In an era in which we can analyze data in the cloud and conduct meetings (and even grant reviews!) through a portal full of rectangular boxes with faces displayed on our laptops, it is fair to ask: why should we gather in person? Why step away from our daily routines to share the same physical space?
The answer is because some things only happen when we are in person together. And as this column will come out when each of you is contemplating attending our 71st Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, I take the opportunity to talk about the magic of the in-person meeting.
In-person meetings are not simply about the formal programming. Rather, they are about the energy in the room before a talk begins. They are about the excitement of cutting-edge science. They are about the adrenaline flowing in the first-time attendee as they peer into the conference hall. For me, this was life-changing for how I thought about myself as a scientist in the suddenly much bigger world of science that I abstractly knew existed but had never previously experienced. Meetings are about saying hello and introducing yourself to the person next to you. They are about hearing the actual person who did the work explain the work. Going to a meeting means that you are in the room where that happens.
Meetings are about the conversation that continues after a session ends. Meetings are about the Q&A after each talk and the debate, sometimes notoriously heated, that gets played out and that ultimately makes the science better. In-person meetings are about the spontaneous exchanges between new friends and old friends in the hallway, or in the line for the shared coffee. Meetings are about sharing meals with like-minded folks and geeking out with “molecule talk” for hours on end. Meetings are about greeting that “famous person” whose papers you have read on repeat or when they actually come to your poster to check it out, and then they say, “Have you thought about….?” And of course, at the end of your poster presentation you’re always hoping they will say, “Nice work. I look forward to reading the paper when it comes out.”
Moments like this in your daily routines are difficult if not impossible to schedule. Extolling your findings over Zoom is just not the same. In addition, attending a meeting can be an extremely efficient use of time. To paraphrase something a friend once said: a week in the library saves three weeks in the lab, and a week at the BPS Annual Meeting saves three weeks in the library. And there is a bonus that no artificial intelligence search can ever reveal: in your in-person interactions you can learn about the experiments that were tried and failed. These results almost never appear in the final papers. These moments can be transformative for your science.
The social psychology field also teaches lessons that emphasize the value of the in-person meeting. When we meet face-to-face, we communicate with more than words. We read posture, expression, enthusiasm, and hesitation. In other words, we can get a better handle on the vibe. In-person interactions can build trust more quickly because we experience one another as full human beings rather than as rectangles on a screen where the body language cannot be discerned. This is valuable because every good collaboration must have a foundation of trust, and we build this trust through not only shared ideas but also shared presence.
There is also a kind of intellectual serendipity, if you will, that can emerge from the shared presence. When asked to explain something to someone who is not in your daily orbit, you might have to make multiple attempts to flesh out what you are really trying to say. And then you might receive a question or a comment that reframes your own work in a different way. Such a question might shift your thinking. Maybe you discover a conceptual bridge or interpretation you had not realized before. This kind of exchange emerges naturally, and I would argue uniquely, when you share physical space. This type of collision of the minds is wholly spontaneous. And this unplanned outcome is often the most valuable takeaway of the in-person meeting.
For early-career scientists and students who are building their networks of people, the value of the in-person meeting is especially important. Informal conversations can flatten perceived hierarchies. At a meeting a graduate student can approach a senior investigator in a coffee line. Or a postdoc can introduce herself after a talk. Or an assistant professor can initiate a mentorship relationship that might not have emerged in a formal or virtual setting. The barriers to creating these connections are so much higher in virtual formats.
None of this diminishes the extraordinary value of virtual connections. It is clear these are here to stay because they do offer flexibility, expand access, and allow us to sustain collaborations at a distance much more easily than before these options existed. But maintaining a relationship is not the same as creating one. One could argue that Zoom sustains relationships, but in-person gatherings create the spark that ignites them.
With the federal assault on science the United States is experiencing at the moment, the future of our field depends not only on data and discovery, but also on the relationships that build a strong community. Our community is where the magic happens because we are better together, both in our scientific innovation and in our ability to fend off the forces that undermine scientific excellence and truth. This will happen most powerfully when we are physically present with one another.
I hope to see every one of you in Philadelphia this February. And while we are waiting to meet in person, please call or write your elected officials to urge them to support science. Our advocacy pages have lots of information on how to do this (www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/advocacy-toolkit). Together we can be a powerful force for science.
—Karen G. Fleming, President