Gatherings should be virtual in 2021

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This week I got email invitations to several conferences that are being scheduled for next year. Each of the emails said that the decision has not been made whether to hold the conference in person or virtually.

Seriously? I think that anyone planning a major gathering for 2021 should plan now to have it virtually.

Switching to a virtual conference is not a turn that can be made on a dime. I just presented at a virtual technology conference that decided months in advance to go virtual. Overall it went very well. One reason for that is they had experts involved who have done virtual conferences before. If you have never run a virtual conference before, it is very difficult for everyone involved.

I don't have confidence that America will be able to get COVID-19 sufficiently under control next year to make an in-person indoor conference safe.

Even if Joe Biden wins the election and enacts more serious measures to control the virus, Donald Trump has done the damage to our country that he set out to do. There are now enough maskholes (people who won't wear a mask properly or at all) in America to ensure that the virus continues to spread in waves.

Let me make it simple. I will not attend any in-person indoor gathering outside of my family circle in 2021. Period.

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