A tale of two JMM. One hotel room in 2014. One apartment in 2021. Same. Costume. Same. Circus.
COVID has changed a lot about our profession. Clearly, it’s changed how we conference—there’s no more travel. Not sure about you, but I have actually been able to attend more conferences since quarantine. And it’s so easy. No paperwork to fill out regarding reimbursement. I don’t waste entire days in airports and shuttles and cabs. I’m never jet lagged. Yes, I don’t get to chit-chat with people before the talks drinking hotel coffee and eating Sam’s Club mini muffins; yes, I don’t get to stand idly after the last morning talk until a group way too large to split a check starts wandering in a zombie-like state to lunch; yes, I don’t have to wait in a hotel lobby for people to go to dinner, only to find out two of the people we’ve been waiting for forgot the meeting location and just went straight to the restaurant.
保守地，我估计我已经挽救了我的大学和/或自我接近4000美元，因为锁定开始“去”到会议。更不用说我腰部的时间或英寸。而且我并不是在线运动中唯一一个受益的人。很多较小的会议尤其是赢得现在的胜利;由于一切在线，他们能够获得全面的全身不起。我在过去六个月内听到目前在欧洲生活的数学家比我在过去六个月内的整个职业生涯中更多的讲座。
And who knows? Some of these changes might be permanent. Money is tight—how likely is it that we will continue to have massive grants for hosting conferences? How likely is it that we’ll be allotted money for travel by our colleges and universities (at least, to the extent we’ve had)? Why not have a plenary Zoom in to give a talk once this is all over?
仍然，有一件事看起来covid没有改变：我们如何互相交谈。这完全不合逻辑。这些现在在线的会议有exact same schedule因为他们本来就是他们亲自。为什么？我们谈论AD Nauseam关于我们在网上教学一天后有多累的疲惫;我们了解我们的学生和我们自己的孩子（适用时）如何遭受ZOOM疲劳。那么为什么我们就像“好日子”一样，我们将自己达到早上8点至5日或下午6点，就像“好日子”一样？jmm是这个完美的例子;what seems like 15 talks all scheduled at the same time, and with no apparent rhyme or reason to the booking (for instance, on day one two number theory sessions were hosted concurrently…and it’s not like there were number theory sessions every day of the conference). While quite a few people I regularly see did not attend this year, those that did had to take at least one conference day “off” because of the sheer exhaustion of the all-day online setup. And this isn’t to pick on the JMM. VERY few of the conferences I’ve attended have changed their schedule from “normal times”; I’m even co-organizing a conference right now, and one of the recurring and unresolved items of discussion is whether or not we need to have fewer talks because of screen fatigue.
这不仅仅是不合逻辑的时间表，而且谈话本身也没有意义。我们禁止对我们如何翻转教室的方法，找到让我们在线教室更具互动的方法。我们中的许多人不再只是讲课，并完全重组了我们的教学设置。那么为什么我们大多数人仍然给出同样的幻灯片？那些，即使我们亲自，也介于太多方程和文本的方式覆盖？为什么？
据说，回到这个电子会议我是共同组织的，潜在的全体全体会议随着以下评论而让我们失望：
“我认为现在有太多的会谈，人们患有ZOOM疲劳。此外，准备一个谈话是很多工作......我知道人们在多个场地中发表同样的谈话，但我不认为现在有很多意义，当人们可以在线看到谈话。我认为社区需要重新考虑使用缩放的最佳方式，我认为我们还不认为我们还有。“
They have some fair points. Why do we go so far, only to stop so short? Why have we failed to recognize our own Zoom endurance, or lack thereof? What is the point now that things are online in giving the same talk at multiple places [I mean…I can come up with reasons. First, conferences are probably never going to turn into watch parties of pre-recorded material. Second, both audience and speaker alike could actually get something out of questions during/after the talk. ]?
A packed house.
似乎大量清楚的是，数学会议不是关于（主要是至少）数学。相反，它更像是那些僵尸散步的东西。它是关于联网，关于结识新朋友。人们在多个场地发出同样的谈话，因为观众与场地到地点的不同。我有兴趣了解有多少人参加了在线JMM（与其他年份不同，网站不吹嘘数字）。再次，从我的角度来看，人们更少。你知道正常的JMM时间表的一部分是什么显着削减的？团聚和宴会。我今年参加的许多reuntions（或与朋友的崩溃）在网上并没有发生在网上。
缺乏对数学的强调也解释了谈判，尽管在线环境，但他们真的没有改变。显然对许多人来说，数学谈话并不是为了确保你的观众闯入你的工作。更重要的是，只是给予谈话 - 无论它是多么强大或者收到的程度 - 在你的C.v上提供另一条线路..它为您提供了另一个机会获得名称。到网络。我认识一些人会参加会议，并在之后为编制的晚宴提供谈判。
MAYBE two people in this photo look excited to be there.
And this is something for conference organizers to think about moving forward. Certainly it’s been on my mind as I try to plan an e-conference. Maybe online conferences should have fewer talks, and be more selective in who gets to speak because of Zoom fatigue. Maybe just like some conferences in the “before times” insisted on slides, online conferences should insist on a specific format. Maybe online conferences should have more breaks in the schedule. Maybe online conferences should try to find ways to maintain an emphasis on the social events, because that is actually why a lot of people attend in the first place. Maybe online conferences should think about recorded lectures and what place that should have, or what that could be replacing.
我们不能通过动议，直到事情回到他们的方式。即使旅行安全并允许，它可能不是预算线项。我们有三个学期试图做出这项工作，因为“最终事情会让*恢复正常的东西，”，我们坦率地需要从沙子上删除我们的头。
