Re: [EXTERNAL]Re: [SECURITY] Conference in April -- concerns?

[Kevin Wilcox <wilcoxkm () APPSTATE EDU>]

On Wed, 11 Mar 2020 at 19:23, Alan Bowen <abowen () fandm edu> wrote:


> The conference is 40 days or 5 1/2 weeks from today.  That’s a long time.
> I’d hate for there to be regret later for a hurried or emotional decision
> now.  I personally wouldn’t want to see the conference become a virtual
> event because of the immersion and face to face networking.  Now, I better
> get started on my presentation…

We have no confirmed cases in Western NC and at 7PM this evening we made
the call to extend Spring Break another week and move to "alternative
delivery mechanism" where possible, with a complete ban on out-of-state
travel and non-essential in-state gatherings of > 100 people.

Five and a half weeks is nothing. It's less vacation time than I earn in a
calendar year. It takes us longer than that to buy something from a vendor
who is already approved by the State. Unless you're _really good_ at online
conferences, that's hardly enough time to make sure all the prep work is
done and things are tested and folks know how to use <x platform> and ...
and ... and ...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's probably better to have a
virtual conference with good attendance than either 1) an in-person that
only a select few can get approval for at this time or 2) no conference at
all.

When a pandemic has been declared, and your event is less than two months
away, especially when every other conference in the country is postponing
or being virtualised, making the decision to virtualise it (or to not
attend) isn't "hurried" or "emotional decision <making>", it's informed and
rational.

kmw

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