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A Listening Session on the Hybrid Conference Experience
August 6 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm BST
We are getting this much closer to the October 7-9 OEGlobal 2026 Conference, organized in hybrid format, taking place both in Cambridge, Massachusetts and online. The planners are lining up all the logistical details for how the conference sessions will be made available, but note from the release of the program that all presentations/panel sessions regardless of where presented from, will be available online.
But a full conference experience goes beyond the program and the sessions. In the spirit of the OEGlobal 2026 theme “Come Invent With Us” we are interested in co-inventing the fullest possible experience for both online and in-person attendees.
In cooperation with Equity Unbound and its currently running Mid Year Festival (MYFest26), we are inviting anyone interested in sharing their own experiences in hybrid conferences to inform our planning process to join us for an open conversation in this listening session.
What has been effective for your conference participating when you have been an online participant? What activities and designs have made you felt a sense of belonging? What has made it feel like you are present and connected with other attendees? What helps to offset the time zone offsets that make attending live events a challenge?
And what are the gains for in-person attendees to be connected to a virtual audience? What can reduce the sense of distance? What might you be willing to do to help share the in-person experience more widely?
We come to this session without firmly set solutions and we are asking you to help invent a meaningful hybrid conference experience at OEGlobal 2026.
This session will not be recorded but we will share a summary and highlights from the discussions, and also open this up for further conversation in our OEG Connect Community space.
When: Thursday, Aug 6 at 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT (check for local time)
Where: Register to attend in Zoom
Discuss: anytime in OEG Connect
For more, see and add to the discussions from our May 4 topic Monday Connect: What Works for the Most Vibrant Experiences in a Hybrid Conference Format?
We hope you can be part of this discussion on August 6 or later online, and also that you might be able participate in OEGlobal 2026.