Events

2020 Educause Conference Moves Entirely Online

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/12/20

The Educause annual conference will be online this year. The organization does professional development for IT leaders in higher education.

The event, taking place Oct. 27-29, will include 250 sessions in a mix of "live-streamed, 'simulive' and on-demand formats, according to Educause President John O'Brien. (A simulive event plays a pre-recorded session at a scheduled time, with the presenters in attendance to answer questions that come up during the presentation.) The conference will also feature virtual networking activities, mentoring opportunities and a "community day" on Oct. 23 to bring together groups to connect before the official event kicks off. Attendees will be able to do "live-chatting" with presenters, O'Brien said, and use LinkedIn connections to expand their professional networks outside of the conference.

To replace pre-conference workshops, Educause will host virtual "learning labs," in which participants will spend time with subject-matter experts and colleagues to learn more about specific topics of interest. "Experience summits" will explore themes, including diversity, equity and inclusion; teaching and learning; cybersecurity and privacy; and enterprise/analytics.

Educause is expecting to host 150 virtual exhibits, which will offer "deep-dives" with exhibitors, online product demonstrations and "digital swag," O'Brien said.

Conference registration by Sept. 16 is $495 for Educause members and $995 for non-members. The learning labs will have various prices, ranging up to $239 for members and $339 for non-members. The experience summits will be $195 for members registered for the whole conference and $395 for nonmembers registered for the full event.

Learn more at the Educause conference website.