Dear all, here is an interesting example from a different-but-similar community: ACM’s Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN), and their report on "reducing the costs of its conference-focused approach to promoting exchange of ideas." While their initial reason for looking into this was to reduce the impact on climate change & global warming, the conclusions are very much aligned with the practical tips for increasing various diversities - and I think we can use this in the RIPE conferences too. Below are some short quotes, and a link to the whole report. I hope you will find it relevant and interesting. Regards, Vesna https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VLIjocofEzDkjFBvHj3i7YeW9h14weWkG7DRw2e7...

SIGPLAN is particularly invested in air-travel-intensive international conferences. There is good reason for this, as in-person communication is highly effective for sharing and developing new ideas and carrying on collaborations.

SIGPLAN sponsors or co-sponsors 17 conferences. Each of these events attracts between 300 and 600 attendees.

According to our own experience and conversations with peers, SIGPLAN members often attend more than one conference per year, resulting in multiple flights.

SIGPLAN has strong communities in both Europe and North America, which means that major conferences require a significant number of trans-Atlantic flights. As SIGPLAN has expanded in size in recent years, it has sought to expand geographically as well, necessitating flights to more far-flung places for those in the current core communities. Expansion is a laudable goal: science benefits from a diversity of views.

clear responsibility to understand and explore ways of reducing the costs of its conference-focused approach to promoting exchange of ideas. This conversation is also timely in view of other emerging concerns about travel, as well, including restrictions on visa rules, infectious disease outbreaks, and questions about fair access for computer scientists from less wealthy regions.

We could, for instance, merge two or more existing conferences into larger mega-conferences — in the limit, perhaps even colocating all SIGPLAN conferences. Or, conversely, we could encourage smaller, regional conferences. We could hold a single conference simultaneously at two or more sites, with arrangements for live-streaming talks from one location to the other(s). In the longer run, we could consider creating entirely virtual conferences.