Conferences; The future of events is online

At Steadfast Collective, we love attending conferences.

Perhaps it’s part of our passion for community.

Not only are conferences a chance to learn and be inspired by those you normally only see on Twitter, conferences also allow you to meet likeminded folk and share ideas over a coffee.

Unfortunately, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic situation, many conferences over the past two years have been cancelled.

It’s not all bad however… the shift to online caused by Covid-19 has meant we have seen real innovation in regards to online and hybrid conferences.

On September 1st, the Steadfast Collective team are (virtually) attending LaraCon. The largest conference for Laravel developers in the world.

While we’ll miss the in-person interaction, we are excited to learn from those speaking and connect with other attendees.

The future of conferences is online

Through 2020 and 2021, we worked with Fusion Conferences to build an entirely bespoke live video conferencing platform for the scientific community.

Built on Laravel and Vue.JS, Fusion Online is a digital conference platform for hundreds of people to watch live video, interact in virtual rooms and chat throughout the day’s programme.

The ambitious project has never-before-seen features that are entirely focused on the scientific audience including; poster sessions and seven different types of networking room.

A live chat feature allows users to direct message, create group messages and contribute to the wider ‘all-hands’ live chat.

It’s been a delight to work with Fusion Conferences on this forward-thinking platform, and as a team we have been able to push the boundaries on what is possible for an online conference.

Through the data collected in the Digital Community Survey, we learnt that hybrid events are certainly the future.

While the COVID pandemic caused conferences to move online, it will be the increased worldwide reach and ease of attendance that keeps them there.