In-Person or Virtual? What Will Operations Management/Research Conferences Look Like?

Problem Definition: The Covid-19 pandemic allowed the Operations Management/Research (OM/OR) community to experiment with virtual conference formats, which are expected to provide substantial environmental benefits. It is unclear, however, how such format change affects the value conferences provide to the community. Academic/practical relevance: The community is eager to contribute to the climate change response and emissions reduction momentum and act responsibly. In turn, the authors analyze the environmental footprint of our conferences and explore ways to reduce the same while preserving their value for our community. Methodology: The authors leverage a series of Covid-19-induced natural experiments to determine the environmental footprint and societal value difference between different conference formats via Life Cycle Assessment and survey techniques, respectively. Specifically, they focus on INFORMS, POMS, and EurOMA conferences that were conducted in in-person and virtual formats between 2019 and 2021. Results: The environmental impact assessment reveals a substantial impact reduction from a virtual switch, on average from 941.9 kg CO2eq per person for in-person formats to 1.0 for virtual. The value assessment analysis, however, identifies a major utility loss, with the overall perceived value derived from conference attendance going down from 7.9 to 4.0 (on a scale of 10). Not surprisingly, virtual formats do show some merit, such as lower perceived costs, attendance flexibility and inclusion. The preference for in-person formats is clear though, justified by socialization and networking benefits, the two most important value drivers identified by this analysis. Societal implications: There is a clear trade-off in our choice between virtual and in-person conferences. It is therefore a good time for our research community to rigorously study how we can reduce our societal environmental footprints while maintaining interactions that facilitate knowledge creation and dissemination.