introduction of virtual online gatherings as an alternative. Some would say this is belated as the technology for large interactive online virtual audiences had been available for sometime. Embracing it took a global crisis and caught event organisers and technology providers off guard and under severe time and preparation pressures. Through experience and continuing development, the virtual option has improved but many agree it is a poor substitute to in-person attendance but better than no event at all. It is inevitable now that there will be a virtual element to all future large international conferences, with perhaps a higher than in-person registration fee to go along with it. The internet interconnectivity can no longer be ignored or dismissed, not only because we are becoming used to the alternative but it will continue to open up events to greater delegate participation and assist those still reluctant or
New dates for a reset World Tunnel Congress WTC in Copenhagen
The UCA NAT in Philadelphia and its Fox Conference (left), rescheduled from January to May, together with the TAC conference (above) in Vancouver are the main in-person events for North America for 2022