Virtual Technologies and Conferences Attendance: Perceptions of YCT Academic Staff

Abstract

Academic conference was majorly face-to-face gathering for sharing new knowledge, disseminating research findings, establishing networks among team members and for social interaction. However, holding virtual meetings is not completely a new phenomenon but conference virtualisation was not in place before the year 2020. But the current widespread adoption of virtual conferences was facilitated by the global outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which struck almost the whole world and forced nearly all sectors to resort to online activities. This study seeks to examine the acceptable level of virtual conferences using the most popular web conferencing tools such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Three research questions were raised with three corresponding hypotheses. The design adopted was a survey, the population comprised over 800 academic staff in Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and a sample size of 206 was selected. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and was analysed with frequency distribution and Chi-square test of association. The finding of the study revealed high awareness about virtual conferences (88.1%), high attendance (76%), and high preference for virtual conference attendance (62%)and these stemmed fromthe opportunity to build networks, security concerns, time management, and cost-effectiveness. It also showed that Zoom was the most preferred virtual technology (50%).The study concluded that virtual conferencing has come to stay because of its high awareness, attendance and preference among academics and Zoom technology is the key driver as the world is moving towards a global community.